Art and antiques news from 2002

SOLD at £1200 to Jarndyce in this sale of photographs, historical documents, autographs and ephemera was an 1838 manuscript of The Student, a play by Frederick Bate.

A pair of ornamental blue and gold vases made by the Manufacture Impériale in St Petersburg (c.1825-30) soared to €520,000 (£335,000) at Beaussant-Lefèvre on April 10.

USA: New York may boast the nation’s glitziest antiques fairs in terms of snaring top-tier collectors and socialites, but The 41st Philadelphia Antiques Show tops virtually every single fair when it comes to choice Americana and folk art. Even dealers who participate in New York’s Winter Antiques Show praise the Pennsylvania event. “It’s the best show for Americana,” says Edwin Hild of Olde Hope Antiques based in nearby Bucks County.

THE strength of the Irish picture market will be tested in May when Sotheby’s and Christie’s hold their annual Irish sales in London. Recent sales in Ireland indicate things look promising, and that interest is still strong Stateside was confirmed at Dennis Auction Service (10% buyer’s premium) in Stewartsville, New Jersey on March 9 sale when this early work, right, by Jack Butler Yeats (1871-1957) came up for auction.

...in Massachusetts: START your engines… there’s just time to race over to America for a chance to own one of the smartest little sports cars around.

OFFERED as part of a March 28 sale held by Pacific Book Auctions was a set of six porcelain plaques painted by John Tenniel with characters from Alice in Wonderland.

SWITZERLAND: A mammoth four-day mixed sale of just under 2700 lots was held in Zürich by Galerie Koller (18%/16%/12% buyer’s premium) from March 19–23. This comprised furniture, carpets, decorative arts, jewellery, clocks, fine art and books and the auctioneers felt that the results confirmed the stability of the market for material of the best quality.

Royal Doulton and Moorcroft collectors are always in abundance at these sales in the heart of the Potteries, and if their specialisms within their subjects sometimes make for hard going at the rostrum, the increasing demand for Royal Albert pieces was well catered for.

The former chairmen of Sotheby’s and Christie’s faced different but equally humiliating fates last week following the auction house price-fixing scandal.

Over the last six months Amersham Auction Rooms have reported an increase in prices for ceramics and collectables in contrast to static or falling bids placed for furniture.

PRESSURE from the British Art Market Federation has persuaded the Government to relax Import VAT rules on art that are thought to have damaged legitimate trade.

AUCTIONEER Andrew Hartley has been holding biannual toy sales for a decade but the last few years has seen them grow in strength. Totals have risen steadily from around £40,000 several years ago to the £66,000 mark achieved at their most recent 650-lot sale which boasted a 95 per cent take-up.

THE British Museum is being advised to sell off up to a fifth of its ‘spare’ exhibits to raise funds. The museum is already being forced to sell off valuable property and shed up to 180 jobs – including vital conservation posts – to stave off bankruptcy a year before its 250th anniversary.

ROBERT Lenkiewicz, one of Britain’s most controversial artists, has been burgled for the third time in five weeks in what is widely believed to be a ‘stolen to order’ theft.

“It was like the 1970s all over again,” said John Benjamin of Woolley and Wallis, describing the breadth of quality at his jewellery sale in Salisbury on April 24-25.

This marquetry panel, right, was one of the distinguishing features of a much-altered kingwood bonheur du jour which highlighted Dreweatt Neate’s (15 per cent buyer’s premium) furniture and works of art sale on March 27.

One of only a few thousand produced, a 1935 Dinky Coachcraft, streamlined van, led this specialist toy sale in Sussex at Wallis and Wallis on 18 March.

CONSULTANTS at Christie’s have had it spelled out that they may not bid on lots when they have been privy to confidential information about them through their consultancy.

Auctioneers’ society aims to extend its influence and admit valuers as members: THE Society of Fine Art Auctioneers, concerned over the RICS decision to derecognise the Southampton Institute training courses for the trade, is to vote on approving them itself.

ITALY: Spring has been slow to bring a little sunshine to the auction world in Italy, with rather lacklustre sales for Finarte and Semenzato’s opening moves. It will remain to be seen whether the scandal that has enveloped Corbelli, majority shareholder of Semenzato and chairman of Finarte, will affect the performance of the auction houses (that are not accused of any wrongdoing) in the more important sales later in the season.