News

Sotheby’s (20/15/10% buyer’s premium) offered buyers two sporting sales last month, on July 18 and 19, with the first day devoted to a large golfing section plus a mix of other sports, while the subsequent session comprised 200 lots of pictures, objects and ephemera devoted to equestrian sports.

Today’s national cricket teams jet around the world to their Test series by plane, but back in the early 20th century the cruise liner was the chosen mode of transport.

UK: THE Antiques Trade Gazette has been given an exclusive preview of Sotheby’s new saleroom at Olympia. With 120 men a day working onsite to meet the September 3 deadline, prior to the first sale on September 18, one can see it is going to be very impressive indeed.

Minton’s majolica is currently riding high with collectors who appreciate its bright colours and distinctive, often quirkily clever designs. But there is much more to Minton than its majolica, as a loan exhibition currently on show at Phillips New Bond Street rooms aims to show.

FRANCE: THE make-up of the Conseil des Ventes, the new auction watchdog to vet all companies wishing to stage auctions in France, has been announced far quicker than expected.

June saw the fourth and final episode in the dispersal of the Ken Smith Collection of Staffordshire pot lids and Prattware by Reading auctioneers Special Auction Services (15% buyer’s premium inc. vat). The 240 lots from the collection, mainly four items per lot, formed part of the 1000-lot event over the weekend of June 9 & 10 and contributed £47,400 to the hammer total of £207,500 for the whole collection of which only a remarkable 23 lots failed to get away.

Illustrated right are three of the 215 lots that made up the collection formed by Bob Scoales, a member of the Japan Society sold at Dominic Winter, Swindon on June 20-21. • Though many of the books naturally refer to Japan’s earlier history, most were written in the wake of Perry’s US naval expedition of 1850-52 and the opening up of the country to foreigners, but one notable exception was a Narrative of My Captivity in Japan in the Years 1811-13 by Captain V.M. Golownin.