Christie’s London announced Architectural Heritage: The Adrian and Suzy Puddy Collection , to be held on Wednesday, 10 March 2010. The sale will include 220 lots of fine antique garden statuary and ornaments, handcarved natural limestone chimneypieces and paneling, with estimates ranging from £500 to £40,000; the collection is expected to realize over £700,000. Offered by the family run business Architectural Heritage as the company welcomes in a new era with the founders Adrian and Suzy Puddy moving into retirement, the firm will be taken over by their son Alex Puddy. Alex Puddy commented, “The business founded by my parents has become an established and renowned source for exceptional statuary, fireplaces and garden furniture. ... Read More

The private papers of leading Marxist art historian, Francis Klingender, are to be sold at Bonhams Printed Books and Maps sale in Oxford on 23 February. An avowed Communist, Klingender was kept under security surveillance from the early 1930s onwards. During the Second World War he was excused military service because of ill-health and instead joined the Ministry of Home Security as a statistician. Ironically, his security file was reviewed by fellow communist – and Soviet spy – Anthony Blunt, then working as an M15 officer, who concluded that Klingender’s beliefs were essentially intellectual and that he was “quite confident that he would not do anything disloyal to this country”. Despite subsequent ... Read More

Letters signed by Oliver Cromwell to the Governor of Warwick Castle, Colonel Joseph Hawkesworth MP, are among an archive of important Civil War and other historical documents to be auctioned at Bonhams’ Printed Books, Maps and Manuscripts sale at New Bond Street on 23 March. On 8 October 1651, Cromwell, fresh from his victory over the future Charles II at the battle of Worcester, ordered Colonel Hawkesworth to reduce the size of the Warwick Castle garrison. By the time of his second letter in 1655 Cromwell had become Lord Protector of England and appointed Colonel Hawkesworth as captain of horse of 100 volunteers. The archive of Colonel Hawkesworth’s papers has survived intact since the 17th Century and includes documents ... Read More

A strand of Elvis Presley’s hair is being sold by Chorley’s at Prinknash Abbey Park, Gloucestershire GL4 8EX in the UK on Thursday 25th February 2010. The vendor, who comes from Gloucestershire, is a keen music buff and bought the strand of hair on a whim through a television auction. The strand is estimted to fetch between £400 and £600. It is mounted in the centre of a gold disc inscribed ‘The King’s Authentic Hair’ together iwth a photograph of the singer and a certificate of authenticity on the reverse. In October 2009, a clump of Elvis’s hair sold at auction in Chicago for US$ 15,000. For further information please contact Thomas Jenner-Fust at Chorley’s on 01452 344499, ... Read More

Bonhams is delighted to announce that it is embracing the 1960s on 7th March when viewing opens at its New Bond Street galleries for both a specialist auction of ‘Pop and Op Art’ and the selling exhibition of ‘Pure Sixties. Pure Bailey.’ – a collection of David Bailey’s iconic photographs from the 60s. An outstanding selection of works inspired by popular culture, and dating from the 1960s onwards will go on sale in the Pop and Op Art auction to be held at 2pm on Wednesday 10th March in New Bond Street. The sale features works by Richard Hamilton, a key figure in English Pop Art and co-founder of the Independent Group at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London – an organisation which was key ... Read More

Auctionmove.co.uk are now offering property portals the chance to partner with the established online property auction site and introduce this innovative and groundbreaking service to new and existing clients. Based in the North-West of England, auctionmove. co .uk brings a fresh and dynamic approach to online property auctions by providing continuous live trading, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The joint venture opportunity that property portals can enjoy will see the integration of a profitable new service into the portals product portfolio that will allow all parties to receive a percentage of the profits generated by the auction. auctionmove .co .uk’s extensive property auction site has several features that provide an ... Read More

Christie’s announced the appointment of Lisa King as Chief Operating Officer and Group Managing Director of Christie’s International effective immediately. Ms. King, previously International Managing Director, Auction & Private Sales, assumes responsibility for the leadership and delivery of Christie’s International’s Business Plan. In this expanded role, she will oversee Auction & Private Sales, Strategy, Marketing, Business Development, Human Resources, Operations, IT, Finance, Legal and the Group’s Diversified Businesses including Christie’s Great Estates, Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services, Christie’s Insurance Services and Christie’s Education. “As we continue to further align the management of the ... Read More

Bonhams is offering the second medal thrown into the crowds by José Mourinho at the 2005-6 Premier League final as part of its sale of Sporting and Golf Memorabilia at Chester on 24th February 2010. The Portuguese former Chelsea manager was presented with the second medal minutes after he had thrown his first winner’s medal, along with his blazer, into the delighted spectators at Stamford Bridge, celebrating Chelsea’s 3-0 win against Manchester United. Mourinho said at the time: “The medal was for everybody but I think the person in the crowd who got the medal is a lucky guy who goes home with a fantastic memory or goes to eBay and makes a fortune.” In 2008 Bonhams marked Mourinho’s words selling the ... Read More

A hole was found in the market for an online source for people to either sell or acquire anything relating to the aquatics hobby. Aquatic-Auctions.co.uk is now being launched to full-fill the need. Mr Andrew Nixon stated that “He wants this to be a complete one stop aquatics auction website that fulfils all the needs for hobbyists and internet retailers.” Feedback from aquarists all over the UK say the new website will be a huge success as other online auctions are too general and lack the specifics of what the aquatics hobby need. Aquatic-Auctions will be under a constant review from the site staff to ensure it continues to match expectations and encourages all members to provide feedback and suggest any changes that they feel would ... Read More

Sotheby’s is delighted to announce that it will offer for sale the recently rediscovered oil on canvas Self-Portrait with a Black Eye, circa 1978, by the celebrated British artist Lucian Freud (b. 1922) in its London Evening Sale of Contemporary Art on Wednesday, February 10, 2010. The self-portrait, which headlines a group of five important works by the artist in the auction that have come from a private European collection, has never been recorded in the published literature on Lucian Freud and has remained in the same collection for over 30 years since its conception. Never-before exhibited in public, this rare work ranks as the artist’s most important self-depiction ever to appear at auction and is estimated at £3-4 million. In ... Read More