London

The pre-Christmas horological sales were lower key than those traditionally seen in the London rooms at this time of year. With the continuing problem of sourcing enough good material, few top names were on offer to tempt the serious collector, and the general mixed sales which resulted provided some good-value purchases for buyers further down the scale.

Whether your penchant is for Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco or later 20th century design, and whether you are looking for examples in ceramic, glass, metallic, furnishing or sculptural form, Sotheby’s Olympia’s first Decorative Arts sale of 2004 promises its usual broad mix.

There is an impressively international roll-call of galleries exhibiting at Collect, the new fair for contemporary objects which takes place at the Victoria & Albert Museum from February 20-24.

POSTERS provide instant wall power to any interior, and carefully chosen they can prove a most effective (and cost-effective) device in any decorating scheme. Look out for two interesting poster auctions next month on either side of the Atlantic.

Showhome is a Dulwich-based company run by ex-fashion journalist Lucy Ryder Richardson and ex-graphic designer Petra Curtis, who, frustrated by not being able to find the kind of 20th century and contemporary furniture and artefacts they liked locally, formed a sourcing and selling business.

VENDORS of classic cars in a December sale held by Coys of Kensington (Sales) Limited face losing at least three quarters of their settlement as the firm ceased trading.

Important Summer diary date, the Grosvenor House Art and Antiques Fair will be held in London from June 8 to 15 with the private preview on June 8 and the Charity Gala Reception on June 10.

After years of regular sales at all the major auction houses, marine painting is an area in which top quality works by the most desirable names are in increasingly short supply.

There was healthy competition for the most unusual or best quality entries in London’s December round of five toy sales at Christie’s South Kensington (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) and Bonhams Knightsbridge (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) and some of the highlights are pictured right.

UK: The BADA have issued a description of a woman, operating under a number of names, thought to be responsible for a number of thefts at antiques shops in London. Last week, dealers in Kensington Church Street and in the Fulham Road were taken in by the woman, whose approach was most unusual.

SOUTH London organiser Paola Francia-Gardner, who operates as P&A Antiques, is reviving her London Glass Fair which will be held on Sunday March 7 at the Chelsea Village Hotel, Stamford Bridge, Fulham Road, SW6.

SINCE the 1970s, the new year’s fairs scene in the capital has always really got underway with Caroline Penman’s West London Antiques and Fine Art Fair, which will be held this week from January 15 to 18 at Kensington Town Hall, W8.

LONDON: OPENING in the heart of Greenwich this week is a familiar name in a new location, Walpoles, which is located at 18 Nelson Road, London SE10 9JB (Tel: 0208 305 3080).

Sotheby’s, who have continued the tradition of separate works of art sales rather than combining them with Continental furniture, were actually able to serve up a double helping in December. Their usual mixed-owner offering on the 12th was preceded by a separately catalogued single-owner sale, called Treasures from the Rothschild Collection, of cameos and other antique jewels, gold boxes, silver-gilt, Limoges enamels and other objects made of precious materials.

The Continental Furniture sale at Sotheby’s Bond Street on December 10 proved something of a struggle, just like the furniture elements offered the following day by their King Street competitors. Only half the 241 lots got away, with demand focussed more than ever on the rarest top quality.

UK: BONHAMS are advertising for a new managing director for their Knightsbridge rooms following the announcement that James Knight is now to head their Bond Street operation. The vacancy has been created as part of a wider reshuffle to allow group managing director Malcolm Barber to concentrate on building business in the United States.

LAPADA have confirmed that they will proceed with their new 2004 fairs programme but have put the Cheltenham event back by two weeks.

ENGLISH POTTERY AND LATER ENGLISH CERAMICS: The mixed-owner, all-English sale held by Bonhams Bond Street on December 10 covered a much broader canvas than the Billie Pain collection. It ranged from early delftwares to 20th century Royal Worcester, with examples of most other ceramic categories in between.

This Women’s Social and Political Union medal for valour was awarded to Mary Richardson, the Canadian-born militant suffragette who, in protest at the re-arrest of Emmeline Pankhurst in March 1914, slashed the ‘Rokeby’ Venus with an axe at the National Gallery.

THE CORA GINSBURG COLLECTION: Pioneering New York dealer and collector Cora Ginsburg (who died last December aged 92) was passionate about the needlework, costumes and textiles she dealt in.