Art and antiques news from 2001

UK: Nineteenth century brown furniture under £2500 was the trade staple of this monthly sale at Phillips' Sevenoaks in Kent, where the fiercest bidding contest was joined for a 20th century set of 22 mahogany balloon back dining chairs.

UK: A number of auctioneers have remarked on a rather flat silver market of late but the Surrey auctioneers Crow's saw no such reluctance among buyers with a number of offerings going well above estimate.

IS it a toy? Is it a joke? For the uninitiated the world of Masonic-style fraternities and lodges remains an enigma, but it is full of weird and wonderful opportunities for collectors who understand what they are looking at.

The trade will have to abide by the provisions of the Kent and Medway Bills as from December 1 this year. The announcement came from Kent Trading Standards on May 16, after the county council passed the resolution to introduce the Bill.

FRANCE: Sotheby’s and Paris auctioneers Maîtres Hervé Poulain and Rémy Le Fur have announced today an association to conduct three important sales in Paris on June 27, 28-29 and July 5, 2001.

BRITISH Art Market Federation chairman Anthony Browne has appealed to the Government to continue the fight to protect domestic trade interests from the worst aspects of droit de suite.

Miller’s Collectables Price Guide 2001/2, edited by Madeleine Marsh

USA: Florida-based organiser David Lester has abandoned plans to launch his inaugural America’s International Fine Art Fair at Westchester County, New York State, this October and has postponed the debut until October 11 to 20, 2002.

UK: Salvaged from the potting shed of a local farmhouse, this George II giltwood and marble topped console table attracted fierce bidding at Philip Serrell’s Malvern salerooms on May 10.

An 8th/9th century Syrian alabaster column capital provided the highest price for an object in London's spring Islamic series of sales.

Last updated 12 June 2001

USA: Fears that the recent slowdown in the US economy would drastically affect the top end of the art market were to some extent realised at New York’s Impressionist and Modern sales last week.

Work to transform and modernise the Hôtel Drouot has been delayed for a third time due to “technical and material constraints” and will now begin in March/April 2002 and last until September next year.

Salvo Guide 2000, by Thornton Kay

One of the high points of Bonhams & Brooks’ May 2 sale in the London Islamic Series of sales was a 10in (25cm) square Isnik tile, pictured, dated to c.1580.

UK: Sotheby’s has strongly denied newspaper claims that its New Bond Street headquarters are up for sale, but a senior executive did confirm that the company has valued its other property in preparation for the move to Olympia this September.

Such is the ubiquity of lamp bases that have been converted from vases that rarely does one encounter a genuine collector’s item in this field, but this abstracted stoneware example produced for the Atlantis range of Poole pottery in the early 1970s, was a refreshing discovery. consigned to the Applied Arts sale at Sotheby’s South (15/10 per cent buyer’s premium) near Billingshurst on March 27.

Dennis Tito is evidently not the only American millionaire with a fascination for space exploration.

USA: IT involves a rather longer trip than to North Yorkshire, but among the world’s top events celebrating ethnographic arts and crafts The New York International Tribal Antiques Show will run at the Seventh Regiment Armory, Park Avenue and 67th St, from May 20 to 23 with a $75 evening benefit preview on Saturday May 19.

UK: Moroccan textiles were the strong suit in Christie’s South Kensington’s May 4 sale of Islamic and Indian textiles, none more so than this impressive 2ft 3in x 8ft x6in (70cm x 2.6m) silk-embroidered linen ceremonial panel dated to the 18th century and worked with striking abstract designs.