International

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.

As of June 1, Sotheby’s auctions in New York and London will be subject to new buyer’s premium thresholds that will hit further buyers of ‘middle range’ art and antiques.

THE gargantuan sums of money being spent at the top end of the contemporary art market continued unabated as the latest sales series in New York saw a staggering overall premium-inclusive total of $990m.

Fears that New York’s flagship May sales might usher in a market meltdown were allayed last week as Sotheby’s and Christie’s posted solid results for Impressionist and Modern art.

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.

Two auctioneers, two Gérôme sculptures, but two very different estimates

After weeks of legal wrangling, permission has finally been granted to sell property from the bankrupt Manhattan Old Master dealership Salander-O'Reilly Gallery.

Auctioneer unhappy about need to opt out at short notice

The Louvre have secured the return of a French Crown Jewel after 121 years, through a private sale with Christie’s New York.

CONCERN over credit rules in New York has led a lawyer to draw up guidelines to protect the rights of anyone consigning art to dealers for sale there.

Nearly two years after its rushed introduction in the Republic of Ireland, the Artist’s Resale Right is still causing confusion among auctioneers, dealers, artists and aministrators.

A world record price for a comic-strip illustration was paid at a specalist sale at Artcurial in Paris on March 29: Georges Remi Hergé’s 1932 ink-and-gouache design for the cover of Tintin en Amérique.

THE French government’s change of heart over the Artist’s Resale Right is being hailed a sea change by fellow ‘anti’ campaigners.

An image that may rewrite the history of photography has been withdrawn from a Sotheby’s New York sale pending further research.

A pair of Dutch library globes by the man regarded as father of western globe making, Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638), now rank the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction in Holland.

FRENCH culture minister Christine Albanel has announced a major overhaul of France’s auction system to meet President Sarkozy’s urgent call to “turn the French art market around”.

Organisers Artexis have cut Belgium's Eurantica fair from ten days to five next month.

Everyone knows about the legendary TEFAF waiting list. The pre-eminence of Maastricht among international art fairs means spaces at the town’s congress and exhibition centre in March are as rare as hens’ teeth.

Three Europeans and four Americans have been charged following the breaking of two international rings involved in the manufacture and distribution of fake 20th century prints.

The highlight of the Asia week series of auctions put on by the major salerooms was an impressive early Japanese wood sculpture of Buddha. It set a new auction high for a Japanese work of art when it was hammered down to the Japanese company Mitsukoshi Co Ltd for $12.8m (£6.7m) plus premium in Christie’s sale of Japanese and Korean art on March 18.