Art and antiques news from 2003

UK: THE Thames Valley Antique Dealers’ Association have cancelled their Spring Fair at the Blue Coat School, Sonning-on-Thames, Berkshire. The fourth staging was scheduled for April 4 to 6.

CHRISTIE’S have negotiated the sale of a major collection of watercolours of Greece by Edward Lear to the nation in lieu of tax. The 32 pictures come from the estate of the late Sir Steven Runciman and are expected to go the National Galleries of Scotland.

In November of last year this documentary Chamberlain’s Worcester ‘D’ shaped bough pot and cover sold at a West Country saleroom to a private collector and sometime dealer for £2700.

Wiltshire auctioneers Finan & Co., have carved out a niche for themselves by steering clear of brown furniture and 19th century porcelain and offering slightly more exotic fare.

BELGIUM: LIEGE was an important silver centre in the 18th century under its wealthy prince bishops, so it is no surprise that these days the city hosts some of Belgium’s leading silver sales.

CHOCOLATES and roses will be bought by the ton over the days leading up to St. Valentine’s on February 14. But for those looking for a more novel way of pleasing a loved one, Grays Antique Market in Mayfair offers plenty of scope.

It’s QUESTIONABLE how much influence a piece of furniture could have upon the writer using it, but certainly when the writer in question is Graham Greene, a writer of that fame can certainly influence the fate of a piece of furniture.

Twenty one lots in Bonhams’ marine sale on January 22 came from the collection of the late John Foster, celebrated yachtsman and yachting enthusiast. The bulk of these were paintings but there were also three non-pictorial entries: a pair of carved wooden Prince of Wales feathers from Edward VII’s yacht Osborne, which fetched £1100, and the two silver racing trophies pictured here, which represented significant mementoes of racing history from both sides of the Atlantic.

A number of auctioneers have reported their best sales of the year in December and the North Cornish firm of Kivells (10% buyer’s premium) were in that happy position following their sale at Bude, on December 12. It was not merely the best of the year but their best sale ever.

Ireland’s Painters 1600-1940 by Anne Crookshank and the Knight of Glin, published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, by Yale University Press. ISBN 03000987654 £40h/b

LONDON: PIMLICO, SW1 has long been a prime London area for antique hunting, but now it is gaining an increasingly high profile as an international centre for decorative work of all descriptions.

The future of the Red House, the seminal Arts and Crafts building designed for William Morris by architect Philip Webb in 1859, was secured by the National Trust last month.

FRESH from a buoyant January debut in West London, Caroline Penman moves north from February 13 to 16 for her provincial flagship event, The Spring Chester Antiques and Fine Art Show at the County Grandstand, Chester Racecourse.

Dictionary of Irish Artists: 20th Century by Theo Snoddy, Merlin Publishing ISBN 1 903582 17 2 £50 (€70) h/b

AS Christie’s and Bonhams followed Sotheby’s in announcing new commission structures last week, Bonhams emerged with the most attractive terms for buyers and added a new incentive for sellers at their Bond Street rooms.

Lorenzo R. Rudolf has been appointed vice president of International Fine Art Expositions, the David Lester-run fair organising business now owned by dmg world media. Mr Rudolf was the driving force behind ArtBasel for over 10 years before leaving in 1999 to become the director for the Frankfurt Book Fair. He also conceived and set in motion the plans for ArtBasel Miami Beach, launched in December.

UK: Hamptons’ sale of Antiquarian & Modern Books and Maps at 11am on Thursday, February 13 will be a sad occasion both for the auctioneers and local book buyers. For years Thorpe’s of Guildford, under the late Charles Traylen, have been a familiar face at Hamptons auctions, and for much longer local bibliophiles have spent many a happy hour in the first floor barn of a room at the shop.

One of London’s best known department stores, Peter Jones of Sloane Square, has been accepted as a member of LAPADA. It is not well known that the SW1 store includes a flourishing antiques department and has done for more than 90 years.

Luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault finally abandoned his attempt to compete with Christie’s and Sotheby’s at the top end of the art market last week when he sold his remaining 27.5 per cent stake in troubled auction house Phillips to its joint chief executives Simon de Pury and Daniella Luxembourg.

STRANGE to associate the HMV label in any way with fishing, but one of the highlights of Holt’s March 6 sale at the Duke of York’s Barracks, Chelsea, will be this rare copy of Tarpomania – the madness of fishing, written in 1908 by the industrialist and founder of His Master’s Voice, Eldridge Reeves Johnson.