Art and antiques news from 2007

The Art Fund have announced the five £1m winners of Art Fund International, the scheme dedicated to building collections of international contemporary art at regional UK museums and galleries.

Aggressive estimates rather than a fallout from credit-market losses were responsible for the first ‘wobble’ in the international art market, say Sotheby’s.

FOUR men have been bailed until Ferbruary 25 next year following the police investigation into the theft of five L.S. Lowry paintings.

A FUNDING crisis means the Percival David Foundation collection of Chinese ceramics will move from the University of London’s School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS) to the British Museum.

THE Gilbert Collection is to move from Somerset House on London’s Embankment to the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington next year.

THE National Museum of Scotland have announced that they are to host the largest exhibition of Scottish silver ever seen.

Auction houses and antiques malls in the United States are reporting a surge in overseas buying on the internet thanks to the weak dollar.

BEARNE’S have been forced to withdraw a large number of lots relating to Lord Byron from their November 7 sale.

When the last of the 823 lots in the sale of the contents Ariane Dandois’ Gallery on the Faubourg St Honoré in Paris was hammered down by Sotheby’s on October 26, it provided a $32.2m (£16.9m) grand finale to a month of sales devoted to traditional areas of the decorative arts in New York.

PREVIOUSLY unpublished letters from the poet John Betjeman are to form part of the setting for a travelling display of early 20th century jewellery designer Helen Holmes at Bonhams.

Leading Florida auction business Arthur James Galleries of Delray Beach is for sale.

DATE changes for Arts of Pacific Asia at the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue mean the event effectively launches the 2008 New York Spring Asia Week.

A private San Francisco bank has emerged as one of the largest creditors of Salander-O’Reilly Galleries.

The descendants of James Thursby Pelham, a renowned early 20th century collector who was advised by R. W. Symonds, are in the process of selling some fine English furniture.

Two different pistols with very different stories sold at provincial auctions in the UK in October.

Collectors of Clarice Cliff have voiced their opposition to increased auctioneers’ charges with some refusing to attend Christie’s latest sale of the popular Art Deco pottery.

Fellows & Sons, the Birmingham-based auctioneers and valuers, are to expand their operation to London and have appointed Richard Slater to spearhead the initiative.

Sotheby’s have posted their highest price in Paris since the French auction market was opened to foreign firms in 2001.

FRENCH auctioneers are to hold their next open weekend of events on November 17-18.

SEAFAIR has postponed its second leg on America’s Eastern seaboard and returned to Florida to address mechanical issues encountered on the maiden voyage.