Dealers

A DEALER had £50,000 of jewellery stolen when his car was broken into after he returned from a fair in Birmingham. Thieves used the same modus operandi employed in previous thefts at Coinex and in Hatton Garden.

A NUMBER of dealers are having to leave The Van Arcade in Portobello Road after the owners issued a two-month notice to quit.

EBAY’S latest bid to tackle fraud – by insisting UK sellers accept payment via PayPal – has come under attack. Due to come into force on July 9, the online giant says it will help block fraudulent transactions and data theft.

A TRIPLE portrait of three Elizabethan girls that sold for £620,000 at Christie’s sale of the Simon Sainsbury Collection has now been identified as a picture of the Egerton sisters from c.1601-2.

A Kent dealer has received a two-year suspended sentence following a three-year international operation into ivory and whale-tooth smuggling. The case is the latest under Operation Charm, an ongoing campaign against the illegal trade in endangered species in London.

A Chelsea antiques dealer has been badly injured after taking on an armed gang who smashed up his premises. Ian Towning, the owner of the Bourbon-Hanby Antique Centre, was subjected to months of intimidation, before he fought back when three men wielding sledgehammers and carrying a gun robbed the centre in Sydney Street, London SW3 on the afternoon of Monday June 9.

THIS year’s Dealers vs Auctioneers chairty football match will take place on August 29 at the Bank of England Sports Club, Roehampton.

BRITISH pottery dealer Jonathan Horne has been appointed Master of the Guild of Arts Scholars, Dealers and Collectors.

A RADICAL shake-up in the overall organisation, marketing and direction of Palm Beach | America's International Fine Art & Antiques Fair is underway. It will guarantee the future security of the event as a premier American fixture for the next five years and bring in a number of top dealers as part of the organisation.

Partridge Fine Art are to roll out a summer programme of exhibitions and other events at their Bond Street gallery, playing host to major names in the art and antiques trade in the process.

One collection that Sotheby's and Christie's will not be selling this season is that of Ileana Sonnabend. In what has been described as the largest private sale of art ever, the heirs of the legendary New York dealer who died in October 2007 have recently parted with some $600m worth of paintings and sculptures (including Jeff Koons’ 1986 Rabbit valued at $80m) to cover their estate taxes.

AFTER suspending the membership of London dealer John Hobbs following allegations made against him in the press in early April, the British Antique Dealers’ Association have announced that Mr Hobbs has resigned from the association.

The leader of Islington Council has reaffirmed his commitment to supporting the dealers in The Mall in Camden Passage. This follows the decision by the planning committee to reject the landlord’s proposals to redevelop the antiques centre in the North London thoroughfare.

DEALERS and supporters of the antiques trade in Camden Passage are celebrating after Islington Council threw out the proposals to redevelop The Mall.

MARK Law and his fellow directors of Amor Holdings have completed their acquisition of Partridge of Bond Street about 18 months ahead of schedule.

ONE of London’s oldest and most traditional art dealerships, Agnew’s, has sold its historic galleries in Bond Street and will downsize its Old Master paintings department to concentrate on contemporary art.

The British Antique Dealers’ Association have suspended the membership of John Hobbs pending an inquiry into the allegations made against the Pimlico Road dealer in a national newspaper.

Kensington Church Street dealer Paul Reeves did a double-take at Sotheby’s earlier this month. As well as curating their March 20 mixed-owner decorative arts sale titled The Best of British, he also mounted a week-long selling exhibition of his own stock under the same title in their Bond Street Galleries.

The Art Loss Register (ALR) have defended their decision to mislead Kent dealer Michael Marks in the Souza paintings case after members of the trade expressed strong concern at the agency’s actions.

KENSINGTON and Chelsea council have told the landlords of Antiquarius to halt the building work that has split the King’s Road antiques centre in two. This comes after the building received a Grade II listing last week.