Organisations

Special Auction Services of Newbury have been elected to the Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers (SOFAA).

Negotiations on a new rescue package have raised hopes of saving the Wedgwood Museum collection. Those involved expect to be able to unveil an agreement within the next few months.

1stdibs, the global online marketplace for high-end art, antiques and decorative objects, has wholly acquired Online Galleries, the British-based portal favoured by LAPADA, the BADA, SLAD and CINOA.

The Art Fund has launched a campaign to save a painting by Nicolas Poussin for the nation.

Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum has announced that it had succeeded in an eight-month campaign to save Edouard Manet’s ‘Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus’ for the nation.

Of all the statistics – and there are many – to emerge from the British Antique Dealers’ Association 2011 Survey, it is the £855m ($1.4bn) estimated turnover among members that stands out.

Nearly one in five of all sales by LAPADA dealers are now online, according to the fine art and antique dealer association’s latest survey, covering 2011.

Following the successful inaugural fair at the venue earlier this year, the Cotswold Art & Antique Dealers’ Association have finalised a date for the second ‘CADA Antique and Art Fair’ at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, next year.

ATG Media, parent company of Antiques Trade Gazette has been named as one of the Top 100 companies in Europe in the Red Herring Awards, which celebrate innovation and technology in business.

THE Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) have announced that they will hand back undistributed Resale Right royalties after six years.

BONHAMS have renewed their call for better client protection in the wake of Auction Atrium’s demise, with the online auction house still owing six-figure sums to consignors.

THE recovery of more than 400 lost works by Dutch artist Karel Appel has led to a call for storage companies to tighten their due diligence on objects they handle.

A DETAILED survey of the relationship between antiques dealers and their banks has highlighted a serious breakdown in communication and little inclination on the part of the financial institutions to understand the special nature of the antiques business.

THE Birmingham Assay Office is launching a new one-day course, Buying Scrap Gold and Silver, on January.

ESTABLISHING a satisfactory relationship with a bank appears to be one of the major difficulties facing art and antiques dealers in the current economic climate.

YOU get the impression that the Chelsea Antiquarian Book Fair does not take itself too seriously – the opening page of the website bears the famous Groucho Marx quotation: "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

A SURVEY conducted by LAPADA has revealed just how much the art and antiques trade relies on the cheque.

PICTURED here, Abigail Selwood, winner of the 2011 NAVA Auctioneer of the Year Competition is presented with the rosebowl by the association chairman Guy Charrison.

This week sees the launch of Figaro Enchères, a joint venture between ATG Media and French national newspaper Le Figaro.

THE Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors have named their new Art & Antiques board following the mass resignation of former members in protest over RICS policy.