Snowman donates Fabergé to V&A
The nine works by Carl Fabergé and two by the 18th century goldsmith, Johann Christian Neuber, have been donated to the V&A by son Nicholas Snowman, from the Kenneth and Sallie Snowman Collection under the tax-saving Cultural Gifts Scheme.
The V&A said the Fabergé works “constituted a major benefit to the study of European jewellery in the UK”.
Fellows tie with Swedish jeweller
Fellows has agreed a tie up with Swedish auctioneers WA Bolin for its spring jewellery auction on April 23 in Stockholm.
The sale catalogue will be hosted on Fellows’ website and on internet platforms including thesaleroom.com.
Fellows will hold a preview of the sale at its Berkeley Square, London, showroom on April 4 while WA Bolin (also a royal court jeweller) will hold a preview from April 18 in Stockholm.
The auction comprises more than 500 lots with a total low estimate of around £1.5m.
Scandinavian and other European designers will be featured including Cartier and Bulgari along with a mixture of antique and modern jewellery.
Fellows said that if the venture is successful it will look at other collaborations with Bolin.
Oldest Longines
Swiss watch maker Longines is marking its 185th birthday with a competition to find the oldest Longines watch in the UK and Ireland.
The campaign, which runs until May 28 with the aim of boosting Longines’ digital fan base, asks the public to post photos and stories about their Longines watches online, using the hashtags #oldestlonginesuk and #oldestlonginesie.
The owner of the oldest timepiece will win a trip to the company’s factory and museum in Saint-Imier.
Revolutionary War record
A rare first-hand account of events in the American revolutionary war, privately printed and distributed in Exeter in 1787, achieved a treble estimate $130,000 (£106,910) at a Bonhams New York auction on March 9.
The 184pp Journal of the Operations of the Queen’s Rangers, from the End of the Year 1777, to the Conclusion of the Late American War was written by John Grave Simcoe, who arrived in Boston in the summer of 1775 and served in the New York and Philadelphia campaigns.
Captured in 1779, Simcoe spent six months as a prisoner before he returned home to Exeter in 1781.
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2 TEFAF Maastricht 2017: Highlights and high points
3 A King’s Road Trip – 10 images from Chelsea Antiques Fair and BADA 2017
4 Edmund Blair Leighton painting sells for £240,000 at Bournemouth auction
5 Fabergé treasures donated to V&A from collection of former Wartski chairman
Bodleian buys shoe ledger at Mallams
The Bodleian Library in Oxford has bought the historic customer ledgers of venerable local shoemaker Ducker & Son.
The ledgers were hammered down at £7000 at auctioneer Mallams in Oxford in February.
The ledgers contained the customer accounts of littleknown Oxford academics as well as famous literary luminaries such as JRR Tolkien and Evelyn Waugh.
An entry from 1913 records Tolkien’s purchase of black football boots for 14s 6d and a pair of porpoise laces for 10d.
Duckers, home of the Oxford brogue, traded from its well-known shop on Oxford’s Turl Street from 1898 until it closed in late 2016. The Bodleian purchased the ledgers with help from funding provided by the Friends of the Bodleian.
Bonhams snap up photo specialist
Laura Paterson.
Bonhams has appointed Laura Paterson, as head of the photography department in New York. A graduate in History of Art from Edinburgh University, she joins Bonhams with more than 20 years’ experience as a specialist working at Christie’s New York from 1994-2015.
She later worked at online auction firm Paddle8 alongside former Christie’s colleague Stuart Alexander.
Bonhams’ CEO, Matthew Girling said: “Photographs are an important part of [our] fine arts stable, so we are delighted that someone as highly respected as Laura Paterson has arrived to lead the department.”
Bonhams’ next photography sale in New York is on April 25.
In Numbers
39
The number of exhibitors showing at the 26th edition of the annual Salon du Dessin specialist drawing fair in Paris.
