Letters to the Editor

Copy of a letter sent to Jeremy Wright MP, secretary of state for culture, concerning the temporary export ban placed on a 350-year-old cabinet by Baroque artisan Giacomo Herman in the hope a buyer can be found to keep it in the UK (see ATG No 2388):

MADAM – In the ‘Glossary’ in ATG No 2583, a ‘white glove sale’ is defined as one in which all lots are sold.

MADAM – I write in response to the letter by Simon Butt (ATG No 2386) titled 'Mystery Napoleon link' and requesting information on a soft paste pot pourri depicting Longwood House.

MADAM – I love the 5 Questions every week [in Dealers’ Diary] but you seem to be missing an important question recently: espresso martini or real ale?

MADAM – For the past 20-25 years I have been supplying table cruets and glass cruet bottles to the public by way of antique centres and directly to the trade via antique fairs.

MADAM – Inspired by the feature in ATG No 2384 about the little-known Girl-on-a-Horse English ceramic factory [also known as Compass factory], perhaps I could offer your readers another puzzle.

MADAM – It was good to see Clarice Cliff featured in ATG No 2383. As mentioned, the pottery has had its ups and downs over the years and in any case ‘Clarice’ has always been a little ‘Marmite’.

MADAM – I believe auction houses should make it clear to bidders that buyer’s premium has gone up and the fee does not include VAT.

MADAM – Having received issue No 2381 of your informative magazine, I discovered an advert for a forthcoming sale in March with two items I much desired.

MADAM – A definition in your glossary is incorrect (ATG No 2382). Strictly, the terms verso and recto apply to books, meaning the left and right pages. Certainly they don’t both apply ‘to the back of a picture’.

MADAM – We can always count on Gavin Littaur to fill your letters page with a hefty dose of common sense (ATG No 2381). But I fear his dispute with Defra will come to nothing if my present spat with HMRC is anything to go by.

MADAM – In so many respects, anyone reading or watching the news over the last 12 months could quite easily believe that the whole world has gone mad.

Stephen Campbell, descendant of Victorian engineer John Campbell, surprised his family last weekend when he revealed that he had bought his great-grandfather’s award-winning steam engine (Pick of the week, ATG No 2380).

MADAM – I am sure that others will have identified a mistake in your piece about William Powell Frith’s 'The Private View at the Royal Academy' (News, ATG No 2380).

MADAM – Further to handling horrors stories (Letters, ATG No 2379), I can remember visiting a general sale at WH Lane auction house in Penzance in the early ’70s, when all sales were general, and spying an interesting painting high up on the wall, was given permission to climb up to see it.

MADAM – As a small volume trader in toys, games and collectables, I find your publication excellent, useful and informative. BUT I am becoming jaded with your headline policy.

MADAM – As a long-term collector of antiques, as well as a student of the auction scene and an active participant in the ongoing debate on the ivory ban, I thought that it might be helpful to bring readers up-to-date in respect of approaches I have made in recent months to Defra’s Ivory Policy Team.

MADAM – I am following the current debate regarding the range and fairness of auctioneers’ fees.

MADAM – I have some sympathy with the vendor who would not allow his watch to be opened (Letters, ATG No 2376).

MADAM – Regarding Bid Barometer, ATG No 2377, your readers might be interested to know that the portrait painting featured is in fact a self-portrait of Helen Lessore (of Beaux Arts Gallery fame).