Forced from their old location by the construction of the new football stadium for Arsenal, Dome Antiques move into new premises at the end of this month. From Monday 31st October, they can be found at a smart new Warehouse where they will continue to offer high quality 19th century furniture, restored by specialists in their own workshops to both the trade and retail markets. The new address is Dome Antiques, Unit1, Hanover Trading Estate, London N7 9HA and they can be contacted on tel: 0207 700 6266 and mobile 07831 805888. loans, debt

Shropshire auctioneers Brettells of Newport have launched a new website, where potential customers around the world can view online catalogues. The saleroom, which opened just four years ago, is now producing online catalogues for every weekly General Sale as well as for their specialist Antique & Fine Art sales. The new weekly catalogues will be posted on the site every Saturday/Sunday prior to the Tuesday sale. They will include lot number and a brief description of every item, along with images of the more collectable lots.

‘We are now living a 24/7 society and it was important to us to keep up with the times and provide this service for our customers who maybe cannot attend viewing days or who live too far away’, said David Brettell (pictured) who owns the saleroom. He is hoping the new website, which can be found at www.brettells.com, will attract more commission and telephone bids.

Vendors are asked to submit their lots as soon as possible after each Tuesday’s sale ready for the following week, to allow enough time for photography and cataloguing before the weekend deadline.

Sotheby’s sale of the house of Hanover treasures at Marienburg Castle in Germany has reached a total over the ten days of 44 million Euros (approximately 30.2m), four times the expected total. Around 20,000 objects went under the hammer, in an unprecendented sale of items belonging to the German royal family headed by Prince Ernst August, the third husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco. Ernst August is a descendant of the last German Kaiser Wilhelm II. The sale was held to raise money to help maintain the family estate.

The single most expensive lot in the sale was a pair of massive blue ground 19th century Russian vases, (see picture) produced by the Imperial Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg, which sold for 1.69million Euros (1.16m approx). Measuring 36″ (92cm) high, they were finely painted by M. Kriukov and S. Spiridonov with panels with allegories of wrath and pride.

French billionaire Bernard Arnault has sold his 49.9% stake in Bonhams. The 56 year old, whose $17bn fortune puts him at number 17 in the list of the world’s richest, has disposed of his shares for an undisclosed sum.

His involvement in the top London auction houses began with the purchase of Phillips by his LVMH luxury goods group in 1999. In 2001, Bonhams merged with the British part of Phillips, and he sold his shares in Phillips in 2003, retaining a minority shareholding in Bonhams. While LVMH remained as a partner, it left the running of Bonhams to its chairman Robert Brooks. The last few years have been very successful for the auctioneers, as they have moved into markets in America and Australia and boosted turnover.

A joint statement by the two companies said Bonhams had moved back into profit, which had enabled it to buy LVMH’s stake. Mr. Brooks said he was grateful to LVMH for seeing the firm through a period of growth and allowing them to buy back the shareholding.

LAPADA has organised a free legal seminar for members in conjunction with the city law firm Withers. The seminar will deal with four main topics: the first of these will be the risks involved when conducting valuations, looking at the different types of valuation and understanding the customer. The second will be money laundering, with advice on how to protect yourself against it and understanding the Proceeds of Crime Act. The third will be how to give investment advice without breaching financial services rules and the final topic will be the new rules for putting art and collectables into a pension and what this will mean for dealers and their clients. The seminar will offer plenty of time for questions and will be followed by a glass of wine. Pierre Valentin, Head of the Art and Cultural Assets Group at Withers will deliver the seminar, which will take place at 5.30pm on Wednesday 30th November at the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining at 1, Carlton House Terrace, London. Pierre Valentin is a former legal counsel at Sotheby’s and most of his clients are collectors and art market professionals.