Letters to the Editor

Bernard Quaritch marked the opening of its Bedford Row premises last week with a red velvet cake in the shape of the new shop.

MADAM – You very kindly published a letter from me last year (ATG No 2339) regarding my search for the whereabouts of the three remaining Troika pottery bowls of fruit.

MADAM – It’s good to see the Irish applying ARR as it was intended ie the seller pays and no charge on estate sales (ATG No 2409).

MADAM – what a surprise to read auctioneer Gary Watson’s letter (ATG No 2411) which advocated disposing of all deceased property and estate through the medium of a public auction.

MADAM – I have to say that I have been very upset and distressed, and also confused, by the events concerning principally the supposed sale of the majority shareholding of the BADA fair.

MADAM – I was pleased to see the report in ATG No 2410 on the cricket collection sold by the Canterbury Auction Galleries.

MADAM – I wholly concur with the sentiment expressed by your reader Robert Pugh (ATG No 2407) that ‘good luck’ stories are just as often ‘bad luck’ stories.

MADAM – I was much taken with the George Du Maurier ‘aesthetic’ drawing at Wallis & Wallis (ATG No 2409).

MADAM: I refer to the article (ATG No 2410) on a necklace and bracelet composed of 1st and 2nd century Roman gold Aurei coins said to have been commissioned by the Emperor Napoleon as a gift for his sister the Princess Pauline Borghese.

BADA sent ATG this statement last week providing further details on the sale of a majority stake in its fair

MADAM – Amid the BADA voices calling for an EGM (ATG No 2409), let me add that one thing is certain: the days of traditional art and antiques fairs are numbered, thanks to changing tastes and an ageing buyer audience.

MADAM – The decision by BADA’s council to sell a majority stake in the fair was based on reliable information that the event faced making significant losses in the coming years. When we were approached by Thomas Woodham-Smith and Harry Van der Hoorn with an offer to invest in the fair, we had the opportunity to say ‘no’.

MADAM – There are positives about BADA’s decision to sell a majority stake in our annual fair. Not least of these is that the event needs fresh innovation. As an exhibitor for nearly 20 years, I felt it was getting tired and stale. It was time to look at things in a new and open way.

MADAM – The decision to sell the BADA fair to proven art and antiques fair organisers is an excellent move.

MADAM – As an American dealer in historical artefacts, I have made two or three trips a year to London over the past 20 years.

Madam – I enjoyed the report of the annual cricket match between the Fine Art Trade and Christie’s (ATG No 2408).

After going to press on issue 2408 we received a letter from another reader who had spotted the monument featured on the seal in issue 2406 was Chirk Castle, in North Wales.

MADAM – Last year I bought a basket-case of a canvas from an artist’s estate for £400. I then spent many hundreds of pounds on a new support, re-stretching, cleaning and re-framing and eventually sold it for a profit.

MADAM – The castle depicted on the matrix seal (letters, ATG No 2406) is Chirk in Denbighshire, seat of the Myddleton family.

MADAM – Regarding the photograph of Fleetwood Mac first shown in ATG No 2403, I have some more information which may be of interest.