UK

The United Kingdom accounts for more than one fifth of the global art market sales and is the second biggest art market after the US.

Through auctioneers, dealers, fairs and markets - and a burgeoning online sector - buyers, collectors and sellers of art and antiques can easily access a vibrant network of intermediaries and events around the country. The UK's museums also house a wealth of impressive collections

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Bonhams sticks to early offering

24 August 2020

While Sotheby’s and Christie’s shifted their main Old Master offerings to the end of July, Bonhams (27.5/25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium) maintained its auction earlier in the month with a sale in New Bond Street on July 7-8.

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Carving much mightier than a mouse

24 August 2020

The Robert Thompson firm produced shire horses, such as this example offered by Lawrences (25% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne on July 23, from the 1960s-90s.

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Politician proves influential in the antiques world

24 August 2020

Edward Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond (1944-2014) – the founder of the Norbrook pharmaceutical group in Northern Ireland – proved just as influential in the world of politics as he was in business.

GNB aims to be back in Brentwood in November

24 August 2020

For the first time in 26 years GNB Fairs will not be running an antiques and collectors’ fair at the Brentwood Centre in Essex over the August bank holiday weekend.

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Sphinx flies in black glass

24 August 2020

The best-known press-moulded models made by John Derbyshire at the Regent Road Flint Glassworks in Salford are the series of animal and figural paperweights made in frosted, flint and coloured glass.

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Lifelong friends paired up at Eames

24 August 2020

The lithographs of Alexander Calder (1898-1976) and Joan Miró (1893-1983) feature at Eames Fine Art’s exhibition Miró and Calder: Simpatico, which runs until August 30.

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Bottle vase supplies a £55,000 Chinese surprise

24 August 2020

Solid selling punctuated by a number of estimate-eclipsing bids made the July 17-18 sale a very welcome return to business for Tennants (20% buyer’s premium).

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Bronze deity makes a jumbo price

24 August 2020

In Tibetan Buddhism the elephant-headed deity Vignataka is treated with considerable ambivalence.

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Even Old Masters have to wait

24 August 2020

Leading works held back until mixed-category July auctions in a drawn-out sales season.

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Golden oldies: abbey archive and penitential work for preachers

24 August 2020

Sold at £140,000 in the first of two early manuscript sales held by Bloomsbury Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on July 8 was a lot featured in the front page story in ATG No 2447.

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Through the Glasgow looking glass

24 August 2020

Featured in Previews, ATG No 2449, was an amusing illustration of the Vacuum Tube, a proposed new means of mass transport from the pages of the Glasgow Looking Glass, a publication that has come to be widely regarded as the world’s first comic.

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Politicians on the saleroom menu

24 August 2020

Estimated at £100-200 but sold for £2800 at Thomas Watson (25% buyer’s premium) in Darlington on August was a set of four Worcester parian menu holders.

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Five O’Clock means it is time for Belleek

24 August 2020

Around the year 1904, during the Second Period of Belleek production in Fermanagh, Ulster, designer William Harris designed the Five O’Clock pattern.

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Thomson takes pride

24 August 2020

Firsts of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice have made as much as £115,000* at auction.

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Hurt shows his herd instinct

24 August 2020

Artist who kept highland cattle at Midlands home to pose for romanticised Scottish scenes.

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'Gandhi' spectacles take £260,000 at Bristol auction

21 August 2020

A pair of spectacles, believed to have once belonged to Gandhi, were hammered down at £260,000 in Bristol (plus 21.6% buyer's premium inc VAT).

Minton majolica figure

Minton majolica bear that once appeared on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow stars in our pick of five auction highlights sold this week

21 August 2020

ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a Minton majolica dancing bear that sold for four-times estimate in Surrey.

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Love letters from Welsh artist and poet David Jones go under the hammer

19 August 2020

Letters written by the painter David Jones (1895-1974) are coming to auction today at Bonhams.

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Antiques degree course reopens after it is saved from cancellation

18 August 2020

An antiques degree course run by the University of Central Lancashire in Preston has been reinstated.

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Dealers sell Egyptian statue from Thomas Cook collection to City of Leicester for £150,000

17 August 2020

An ancient Egyptian granite statue has been sold to the City of Leicester from the collection of travel business Thomas Cook in a deal negotiated by London dealers Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch.

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