Letters to the Editor

MADAM – I sympathise with your correspondent Phil Higginbotham (Letters, ATG No 2335), who decries booksellers’ notes on endpapers.

MADAM – Re your report on dealer findings in Art Basel’s The Art Market 2018 report (ATG No 2335), I was intrigued by the ‘Average time taken to sell works from dealers’ inventories…’ graph.

MADAM – I was open-mouthed in disbelief to see again opinion discussed as fact when the ivory issue was aired on national television (ATG No 2334).

MADAM – I have pieces of antique elephant tusk ivory that I collected unconcerned about the (now well-known) conservation problems.

MADAM – I did a double – no, triple – take when I read the article ‘First Doctor Who script up at auction’ in ATG No 2332.

MADAM – I am an artist and a restorer and have been working with broken Staffordshire figurines for some time now – re-inventing and giving them a new lease of life.

MADAM – Have sellers of antiquarian books never considered the use of ‘Post-it’ notes? Do they not realise that pencil scribbles actually devalue the product that they are trying to sell?

MADAM – Last week (ATG No 2332) you published a response from lobby group Two Million Tusks to my suggestion that there should be a TV programme on the subject of ivory.

MADAM – I am an artist based in Liverpool. I found some copies of ATG in a charity shop and used them for a collage.

MADAM – I think the increased interest and associated rise in value of vintage and collectable watches means auction houses really need to up their game both in terms of what they’re selling and how they are describing lots.

MADAM – As a jewellery consultant I thought my first letter to the ATG would be about ivory. But No.

MADAM – Re: the article by Laura Chesters concerning the future of the Silver Vaults (ATG No 2330). Just to correct a small point – that the Chancery Lane Safe Deposit was opened by the Lord Mayor in May 1885 and not in 1876.

MADAM – We write in response to the letter written by Daniel Fearon suggesting a special BBC Antiques Roadshow programme to discuss/ showcase objects solely made of, or incorporating ivory (ATG No 2330).

MADAM – No amount of banning the sale of the millions of items containing antique ivory will stop the wholesale slaughter of elephants in Africa.

MADAM – Are people aware of the compensation that the UK Government paid out when the handgun ban came into force after the Dunblane massacre in 1996?

MADAM – Gavin Littaur’s comment (Letters, ATG No 2329) that “BAMF’s definition of ‘museum quality’ is exceedingly unhelpful” pulls its punches too much.

MADAM – The proper aim of all right-minded persons is to end ivory poaching. The irrelevant ‘ivory bill’ will not help.

MADAM – The article on Hannah Snell (Fairs & Markets, ATG No 2328) mentions etchings and 15 pages about her life and times.

MADAM – With the plethora of antiques-related shows on television, may I suggest that perhaps you could use your influence to have a specialist present a show on the subject of ivory in art.

MADAM – Although I think that the BADA certification programme goes some way to pacifying the waters, the conservationists have very strong support even if they are blind to the past as seen in the story about wildlife charity Born Free launching an ivory ‘amnesty’ (ATG No 2329).