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The first Hobbits of the Year?

19 February 2001

UK: THE first serious outbreak of Hobbits of 2001 occurred in Hamptons’ Godalming salerooms on February 15, when a first edition set of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the three volumes of 1955-56 in first issue dust wrappers with some slight discolouration and chipping, sold at £11,000.

Lighting-up time...

19 February 2001

US: HIGHLIGHTS – in every sense – from the January 13 sale of Furniture & Decorations held by Sloans of Washington D.C. are pictured here.

Plucky bidders in a £10,500 battle

19 February 2001

UK: CONSIGNED by a private vendor who had played it regularly, this late 18th century harpsichord, right, by the prolific makers, Jacobus & Abraham Kirkham was the centre of attention at the Loughton, Essex rooms of Ambrose Auctioneers (15 per cent buyer's premium) on January 26.

Furniture buyers bid on only the better pieces

19 February 2001

American connection revolutionises a jug’s prospects UK: LOOKING at current trends in the furniture market, auctioneer Patrick Toynbee remarked on the reluctance among buyers for “run of the mill” pieces, with the preference now being for high-quality attractive pieces.

Double eagle has a happy landing at last

19 February 2001

US: A LONG-running legal dispute has been sorted out in the United States. Unusually for such a contest I understand that everybody is happy.

Revolutionary freesheets and a note from the King of Siam

19 February 2001

UK: ONE of a group of seven newspapers, plus a printed edict, issued in March 1917, at the outbreak of the Russian revolution, which sold for £400 (Hanson). They were apparently distributed free in the streets of Petrograd and these copies were acquired by Gertrude Hitchcock, who was there working for a British engineering company at the time.

Wodehouse's The Pothunters

19 February 2001

UK: SERIALISED in Public School magazine before appearing in book form in 1902, The Pothunters was P.G. Wodehouse’s first book, and this first issue copy in royal blue cloth with silver gilt decoration made £720 (Marchpane) in Swindon.

Poems monthly, or fanciful and nautical

19 February 2001

UK: POETRY was in the air for this first Hay sale of the new year.

Europeans dominate a shaky new surreal world

19 February 2001

UK: PRESIDING auctioneer Jussi Pylkkannen should surely have entered into the spirit of things by taking off his black bow tie and putting a bowler hat or a lobster on his head.

Valour diction

16 February 2001

British Campaign Medals, by Peter Duckers 1815-1914

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass and the top people’s vet…

16 February 2001

UK: Dr Leonard Levine, who died last year, was known on New York’s Upper East Side as the “Veterinarian to the Rich and Famous”, but he was also an avid Walt Whitman collector.

The art of painting craft

16 February 2001

Peter Monamy: 1681-1749 and His Circle by F B Cockett

Clock clean reveals a fine feat of Clay

12 February 2001

UK: SOTHEBY'S Barometers and Clocks sale at Billingshurst on February 1 was one of the few areas where Joe Marshall’s treasures did not make a showing but expert-in-charge Jonathan Hills happily remarked on the current strength of the market across the board for horology.

The magic of Rackham

12 February 2001

UK: IN 1905, the Leicester Galleries, regular show place for Arthur Rackham R.W.S. (1867-1939) introduced Rackham to J.M. Barrie and as they say, the rest is history.

Ceramics take high ground in Devon floods

12 February 2001

Lambeth tugs and Staffordshire jug bring in bidders UK: THE Devon branch of Bonhams & Brooks were undoubtedly pleased to have disposed of their ‘Fine Furniture, Clocks and Objects’ before the floods, but in fact the weather did not seem to affect turnout for what looked more like an end-of-year clearance in December.

British & Irish Sales 2000

12 February 2001

THERE are yet two major Sotheby’s sales of last December to report – the Travel & Map sale of December 14 and the English Literature & History sale of December 19 – but as there are no 2001 Sotheby’s sales scheduled until May, there is no fear of an overlap, and these sales aside, the three brief reports that appear below bring my wider coverage of the old year’s book sales to a close.

A view of the market from the sharp end…

12 February 2001

AS mentioned in recent issues of the Antiques Trade Gazette, some of the dotcom companies blazing the trail last year have gone very quiet in 2001. But that does not mean that all of them have gone under. In fact, in several cases, it is because they have had their heads down while they develop their businesses further and negotiate new funding deals.

Instruments play second fiddle to bows

12 February 2001

THE Bath auctioneers Gardiner Houlgate (15 per cent buyer's premium), who have made musical instruments a widely and well-regarded specialist subject, saw a respectable 70 per cent take-up for their 317-lot event on 1 December.

Aristocrats of design

12 February 2001

Robin & Lucienne Day: Pioneers of Contemporary Design by Lesley Jackson, published by Mitchell Beazley. ISBN 1840002395. £30 hb.

Colnaghi’s take the wider view...

12 February 2001

US: THE January Old Master week in New York offered the opportunity to buy some exceptional drawings, but none was more exceptional than this panoramic view of Dordrecht, above, the work of Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691) offered by Christie’s (17.5/10 per cent buyer’s premium) at their January 24 Old Master Drawings sale.

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