The winners of the 2026 LAPADA Excellence Awards were announced on 30 October, as the association's Berkeley Square fair in Mayfair entered its final weekend. The awards, judged by a ten-strong committee drawn from museums, collecting and design, recognise outstanding craftsmanship, curation, provenance and objects across the art and antiques trade, and this year's five winners span three centuries of making, from early Georgian silver to a Chinese export cabinet.

The craftsmanship award went to Mary Cooke Antiques for the Gorges Cups and Covers, a pair of Queen Anne silver-gilt cups made in London in 1702 by the Huguenot goldsmith Pierre Platel. The cups come from the renowned Gorges plate collection and later belonged to Lord Rosebery and Hannah Rothschild at Mentmore, giving them a distinguished line of ownership to match their making.

The provenance prize went to dealer Timothy Millett for a rare gold badge presented by Queen Charlotte to members of the Royal Household in 1789 to commemorate George III's recovery from the illness that had threatened a constitutional crisis. The king's recovery blocked the Prince of Wales's attempt to establish a Regency and secured William Pitt's position as prime minister. Best Object went to Tony Fell for a Georgian Chinese export cabinet made in Canton around 1840, a lacquer secretaire standing more than two metres tall, decorated with gilded dragons, figural landscapes and reverse-glass paintings of Chinese dignitaries.

The committee's choice award went to Howard Walwyn for the Sutton Court Great Chamber Clock, a chamber clock with a dark-stained architectural case, pierced brass cresting and engraved dial, whose provenance runs to Sutton Court in Somerset, the home associated with Elizabeth Hardwick, Lady St Loe, and confirmed by an inventory dated 1674-75. The curation award went to McBain and Byrne. The fair itself, which ran from 27 October to 1 November with nearly 100 dealers, is LAPADA's flagship event under new chief executive Elizabeth Shanks, and this year partnered for the first time with the Asian Art in London programme.