In 1953, after four years on the front desk of Christie’s, I entered the furniture department.
Sir Alec Martin, Christie’s then managing director, told me “auctioneers are not experts, they are just auctioneers”. Mr Stones describes the qualities required.
Roger is very modest as far as Chinese jades are concerned, and he is in my opinion not only a specialist, but also ‘the authority’. I would have been very happy to have employed the younger Roger Keverne to do what Robert Stones now does.
While he is a dealer par excellence, he also has that special eye for spotting quality and saleability as a general valuer in even the most unexpected places.
Anthony du Boulay
Via email
