US

FAIRS organisers in New York plan to approach the city authorities with a view to getting events back on track as soon as possible. But they fear that with the continuing problems facing the city, it will be January at the earliest before suitable space can be found to resume anything close to a normal service.

Several auction records were broken when Christie’s New York sold the library of Abel E. Berland in an October 8-9 sale that saw 90 per cent of lots sold for a premium-inclusive total of $14.4m (£9.8m).

The imminent cessation of all sales – including wine – at Sotheby’s Chicago has left a gap in the Mid-West market that newly-established wine auctioneers Edward Roberts International are keen to fill. Brainchild of Edward Robert Brooks, the much-travelled head of Christie’s and the short-lived Phillips’ North American wine departments, Edward Roberts will mount their first live sale of fine and rare wines at The Union League Club of Chicago on Saturday, November 10.

MORE than 20 of New York’s top dealers who had signed up for the cancelled International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show are holding special selling exhibitions in their shops and galleries from October 18 to 23.

THE cataclysmic events of September 11 in New York have thrown into spasm a UK art market that was already showing worrying signs of slowdown both in terms of supply and demand.

Transit papers lost in terror attacks. UK shipping firms have reported cancellations from American dealers and a back-log of freight waiting to clear US customs in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on September 11.

DEALER antipathy and logistical problems have forced Anna and Brian Haughton to postpone their New York International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show after all.

USA: THE EVENTS of September 11 in New York had repercussions well beyond the city and its environs as antiques and collectables became a low priority for most Americans. Although most fairs did go ahead, a number were postoned or cancelled in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks and the effects on show schedules could stretch well into October and beyond.

USA: Sotheby’s is likely to cease all sales at its branch in Chicago after November 1. Around 19 of the office’s 31 employees will lose their jobs as Sotheby’s closes the auction house they bought from Leslie Hindman in 1997 and reverts to running just a consignment office in the Midwest capital.

IN the wake of the September 11 Manhattan tragedy there have been changes to the auction calendar in New York and some fairs may be affected. These changes will be updated as soon as we are aware of further postponements and cancellations. Last updated 19 Sept.

USA: As Sotheby’s scale down their operations in the American Midwest, the possiblity of a new auction powerhouse in the region has emerged as a group of investors seek to gain control of both Dargate Auction Rooms of Pittsburgh and the Cleveland-based eWolfs.

USA: WHEN Henry Koerner’s (1915-1991) oil on board Playing Pretend (21 x 2ft 1in) was offered on home soil at Dargate’s July 10-14 sale in Pittsburgh it made a substantial price, especially as the subject matter, impish children stuck in contorted poses, was commonly visited by the artist and is his most highly rated work.

A New York judge has set the date for the start of the trial of Sir Anthony Tennant and Alfred Taubman on price fixing charges.

ANOTHER New York City fair will be inaugurated this autumn when The Connoisseur’s Antiques Fair is launched by veteran New York organiser Sanford Smith at the 69th Regiment Armory, Lexington Avenue and 26th Street, from November 16 to 19.

A DISPUTE over rent and refurbishment could spell the end of ewolfs.com, the Ohio-based online auction house, who have shed 20 of their 24 staff and shut down temporarily in the crisis.

USA: Christie’s New York are relocating and restructuring a number of their departments in preparation for the assimilation of Christie’s East into the company’s Rockefeller headquarters.

US-based Ableauctions have made an offer to acquire fellow online auctions firm ICollector in a share swap deal that values ICollector at £9.8m ($13.9m).

AMONG the earlier travel books in the June 14 sale held by Pacific Book Auctions was a 1632 first edition of Bernal Diaz del Castillo’s famous first-hand account of the conquest of Mexico, Historia Verdadera de la Conquesta de la Nueva-España. An ex-Nottingham Free Library copy in a 20th century quarter morocco binding, it had stamps to the title and other pages and a few other shortcomings of condition, but it is an important work and sold at $5000 (£3625).

One would expect to see a Winchester 1873 ‘repeater’ holding up a bank in Santa Fe, not aimed at a tiger in the Indian Raj, but strangely enough it appears that Edward, Prince of Wales had more in common with outlaws like Angelo and Jesse James than previously realised.

dmg world media have continued their expansion in the United States with the acquisition of the Metrolina Antiques and Collectibles Fairs from GAH International Limited in Charlotte, North Carolina.