Dealers

MARK Law, the former chairman of Partridge Fine Art, has issued a statement confirming his intent to sue the previous owners of the Bond Street dealership for the money he has laid out for the purchase of the firm since 2005.

THE extraordinary saga over Partridge Fine Art has taken another twist with a legal row over claims of long-term systematic fraud and faking by the Bond Street dealership.

LONDON art dealers Agnew’s, who were founded in 1817, mark the new year with a new chief executive, new gallery and a new direction.

LONDON-based organisers Brian and Anna Haughton are first off the mark in announcing top names who have signed up for one of the numerous events vying for exhibitors in June 2010.

AFTER nearly 50 years as a dealer, Tobias Jellinek makes no apology for having written what he describes as “a practical book” about early English chairs, stools and other seating rather than a furniture history book.

LEADING London art dealer Richard Green is in the process of demolishing his Old Masters gallery at 33 New Bond Street, prior to completely rebuilding a new five-storey gallery.

IT all seemed done and dusted as the galleries were cleared and the landlords put To Let signs in the front window. But now it appears there may be life in the Partridge name yet, as an unnamed consortium announced last week that it had acquired the brand.

THE removal men descended on New Bond Street last week to begin the task of clearing out the stock at Partridge. By the morning of Friday, September 4, the biggest object left in the window was a large roll of bubblewrap being used to pack up the antiques for loading onto several lorries parked along the street.

Mallett have put on hold plans to leave Bond Street. In the wake of a massive rent rise last year, the London dealers announced their intended departure from the luxury goods thoroughfare, but they have been unable to pass on the lease of the building.

PARTRIDGE Fine Art chairman Mark Law has told ATG that the firm’s bank called in administrators after giving him only 90 minutes notice to pay off their £3m loan facility.

PARTRIDGE Fine Art, the landmark Bond Street dealership in business for more than 100 years, went into administration this week.

SLEEPER spotter Philip Mould has unveiled his latest discovery – an early Thomas Gainsborough landscape of Ipswich painted in the mid to late 1740s.

BOND Street dealership Mallett have replaced chief executive Lanto Synge in the wake of the company’s weakening performance and rising costs.

Top London antique furniture and works of art dealers Mallett are to leave their landmark Bond Street shop and find new premises in the Mayfair area. One of the few antiques and art dealers quoted on the London Stock Exchange, Mallett told shareholders the proposed move was a result of a massive rent hike and the changing character of the street.

THE premises of two London dealers were targeted by thieves over the same weekend at the end of last month.

Colnaghi-Bernheimer of London and Salomon Lilian of Amsterdam have unveiled a rare religious painting by the Dutch 17th century master Frans Hals.

DEALERS in West London were relieved at the decision by Mayor Boris Johnson to abolish the western extension zone of the congestion charge introduced last year by his predecessor Ken Livingstone.

ANTIQUES dealers are being warned against using unfamiliar courier companies that they find through web directories.

WHEN Jeremy and Hotspur, two of London’s best-known furniture dealerships, announced in the late summer that they were shutting up shop and selling off their remaining stock, few could have predicted the ensuing market slump. Both dealerships, who intend to continue as consultants, must have had their fingers crossed at Christie’s on November 20, when the sale took place.

MAYFAIR dealers Sampson & Horne are moving out of their premises at 120 Mount Street, London W1 and next week from December 4 to 6 hold a three day Moving Sale at the shop.