Art and antiques news from 2005

The recent arrest of Sheikh Saud Al-Thani of Qatar appears to mark the end of a remarkable one-man, eight-year spending spree in the global art market.

Unusually large at 2ft 2in (66cm) high x 21in (53cm) in diameter and notable for its carved scallop shell intaglio, this outstanding George III mahogany and brass bound peat bucket shot to €145,000 (£106,600) at James Adam of Dublin on March 15.

A newly-discovered Coalport design book will be among the highlights of Geoffrey Godden’s Special Connoisseurs Meeting on March 29-31.

2005 looks set to be a bumper year for single-owner sales organised by the London rooms.

After over 50 years as arms and armour auctioneers in the centre of Birmingham – and an association with the city of close to one and half centuries – Weller & Dufty are to close.

THE opportunities for the art and antiques trade in the current retail market are fundamentally good. This is the conclusion drawn by Paul Flatters of the Future Foundation.

The Fine Art Society unveiled the final part of its year-long makeover on Tuesday, March 14 when they opened their new lower gallery.

YEAR-END results for Sotheby’s show a $100m-plus turnaround in profitability for 2004. It’s a figure that many will take as a sign that the formerly ailing auction house has finally shaken off the spectre of scandal and debt.

Hislop’s Art Sales Index, one of the oldest art price databases, has been sold to arts publisher LTB Holding Ltd.

THE management team of IFAE’s Palm Beach shows is to take on new responsibilities as Lorenzo Rudolf takes on a new role in the organisation.

Douglass & Aikman’s Almanack and Register for the Island of Jamaica..., printed in Kingston in 1780, contains a ‘Kalendar of Months, Sabbaths and Holy Days, the Hebrews or Jews observe & keep...’ as well as the names of Jewish holidays in English and Hebrew type and is one of the very earliest instances of Hebrew types being used in the Western hemisphere in publications intended to be used by Jews – Ann Woodland’s almanac of the previous year having been the first.

Headlining proceedings at Andrew Hartley, Ilkley on February 16-17 was a pair of late 18th century 8in (20cm) barrelled pistols by Ketland & Co, formerly in the prestigious collection of Keith Neal, dispersed by Christie's South Kensington in 2000 and 2001.

GORRINGES were celebrating a house record last Thursday following the sale of a rediscovered late work by John William Godward (1858-1922) for £440,000.

SCOTLAND Yard is to put a £500,000 Aladdin’s Cave of stolen antiques on show after a two-year investigation into a £30m burglary ring.

SPRING Olympia, held from March 1 to 6 at the West London exhibition centre, changed its name this year to Fine Art, Design & Antiques and, although around half of the 170 or so exhibitors had traditional antiques, the 20th century design and contemporary look dominated.

TRADE minister Lord Sainsbury has told the House of Commons culture committee that implementing Droit de Suite effectively and comparatively cheaply is now the big challenge facing the Government.

A named designer and good provenance sent this oak refectory table and benches, right, to the highest price at Woolley & Wallis’ sale on March 2.

WITH their new magazine-format catalogues and weekend viewings and sales, Christie’s (20/12% buyer’s premium) are currently making a conscious effort to present themselves to the buying public as a customer-friendly art and antiques retailer.

by Richard FalkinerThe calendar year gets off to an early start with sales in New York in January and then nothing much happens until spring is heralded by March. Nature abhors a vacuum and there is always somebody who fills the slot.

THE new-style collectors’ sales held by Greenslade Taylor Hunt (15% buyer’s premium) at Taunton are proving a winning format, with wide-ranging, briefly catalogued but illustrated lots with low reserves.