UK

A US collector is the new owner of a 5000-year-old tablet that contains the earliest-known record of any personal name in history.

Whoever H Twyman was, his talents as a craftsman are beyond doubt.

English Civil War group The John Hampden Society has bought a lock of hair thought to be from the head of its eponymous patron.

Online sales of art, antiques and collectables reached $4.82bn in 2019, a rise of 4% from the previous year, and digital demand is set to increase further in the years ahead.

A 19th century doll’s house sold for £8500 at North Yorkshire saleroom Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) – but its real appeal came from what was inside.

The market for traditional British and Continental ceramics did not lie idle for three months. As ATG reports, a renewed enthusiasm greeted the first major UK sale since lockdown

A group of seven works from a private collection by René Charles Pierre Princeteau (1843-1919) appeared at the Roseberys sale on June 4, all of them selling for a combined £72,100. Interest was reported from France, Belgium and the US.

Sixteen upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.

MADAM – I was astonished to learn that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has specifically decided to refuse any grants under the Discretionary Grant Scheme to antiques market stallholders in Portobello Market.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from July 14-29, 2020.

Daniel Hadden trades in art and antiques online and recently featured in ATG as one of the founders of the social media effort #alcoholandframes (see ATG Nos 2447 & 2449).

The New Hall China Manufactory holds an important place in the history of English porcelain. Active from 1781-1835, it was effectively a cooperative between several Staffordshire earthenware makers, who acquired the Bristol porcelain patent and financed a factory together, first at Tunstall and then at Shelton New Hall in Hanley.

Bonhams will sell the third tranche of a substantial private collection of Meissen on July 22. It includes a number of Böttger stonewares with this 4in (10cm) head of the Emperor Vitellius, c.1710-13, estimated at £4000-6000.