Obituaries (print edition)

A memorial service for Michael Bing will be held at St George’s Church, Hanover Square, on Monday, October 14, at 2.30pm.

Malcolm Davidson died recently at the age of 85. For many years he ran City Fine Arts in the heart of the financial district of London offering furniture and unusual items to those working in the Square Mile.

John Jesse died unexpectedly this month in the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. He was 83. He will be remembered and missed by many in the art trade.

Valuer Jane Anderson, who died in January this year, joined Berkhamsted Auction Rooms as a secretary in the early 1980s and quickly progressed to the role of manager and auctioneer. She was one of only a handful of women auctioneers in the 1980s.

John Smith, who died on February 24, was a well-known figure in the world of glass, contributing much to knowledge in this field and selling unusual and interesting glasses to museums and collectors all over the world. A Fellow of the Corning Museum of Glass from 2000, he had an international profile and vetted glass at the Maastricht fair in recent years.

Picture restorer Sydney (Syd) Bennett passed away on August 16, aged 86.

Sadly, Lawrence Block, the well-known London silver dealer, passed away in April on his 93rd birthday.

We regret to announce the death of Nicholas William Lott, at the age of 70. He died surrounded by his loving family on Friday, July 5.

We regret to announce the death of jewellery collector and historian Anne Shannon who died peacefully with her family on May 11.

Betty Klaber, together with her daughter Pamela, started their ceramics business Klaber & Klaber, in 1969, specialising in 18th century European porcelain and enamels.

The death of John Hayward on May 12 has robbed the world of medals and medal collecting of its most colourful personality.

It is with great sadness that I report the passing away of George Floyd – always an immaculately dressed larger-than-life character.

Derek Billings has died at the age of 86. For half a century he was an important player in the collecting world of Doulton art pottery. His late wife Kay was a very supportive partner in forming the collection.

Peter Willet (1941-2019), known affectionately to all as Mick, has died suddenly.

Retired art dealer Patrick Payne, formerly of Arden Gallery, Henley-in-Arden, and later of Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, has died at his daughter’s home in London aged 86.

Polymath, collector, kind and generous with his time and knowledge, Michael died on his 61st birthday surrounded by his family.

A personal tribute to Michael Bing by Simon Berti, formerly of Auction Technology Group.

Obituaries for dealers Stephen Lunn and Chris Martin.

We regret to announce the death of Michael Bing (1959-2019), senior director at Sotheby’s, following a long illness. Michael’s funeral will be held at noon on Friday, April 5, at Mortlake Crematorium in London. A full appreciation will appear in a future issue.

Book dealer Martin Woolf Orskey, who died in December, aged 93, was a familiar figure in the trade. Indeed, OF Snelling, in his book Rare Books and Rarer People, published in 1982, described him as the “prince of all the book runners – for this is what he was to begin with, and he would be the first to admit it".