Art and antiques news from 2007

MORE details have emerged of how Sotheby’s are repositioning themselves to compete at the top end of the art market.

One of the highlights of this year’s TEFAF (The European Fine Art Fair) in Maastricht was this delightful Chinese Warring States bronze wine pourer formed as a tapir on the stand of St James’s, London Oriental specialists Littleton and Hennessy.

Photo-london, the four-year-old specialist photograph fair that takes place annually in May, has a new owner, a new venue and a new slant.

DETAILS have been released of the two new Middle East fairs at Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Organised by British company Turret Middle East Ltd, the fairs director is Fran Foster, who for a decade put together the Antiques For Everyone fairs at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre.

THE spotlight turned onto the vintage wine market last week after reports emerged concerning the sale of fake bottles. Media speculation has followed the launch of an FBI investigation into whether sellers knowingly sold counterfeit wines for up to $100,000 a bottle despite doubts about their authenticity.

SPECIAL FOCUS: ST ALBANS ANTIQUES CENTREST ALBANS’ last remaining shop selling antiques may be forced out of business if a planning application for its change of use to a restaurant is approved.

Buyers and sellers in collusion case set for $93.5m pay day

On March 6, amid a scrum of journalists and anoraks, Bonhams sold the Angels collection of stage and screen costume including Obi Wan Kenobi’s hooded cloak from the original Star Wars film, knocked down below expectations at £45,000.

LAPADA’s latest survey has indicated a general improvement of fortunes for UK art and antiques dealers.

There are signs that many other member states are waking up to Britain’s warning of the threat of droit de suite, or the artists’ resale right, to the European art market.

SIR Harry Newton (1871-1951), whose library provided some of the finest things in a £730,000 book sale held by Duke’s of Dorchester on March 8, was an adherent of the old ‘Cabinet’ school of collecting – buying key works of literature and science.

FOR the third successive year, dealers from the UK’s two major antiquarian bookselling organisations, ABA and PBFA have combined forces at the Edinburgh Book Fair which this year takes place on March 23 and 24 in Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms.

Renowned Tudor historian and TV personality Dr David Starkey has discovered what is almost certainly the first and only known surviving portrait of Lady Jane Grey to be painted in her lifetime.

A COURT injunction against eBay is forcing the online giant to vet all Harry Potter titles before they are posted on their Indian site.

THE London trade can breathe a sigh of relief. The British Art Market Federation (BAMF) have won their battle to stop a new Government Bill introducing draconian measures to regulate the capital’s dealers and auction houses.

THE value of art and antiques imported to the UK from outside the European Union soared by nearly a half in 2006.

The majolica market may have cooled a little since the white hot days of the 1990s but rarities still have the capacity to command imposing sums at auction.

Lure of top-end art proves too tempting

BRIGHTON-based Geoff Rush runs Vinylman, the pomotions company which organises the Brighton Record Fair.

THE imminent smoking ban and the government’s attempts to tackle binge drinking wouldn’t have gone down too well with the Reffley Brethren.