UK

Sotheby’s is to test the temperature of the market for Japanese art with its first dedicated sale in London for more than a decade.

MADAM – Your news story (‘Ivory removed from Chippendale before sale’, ATG No 2356) draws attention to the deliberate and unforgivable removal of original ivory elements from an important commode by Thomas Chippendale, England’s most famous cabinet maker.

Gary Arkell of Loddon Auctions was ready to toast a record-breaking success when lot 718 in the Berkshire saleroom’s latest auction sold for what is believed to be a record price for a beer label of £1500.

Derbyshire’s Hansons Auctioneers is opening a second London location.

London coin dealership Sovereign Rarities will conduct its first auction on September 25.

BADA and LAPADA have alerted their members that any business with an annual taxable turnover more than the VAT registration threshold (currently £85,000) should keep digital records.

Mullany Haute Epoque Fine Art opens the doors to its new gallery on Bury Street, St James’s, this autumn, taking the premises formerly occupied by a silver dealership.

It’s always good to hear about the opening of a new antiques centre. Essex businessman Ken Hewitt has seized an opportunity to launch his venture in the medieval town of Manningtree, described by the local tourist association as “a gateway to Constable country”.

Gardiner Houlgate in Wiltshire is dubbing its upcoming sale “the UK’s largest-ever auction of guitars”.

Complete with 48 cards and rules sheet, and still in its original, if slightly fragile case with printed label, Panko, or Votes for Women… is a sort of ‘Rummy’- inspired card game pitching Suffragists against Anti-Suffragists.

Our story last week revealed that ivory elements of an important piece of Chippendale furniture, the Rowland Winn commode made c.1766, were removed for its appearance at a Christie’s auction earlier this year, the commode having been imported from the US.