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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Time to locate your own vintage pocket watch

16 April 2018

Celebrated in the thoroughly modern way with a Google Doodle on April 3 on what would have been his 325th birthday was John Harrison.

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Appliance of science: New hallmarks scheme for contemporary bronzes launched to fight fakes

16 April 2018

To address the increasing number of fakes, The Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) has launched a new digital ‘hallmark’ for editioned bronzes.

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Pick of the Week: Chinese bronze taken from Summer Palace sells for six figures at auction

16 April 2018

A rare Western Zhou bronze, taken when the Summer Palace was sacked by British troops in 1860, sold for £410,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) at the Canterbury Auction Galleries.

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Glasgow art school key to stay in Scotland after Edinburgh auction

16 April 2018

In the year of the 150th anniversary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s birth, Lyon & Turnbull has sold the very key used to open his design masterpiece, The Glasgow School of Art, in 1899.

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Badges of distinction

16 April 2018

Military badges offered at Bosleys provided a good snapshot of a niche collecting area.

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Praise for inglorious SAS mission in the Falklands War

16 April 2018

A gripping story which, until recently, has remained shrouded in mystery, provides the backdrop for an intriguing test of the market for SAS medals.

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Bid barometer

16 April 2018

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period April 5-April 11, 2018. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

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Journals detail journeys all over

16 April 2018

Collection of more than 100 travel accounts is one highlight of a varied London auction.

A passage to Serindia

16 April 2018

An estimate of £120-150 was never going to do for a lot in a Leominster sale of March 28 that was catalogued, in full, as “STEIN, Sir Aurel, Serindia, a Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost, four vols, and a box with maps (5)”.

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Sailing off to Iceland

16 April 2018

Something of a rarity, To Iceland in a Yacht appears to have no other auction appearances to its name. It was privately printed in Edinburgh in 1873 for its author, the chemist Robert Angus Smith (1817-84), a man best known for his work on air pollution and his identification of what later came to be known as acid rain.

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Racecourse day off to good start

16 April 2018

Organiser of new Surrey event pleased at positive reaction and trader response.

Brussells

Proposed EU cultural goods bill ‘unworkable’ say trade bodies

16 April 2018

Book dealers seek change to 250-years-old clause in proposed import licensing law.

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Go for a sunny day out at the Mills

16 April 2018

A reminder of a fair we previewed in January: Caroline Brown’s second vintage furniture and homewares fair takes place on Saturday and Sunday, April 28-29.

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Roger Fenton’s pioneering war photography

16 April 2018

According to Chris Albury at Cirencester auctioneer Dominic Winter, an “an absolutely A1 example” of Roger Fenton’s (1819-69) famous photo The Valley of the Shadow of Death would make “£50,000-plus at auction, easy peasy”.

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‘I should be dead now – it was a decent shot’

16 April 2018

A veteran of the Afghanistan war, a sniper who fought on for 90 minutes after being shot in the neck, is selling his medals in a London auction as he returns to civilian life.

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More faces lined up for Olympia

16 April 2018

A charity which has sponsored an armourer, a gunmaker and many other metalworkers is the very appropriate cause being supported by The Antique Arms Fair at Olympia.

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Chocks away for RAF centenary events at Spink

16 April 2018

To mark the centenary of the founding of the Royal Air Force, London auction house Spink is holding a special public exhibition featuring medals and relics on loan from prominent collectors.

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Innovations at The London Original Print Fair set to draw in young collectors

16 April 2018

The fair offering a way to own a big name without the huge cost is back for 33rd staging.

Canoe bailer

South Pacific ula and canoe bailer from the family of 19th century murdered missionary hammered down at auction in Dorset

14 April 2018

A South Pacific ula throwing club and a Maori canoe bailer that once belonged to an English reverend killed by cannibals in Vanuatu in the 19th century has sold at an auction at Duke's Auctioneers in Dorchester.

Gramophone

Stolen gramophone discovered in France will be returned to rightful owner

13 April 2018

A stolen gramophone will be returned to its owner next week after an Antiques Trade Gazette article alerted the buyer to the theft.

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