People

The art market’s chief spokesperson pursues a policy of quiet diplomacy. Now armed with a new report on the British art market, Anthony Browne has something he wants to shout about

From the moustache spoon and the nose-shaping device to the washing machine, the period following The Great Exhibition of 1851 was a time of prolific invention in the UK.

Charles Darwin’s great-great-grandson has opened an antiquarian bookshop in the headquarters of an online used books business.

Fleur Callegari has joined the team of Les Enluminures as art director. She will be based in the Paris gallery of this firm which specialises in medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, miniatures and jewellery (the gallery has other bases in Chicago and New York).

Temperatures are usually high in London when the Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers (SOFAA) hosts its biennial dinner and this year was no exception. The heat outside didn’t dissuade attendees from donning black tie and high heels to the event at the Royal Thames Yacht Club in Knightsbridge on June 30.

Rowena Morgan-Cox and Sara Terzi have been appointed to the board of directors of The Fine Art Society (London and Edinburgh).

A claim by former auctioneer turned art-advisor Simon de Pury that he is owed $10m for facilitating the sale of a work by Paul Gauguin was heard before the High Court in London last week.

Bonhams Knightsbridge is keen to assert its place in London’s evolving auction scene, managing director Jon Baddeley tells ATG.

BADA president and former MP for Kensington, Victoria Borwick, addressed SOFAA's biannual gathering of auctioneers on June 30. She tackled auctioneer-dealer relations, the ivory question, parliament's understanding of the antiques trade and the cultural property bill.

Furniture and works of art dealer Martin Levy took a trip to the north Wales seaside recently.

The new owner of Dreweatts in Newbury is to bring back a monthly general sale.

Samuel Miller Freeman II – known to all as Beau – was a fixture in the Philadelphia auction scene for just shy of six decades.

‘How Western Art Collectors are Helping to Fund Isis’ (Guardian), ‘Broken System Allows Isis to Profit from Looted Antiquities’ (New York Times), ‘How Antiquities are Funding Terrorism’ (Financial Times). In 2015, news of looting and the destruction of ancient sites in the Middle East by the fanatical Islamic terrorists Isis began to gain worldwide attention.

My father, Jim Collingridge, FGA, DGA, former deputy chairman of Christie’s South Kensington, died on June 3 at the age of 86.

ATG’s selection of appointments in the art and antiques industry.

Victoria Borwick, president of the British Antiques Dealers’ Association, lost her Kensington seat following two recounts in the constituency at last week's General Election.

Wall clocks are fashionable these days. Open most publications with an interiors feature and one will probably be displayed: in the kitchen, dining room or hallway. What is the reason for their popularity? One person who knows is Edward Burd, wall clock collector for 40 years and dealer for 15.