“Without the protests and the media attention I know we would not have so easily got this excellent outcome.”
International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) president Sally Burdon after Amazon-owned Abebooks agreed to reverse the decision to pull out of countries including Czech Republic, Hungary, South Korea and Russia. Abebooks’ climbdown followed a boycott of the site by more than 500 dealers which saw more than 3.5m books temporarily removed from the site.
“He was a polymath as a collector, but his main area was comics. The fun thing was he was a comic who collected comics.”
Owner of Comic Book Auctions Malcolm Phillips on the Bob Monkhouse (1928-2003) collection that the firm are selling in a timed auction running from November 14-25.
“I’ve been a dealer all my life so I know the pitfalls. In this show the contestants are investing their own money and we are buying at auction. This is the right way around compared to other shows so hopefully real-life dealers and the trade will appreciate that.”
TV presenter and antiques specialist Paul Martin, the former host of Flog It! speaking about his new show Make Me a Dealer, which made its debut on Monday November 5.
“As a global organisation we review our processes on a regular basis to ensure we remain the most trusted sales platform within the international marketplace. As such we have introduced a global vetting policy that is consistent across all our fairs and which meets the high standards that we set ourselves.”
Nanne Dekking, chairman of TEFAF Board of Trustees on the fair organiser’s decision to remove art dealers and auction house specialists from all TEFAF vetting panels.
“This auction shows us, without a shadow of a doubt, that people are willing to bid on, and buy, high-value pieces when they have sensible estimates.”
Fellows’ managing director Stephen Whittaker speaking about the firm’s largest auction so far this year with a hammer total reaching £1m. The sale included a 13.86ct emerald-cut diamond ring which was knocked down at £255,000.
