International

An ancient Assyrian artefact stolen from an archaeological site in Iraq in the early 1990s has been returned to the country after being stored for an extended period by the Metropolitan Police in London.

Christie’s becomes the first international auction house to secure a presence in the Gulf state and appoints managing director in the kingdom.

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has returned an ancient bronze funerary couch to Turkey after concluding that it had been illicitly excavated in the early 1980s.

The first part of the auction of the extraordinary coin collection of Lars Emil Bruun (1852-1923) raised a total of €14.8m (£12.5m) including premium last week.

One of only two copies of 1961’s Fantastic Four No 1 comic to be awarded a Near Mint+ 9.6 grade by Certified Guaranty Company set a record for this historic first chapter in the Marvel Universe.

The Toronto Toronto Antiquarian Book Fair is a literary magnet for collectors, librarians, archivists, scholars, academics and dealers.

A new auction record has been set for Peranakan or Straits Settlement porcelain in Singapore.

Christie’s is to return to the classic car market following an agreement to acquire Gooding & Company.

A Cray-1 Supercomputer owned by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen set a new high for any computer sold at auction when it took $810,000 (£618,320) at Christie’s New York.

Bonhams is set to relocate its New York headquarters from 580 Madison Avenue to the historic Steinway Hall at 111 West 57th Street.

A sketch which was given by the Marquis de Lafayette to the first American president George Washington sold for $1.6m (£1.22m) at an auction in Philadelphia earlier today.