News

The demand for the best of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s studio glass continued apace at Christie’s (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) 86-lot Important 20th century Decorative Arts including Works by Tiffany Studios, June 7.

FRANCE: FRENCH auction law reform should finally be introduced on October 1, although it could take months after that date before overseas auctioneers will be allowed to hold sales.

The Wernher Collection of Renaissance and medieval works of art has provided some spectacular auctions in recent years – now English Heritage has announced a deal that will keep a significant remaining part of the family’s holdings in Britain.

UK: WHILE their rooms are undergoing refurbishment, Lots Road Galleries (20% buyer’s premium including VAT) have changed their regular weekly sales from Monday to Sunday. The Chelsea auctioneers chose to mark the launch of their Sunday auctions on July 22 by ringing the changes in the sale content too: adding a selection of around 35 lots of contemporary and designer furniture to their traditional mix of antique and reproduction pieces.

FRANCE: Auction sales in Paris in the first six months of 2001 totalled Fr2.56bn (£240m), a rise of 10 per cent compared to the same period in 2000. Art sales (as opposed to sales of vehicles or industrial material) showed an even sharper increase, up 12 per cent at Fr2.1bn (£195m).

UK: The rarity of an object such as this 18th century mahogany candlestand usually points to a high estimate, but the £1000-1500 range put on this example by Henry Adams of Chichester at their sale on July 25 had the desired effect of encouraging healthy competition among bidders.

Not quite in the same league as Dutch Old Master fish stalls, Victorian butchers’ models still elicit the same puzzled question in our squeamish age – why did anyone go to elaborate lengths to compose such a gris(t)ly display?