UK

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions (online only at present because of the Covid-19 alert).

Turning heads at Bonhams Knightsbridge’s sale of Modern British art was a group of 22 pen and ink drawings by Cecil Beaton (1904-80) which formed part of the photographer’s 'The Book of Beauty' published in 1930.

The Export Licensing Unit (ELU), which closed under the March lockdown, has reopened with a new temporary procedure.

Scotland’s key role in the 18th and 19th century China trade has a legacy. Some of the nation’s country houses remain the repository of important Far Eastern works of art.

Work on paper outperforms more traditional works at Bonhams Knightsbridge lockdown sale of Modern British art

It was not just the great and good of 18th century Europe and North America who commissioned the Thirteen Factories at Canton to embellish Chinese porcelain blanks with family armorials or subjects copied from prints.

This couture gown, sold for £360 at Sworders (25% buyer’s premium), was once owned by the woman who hosted the wedding of Wallis Simpson and the Duke of Windsor.

As we mentioned in ATG No 2443, David Harper has been busy fitting out his antiques shop in Barnard Castle, a town that hit the headlines recently for other reasons, as you have probably noticed.

As antiques businesses prepare to reopen across the country, Holly Johnson Antiques is set to launch a new showroom in Knutsford, Cheshire.

South Africa leaving the Commonwealth in 1961 had serious consequences for British exporters – particularly when withdrawal was followed by imposition of an import tax on luxury goods.

Sixteen upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.

'The Loyalists Alphabet, an Original Effusion' was one of an additional group of 55 lots from the Birmingham Assay Office collections (see main report in ATG No 2438) that was offered as part of one of the regular online sales held by Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium).

No other Victorian could equal Charles Dickens for fame, earnings and sheer popularity. And few can match him today in the collecting arena.