UK

The launch of a new high-end summer art fair in London has been hailed with several major dealers aligning themselves with the event just hours after the announcement.

An unidentified but engaging portrait of a young boy that was bought by art dealer Rupert Maas at a regional auction last year has been restored and fully attributed to Harold Knight (1874-1961).

The record business enjoyed by London’s coin auction houses during Covid lockdowns largely continued last year.

The owner of auction house Bonhams is reported to be investigating the viability of selling the firm for around $1bn.

The LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair has signed up more than half of the stands for its autumn event this year, just four weeks after confirming the new dates.

A cache of material from descendants of the Starbuck family, a Quaker whaling family influential in both the abolitionist movement and the founding of Nantucket as a whaling centre, was the highlight of Catherine Southon’s sale on February 8.

Produced six years after the much more common 1847 dated Gothic Crown of which 8000 were made, the 1853 Gothic Crown was struck only in a very limited number.

Struck c.1500 in Lisbon from Guinean gold provided by the explorations of Vasco da Gama, the 10 cruzados piece or Portugués do ouro of Manuel I (1495-1521) is a coin synonymous with the Age of Discovery.

To one side of this gold aureus struck in Rome in 180-83 is a sensually draped portrait of the goddess Venus.

Lawrences of Crewkerne kicks off 2023 with an extensive £1m (premium-inclusive) series of sales over several days

The sale at Hansons (25% buyer’s premium) in Teddington on January 28 included what was marketed as ‘Queen Victoria’s post box’.

Many of the best-sellers at Roseberys’ (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) auction of Modern British and 20th century art in south London came from the collection of former Wall Street banker Geoffrey Elliott (1939-2021) and his wife Fay.

Couple already running four branches take on Dunster event to boot

This single-page letter offered on January 19 by Mellors & Kirk (24% buyer’s premium) tells the remarkable story of Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori (1762-1829).

Two Chinese blue and white dishes, recognised by bidders as examples of the bleu de Huế porcelain, flew to £20,500 at a sale in Dorset on January 26.

South London event benefits from extra business after the string of recent fair cancellations

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.