Auctions

THE FIRST oak and country sale of 2002 for Sotheby’s Olympia (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) took place on March 26 with just over 300 lots of furniture, metalware and decorative works of art and a smattering of textiles.

WITH 452 lots bringing around £43,000, this was a satisfactory enough Cheshire sale if sometimes hard work for Patrick Cheyne on 23 March.

A section of the Knightsbridge sale concerned with the law was strong on collections of sensational accounts of trials of a sexual nature, some dealing with serious assaults – like the account of a 1786 trial at East Grinstead of ...John Motherhill, for a Rape on the Body of Miss Catherine Wade, daughter of ..the Master of Ceremonies at Brighthelmstone which sold at £440 (Laywood) – others dealing with simple adultery, indiscretion or deception.

For many people the German city of Nuremberg is synonymous with some of the uglier scenes of the 20th century – Nazi rallies and war trials – but lovers of Renaissance art are fortunate in being able to overlook these late historical blemishes.

WITH nearly 300 ceramics and glass lots covering a range of interests, there was almost bound to be one surprise at this Midlands sale for Bonhams on 13 March.

Japanese and Korean sales: Although only Christie’s held a Japanese and Korean auction, trade and private buyers still came to New York to bid at auction and buy Japanese and Korean works of art at the fairs and from dealers’ exhibitions.

In today’s liberal society only the more prudish of eyes would blink at the notion of two women living together but back in 1778, when the notorious ‘Ladies of Llangollen’ eloped to Wales dressed as men, it was nothing short of scandalous.

Christie’s, Blanche B. Exstein Collection of Fine Snuff Bottles, March 21: Snuff bottles may not be to every collector’s taste, but Christie’s Blanche B. Exstein Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles achieved that rarest of auction phenomena: a 100 per cent sell-out by lot and by value.

There were auction highs and lows during New York’s March Asia week that saw Sotheby’s (20/15/10% buyer’s premium) and Christie’s (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) hosting eight sales in four days, from March 19-22.

THE names of two women artists, one very well known, the other undeservedly obscure, provided talking points at two provincial sales in March.

Operating for many years from their warehouse space in Eccleston, Lancashire, Bygone Times International were one of the UK’s largest dealers in memorabilia supplying themed bars and restaurants worldwide.

On May 17-18, Sotheby’s New York rooms are mounting a sale entitled By Design which features furnishings that have either been designed or selected for decorative schemes by leading interior designers.

“HEAVILY used” is not often a description that is likely to add value to a lot at auction. However, Betjemanians would certainly have been far from put off by the condition of a set of 32 Ordnance Survey maps that appeared at Cheffins of Cambridge on March 7.

Pop star Dave Stewart has a ‘garage’ sale…: Two Sotheby’s sales, one in London the other in New York, will provide plentiful fodder for design-hungry fanatics on either side of the pond next month.

Phillips have released details of a bumper sale of Contemporary art to be held in New York on May 13. The announcement came as art trade rumours persist about the reasons for the auction house postponing their May 6 sale of Impressionist and Modern art until June at the earliest.

While Pelé’s shirt received nearly all the post-sale plaudits, it wasn’t the only piece of football history to go under the hammer at Christie’s South Kensington (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) last week, and CSK was not the only London room offering a sale of football memorabilia.

THE Prince of Wales feathers to this Victorian gold fringe necklace, right, revealed that it was manufactured by Robert Phillips of Cockspur Street, London, whose signature the royal feathers were, but it may as well have been the work of any number of designers working in the Etruscan Revival style during this period – Carlo Giuliano, John Brogden or Augusta Castellani.

Is there a future for Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg (15/10% buyer’s premium) now that Bernard Arnault and the financial might of the LVMH group have distanced themselves from the company and the enormous guarantees it was paying to secure high-value consignments?

From the time commission bids began to come in, it was plain one item would tower above everything else at the 558-lot Harrogate sale held by Morphets (15/10% buyer’s premium) on March 7 – the Archibald Knox silver wine flagon shown right.

Echoing encouraging sentiments of provincial auctioneers across the UK, Bristol Auction Rooms specialist David Rees felt “the trade were more comfortable buying for stock” at his March sale than in previous months, adding: “It was the best sale we’ve had since November.”