London

Bloomsbury Auctions will offer 42 original pencil sketches by American novelist Norman Mailer at their July 19 sale in London.

The Victoria and Albert Museum has been given planning permission to create a new purpose-built underground gallery, courtyard area and entrance.

Portobello Road antiques dealers have a fresh chance to air their views about police cover in the area now that a public meeting has been rearranged.

Just three copies of the 1640, first English edition of Nicholas Machiavelli’s short treatise on political leadership have come to auction in this century, the last of them in 2005.

There was a positive air as the third ‘Masterpiece London’ fair closed after a week’s run in its lavish purpose-built pavilion at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

The strength and depth of the Picasso ceramics market was put to the test when Christie’s South Kensington offered the vast 543-lot Madoura Collection.

A string of record prices at the latest Old Master sales in London helped the sector to its highest total ever for an auction series.

Previously unknown to scholars, this exceptional pen and ink drawing by Canaletto (1697-1768) set an auction record for a work on paper by the artist at the latest series of Old Master sales in London.

Paintings and smaller works of art dating back to the time the first Duke of Wellington moved into the house given to him by a grateful nation have been stolen.

Setting a record for the artist and making one the highest prices ever seen for a British picture, John Constable's ‘The Lock’ took £20m at Christie’s evening sale on July 3.

The Madoura Collection lived up to its billing as the single most important sale dedicated to Picasso ceramics ever held when it went under the hammer at Christie’s South Kensington.

Highly lucrative totals, a record sale and a selection of unprecedented prices seen for individual artists – the Contemporary art market seemed to carry on regardless in London last week.

Bonhams have integrated Lalique back into their broader mix of 20th century design auctions.

Among the star attractions at Bloomsbury Auction’s ‘Urban Contemporary’ sale, a 120-lot auction held on July 3 in Mayfair, London is ‘Moona Lisa’, a unique rendition in gold by Bristol-based artist Nick Walker.

ATG Editor Ivan Macquisten is pictured here chairing a debate at the Summer Olympia fair on how the West should adapt to the demands of the Asian market.

Glamorous, imaginative, fresh, unashamedly expensive and just a bit OTT – ‘Masterpiece London’ is back for a third time.

Pressure for better police cover is starting to pay off for Portobello antiques dealers – but they say there is still much to be done. The traders have been incensed by cuts that left just four officers to patrol the area in pairs on Saturdays despite a recent rise in robberies, and demanded action on extra patrols.

A medieval Nottingham alabaster plaque prised away from a London church has been recovered after the appeal in ATG.

After 12 years of trading together, London clock dealers Nigel Raffety and Howard Walwyn of Raffety & Walwyn Ltd have announced that they will be going their separate ways this month.

COMMENT: More than 60,000 visitors on a summer Saturday, one of the most popular tourist spots in the UK, a name so recognised internationally that the local council wants to brand a Crossrail station after it... there are plenty of reasons to protect Portobello‘s antiques trade.