Art and antiques news from 2003

Netherlandish Sculpture 1450-1550 by Paul Williamson, published by V&A Publications. ISBN ISBN 1851773738 £25hb

UK: POLICE have announced that they won’t be launching a full investigation into Stonegate Antiques Centre owner Anthony Gilberthorpe. Following their preliminary inquiries, Detective Constable Clive Rich, of North Yorkshire Police, said the force would not be conducting further investigations into either Mr Gilberthorpe or the centre in York.

“Stunning” was how auctioneer Ian Wright of Sheffield Railwayana Auctions (no buyer’s premium) described his December 7 sale. Taking £555,703 over the 550-lots, of which only six were left unsold, the sale showed how this buoyant market just keeps getting stronger and stronger.

The Tribal Arts of Africa by Jean-Baptiste Bacquart, published by Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0500282315 £18.95pb

Peter Waldron, senior silver expert and senior director of Sotheby’s Europe, retired at the end of last year after a 36-year career with the company and 29 years at the rostrum.

Monet at Vétheuil 1878-1883 by David Joel, published by the Antique Collectors Club. ISBN 1851494235 £25hb

John Ruskin, by Tim Hilton, published by Yale University Press. ISBN 0300090994 £14.99pb

THE future of the Trading Art Group Ltd, a company set up to hold sales of remaindered art, is in the balance after creditors complained about unpaid bills. The principals of the TAG venture, Michael Roosen and Greg Ward, were unavailable for comment last week. Mr Roosen held a TAG sale in 2000, a venture which failed and had angry dealers attempting in vain to get recompense for damaged stock.

FOUNDED in 1976, Caroline Penman’s West London Antiques and Fine Art Fair, which will be held from January 16 to 19 at Kensington Town Hall, W8, is now a new year institution and its famously friendly atmosphere has for some time been a gentle way of getting some good dealers back on to the year’s fairs circuit.

WELSH organisers Robert and Carol Pugh, who operate as Towy Antiques Fairs, finished last year with a flourish when their pre-Christmas Carmarthen Fair at the local showground proved surprisingly successful.

Seen here are two lots from the Ronald A. Cohen collection of Books, Prints and Objects illustrative of the History of Dentistry and Teeth, a 674-lot sale held by Bonhams on December 10.

FOR a decade LAPADA, our largest antiques association, has held its winter showcase event at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham and indeed the Birmingham LAPADA Antiques and Fine Art Fair has become the favourite out-of-London fair for a good many exhibitors.

THREE new dealers have moved into Alfie’s Antique Market in London’s Marylebone, bringing the total number of shops in one of London’s most popular and innovative centres up to 80.

JOSTLING for space on the January fairs calendar, Cooper Antiques Fairs get their year under way with The North Cotswolds Antiques Fair at Stanway House on January 11 and 12.

In an Old Master week when major-name masterworks were in short supply, the appearance of two of only four known drawings by El Greco (1541-1614) at Bonhams’ (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) December 9 Old Master Drawings sale understandably attracted plenty of attention.

One of the more mysterious objects at Lyon and Turnbull’s (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) decorative arts sale in Edinburgh on November 6 was this Art Nouveau pewter table lamp. Auctioneer John Mackie could not comment on why the futuristic design, measuring 2ft (60.5cm) high and apparantly unmarked, should have eclipsed a forecast of £300-500 and reached £6500.

CHESHIRE auctioneers Peter Wilson, (15% buyer’s premium) found it hard going at their November 27-28 sale at Nantwich with only 60 per cent of the 720 lots getting away – but where obvious quality was on offer, bidders were keen enough.

A £42,500 grant from the National Art Collections Fund (Art Fund), the UK’s largest independent art charity, has helped the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside acquire an English astronomical table clock (1787) by Thomas Barry (1756-c.1820).

Another instalment from the holdings of well-known collector Stanley J. Seeger went under the hammer at Sotheby’s Olympia rooms on December 13. This 352-lot offering, subtitled Out Takes, was a particularly eclectic selection, ranging from contemporary Venetian glass and tribal art to Middle Eastern pottery and Victorian chaises longues.

A cased pair of gold and lucite cigarette boxes was given a full-page colour illustration in a catalogue produced by Doyle for an October 8 sale of jewellery, but I was a little surprised that no other attempt was made to bolster its association value.