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Art and antiques news from 2004

In 2004 Nicholas Bonham left Bonhams. It was the first time there was no family member on the board in the firm's history.
 
A blaze at Momart's London warehouse destroyed about £40 million of art including important contemporary and Modern pictures.
 
A crowd of more than 800 people in the saleroom watched as Young Lady Seated at the Virginals, a newly acknowledged work by Johannes Vermeer, sold at Sotheby's for £14.5 million.
 

Angling instructions and confessions...

01 April 2004

THE first day of the March 13-14 angling sale held by Mullock Madeley at Ludlow Racecourse was devoted to the literature of the sport. Seen right is one of two complete runs of The Creel from the years 1963-67 that sold at £200 and £210. A set of all bar one of the ...How to Catch Them series, all in dust jackets and all bar the Pike book first editions, sold at £460.

Man and Ape

01 April 2004

Edward Tyson’s Orang-outang, sive homo sylvestris: Or, the anatomy of a pygmiecompared with that of a monkey, an ape, and a man... was the first work to demonstrate scientifically the structural relationships between man and anthropoid ape and one which had a powerful influence on subsequent thoughts on man’s place in nature – albeit the orang-outang on which his work was based was actually a young chimpanzee.

Cheffins swell SOFAA’s ranks

31 March 2004

CHEFFINS of Cambridge have joined the Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers, swelling the association’s ranks of auction firm members to 34, including many of the biggest names in the business.

The £11,000 dining table too big for a council house

31 March 2004

THE market for 19th century mahogany furniture remains, as Gloucestershire auctioneer Martin Lambert observed after Taylor & Fletcher, Humberts (10% buyer's premium) successful 455-lot mixed February 24 sale, extremely selective. But that is not a euphemism for moribund.

Christie’s post world sales of £1.2bn for 2003

31 March 2004

CHRISTIE'S have announced worldwide sales totalling £1.2bn ($2bn) for 2003. This includes auction sales of £1.1bn ($1.8bn) and private sales of £90m ($150m).

Kashmir necklace sold at Dreweatt Neate

31 March 2004

Few pieces of Victorian jewellery have survived in such sparkling condition as this Kashmir sapphire and diamond necklace which sold at Dreweatt Neate’s Donnington Priory saleroom near Newbury last week for £240,000 (plus 15/10% premium) – the highest ever price for jewellery at a provincial saleroom.

Tax changes may force sale of valuable works of art

31 March 2004

FAMILIES with valuable homes and art collections may face extreme hardship and even bankruptcy after the Chancellor tore up the rule book on inheritance in the Budget.

PREVIEW

31 March 2004

A letter written and signed by Jean Harlow, which reveals an unexpectedly sensitive side to Hollywood’s original Blonde Bombshell, will go on sale at Byrne’s of Chester on Wednesday (March 31).

The cup that cheers... with Manchester engineers

31 March 2004

YOU don’t see detailed architectural scenes that often on English porcelain. Such pieces are much more the preserve of Continental factories like Meissen, Sèvres or, most notably, Berlin. Their smooth, hard paste provides a better ground for the highly detailed, crisp painting these subjects demand. However, if topography is to be found on English porcelain, it is most likely be encountered on wares from the Derby factory which came nearest to emulating the Continental firms.

Changing times and traditional magic

31 March 2004

GRANTHAM auctioneers Golding Young, like many provincial operations, are changing their sales format this year, moving from specific “antique” sales and “general” sales to more inclusive events to meet the changing scene.

Expansionist policies paying off... Solid day’s buying at Shrewsbury after auctioneers widen appeal to vendors

31 March 2004

WEEKLY antique valuation days at their recently opened estate agency in Welshpool have begun to pay dividends for Shrewsbury-based auctioneers Halls (15% buyer's premium), and specialist Jeremy Lamond hopes that the firm’s presence there will help broaden their Welsh client base.

Luxembourg sells her stake

31 March 2004

DANIELLA Luxembourg has launched her own private art dealership, Luxembourg Art, after selling her stake in auction house Phillips, de Pury and Luxembourg to partner Simon de Pury.

Moorcroft on top as dollar rate hits Doulton bids

31 March 2004

THE figures after Louis Taylor's (12.5% buyer's premium) March 8 & 9 sale at the Hanley salerooms added to auctioneer Clive Hillier’s belief that the whole antiques scene is considerably brighter now than it was last year. “The sale went better than I expected and comes on top of our generally weekly sales regularly totalling £20,000 to £25,000 against the £12,000-15,000 they used to take,” he said.

Sharpe’s the word: TV exposure and changes in rules raise sights of arms buyers

31 March 2004

NOT every auctioneer, and certainly not every dealer, is happy with the coverage given to the antiques trade on television, but Norfolk auctioneers Holts (15% buyer's premium), who hold their specialist sales of antique and sporting guns in the suitably militaristic Duke of York’s Headquarters in Chelsea, have cause to be grateful for one TV series.

Basement plasters spark bidding duel

31 March 2004

THREE large Art Deco plaster panels, two details shown right, which had lain unseen and unloved in the basement of a London property for years, had an extraordinary appeal which eluded both their owners and cataloguers judging by their reception at Wotton Auction Rooms (15% buyer’s premium).

Jewellery provides the Dorset stars

31 March 2004

ALTHOUGH there were no blockbusters at the 778-lot February 20 sale at Charterhouse (15% buyer's premium), neither were there many casualties, with 86 per cent of the sale finding buyers.

Anglo-Dutch battle across board for India won at £13,500

23 March 2004

IF the performance of the 52-lot clock section of Bristol Auction Rooms (15% buyer's premium) March 2 sale was anything to go by, this firm’s reputation for selling timepieces is gathering pace.

Another five-figure bid underlines Jane Vivian as a name to notice

23 March 2004

The well-worn cliché about everyone in the trade wanting to buy the same few pictures was certainly in evidence at the March 9 sale of British and Continental pictures at Bonhams (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) at Knightsbridge when this highly commercial oil-on-canvas view of the Piazzatta, Venice, indistinctly signed Viviani, came under the hammer with a highly tempting estimate of £2000-3000.

Architect donates 600-work collection to Pallant gallery

23 March 2004

THE architect of the newly built British Library is to donate 600 art works collected over 50 years to the nation. Professor Sir Colin St John Wilson will hand over the gift to Pallant House Gallery in Chichester via the National Art Collections Fund (Art Fund), the UK’s leading independent art charity.

London Asian fair cancelled

23 March 2004

ORGANISERS Brian and Anna Haughton have cancelled this summer’s London Asian Art Fair citing trade uncertainties over The Dealing in Cultural Objects (Offences) Act as the reason.