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Art and antiques news from 1999

In 1999 as the bill to reform French auction law was delayed yet again it was christened the 'Loi Godot' - everyone was waiting for it.

The Europe-wide implementation of droit de suite was also shelved for the time being following lobbying by the British Art Market Federation and the personal intervention of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Auctioneer Phillips was bought by Bernard Arnault’s luxury goods group Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Members of the Incorporated Society of Valuers and Auctioneers voted in favour of a move to be absorbed into the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Exquisite but expensive

 30 March 1999

Royal Crown Derby – Imari Wares by Ian Cox

Why the back of beyond is a firm fixture on the national trade route

 30 March 1999

‘Town’ piece leads field in farmhouse territory UK: AUCTIONEER Richard Harrison describes his rooms as being ‘in the back of beyond’ but the Northern English, Scottish and Irish trade and not a few London dealers can be relied on to make their way to Cumbria for the quarterly sales.

Double whiskey in the jar

 30 March 1999

UK: “THE saving grace of the whisky bottle market,” said Alan Blakeman who runs bottle specialists BBR (buyer’s premium 10 per cent) , “is that as soon as the Australians, with their currency problems, started to disappear from the scene, the Americans started to show an interest.”

PINning down their clients

 30 March 1999

IT IS not only in their association with The Auction Channel that Bonhams are forging ahead with new technologies; the saleroom recently re-launched its Web-site, which has been redesigned to incorporate a range of new client services.

Romeyn was more than a chip off the old block

 30 March 1999

UK: A contemporary reviewer described a multi-volume study of The American Woods by Romeyn Beck Hough as “one of the most marvellous and instructive books ever made”, but this accolade seems something of an understatement when one considers that this work and a spin-off (or should that be sawn-off) companion work on ...Commercial Woods were illustrated with actual specimens of over 300 species!