Bonhams move to Bowcliffe Hall
Bowcliffe Hall in West Yorkshire, the location where Bonhams has moved its Leeds branch.
The Leeds branch of Bonhams has moved to a new office at Bowcliffe Hall in the West Yorkshire village of Bramham. Previously at Park Square West, Leeds, Bonhams at Bowcliffe Hall will be open 8.30am-5pm Monday to Friday for valuations and consignments.
Regional director for Yorkshire Simon Mitchell said: “We look forward to welcoming customers to our new home in a beautiful setting with plentiful car parking and easy access.”
Shropshire centre jewellery theft
West Mercia Police is appealing to the trade to help locate jewellery stolen from The Old Mill Antique Centre in Bridgnorth, Shropshire.
The theft from the premises in Mill Street occurred between 12.30-12.50am on April 25 when entry was forced and a number of locked glass cabinets were damaged.
Watches, rings, chains and pendants were stolen and a full list of items taken in the burglary can be viewed on The Art Loss Register.
Anyone with information should call West Mercia Police on 101 quoting incident number 19S of April 25.
Drysdale record Down Under
‘Grandma’s Sunday Walk’ by Sir Russell Drysdale – Aus$2.4m (£1.45m) at Mossgreen.
An outback painting by Australian artist Sir Russell Drysdale (1912-81) brought a record Aus$2.4m (£1.45m) at Mossgreen in Adelaide on June 25.
Painted in 1972, Grandma’s Sunday Walk was billed by the auctioneer as “Drysdale’s masterpiece”. The picture was part of the 250-lot collection belonging to the Hickinbotham family of Adelaide.
The previous record for Drysdale, who emigrated to Australia from Sussex when he was 11 years old, was the portrait Rocky McCormack, sold at Sotheby’s in 2008 for Aus$1.9m.
Most read
The most clicked-on stories for week July 22-28 on
1 Third £1m valuation at BBC’s Antiques Roadshow for Fabergé flower
2 Auction record for Beckmann at Christie’s as ‘Birds’ Hell’ sells for £32m hammer
3 Banjolele once owned by music hall star George Formby comes to Derbyshire auction
4 Wassily Kandinsky abstract painting takes record £29m at Sotheby’s
5 Three men charged in New York over fake Damien Hirst artworks sold to a ‘multitude of buyers’ on eBay
Asian buyer for Moore’s family
A 17in (44cm) high bronze family group by Henry Moore (1898-1986) led Christie’s Modern British & Irish art sale on June 26, selling at £3.3m to an Asian collector.
The cast, conceived in 1946, was one of an edition of four and was appearing at Christie’s for the third time in 30 years, having made $850,000 at Christie’s New York in 1995.
Overall, 35 of the 51 lots sold for a premium-inclusive total of £20.2m.
Beckmann’s Hell is £32m heaven
‘Hölle der Vögel’ (Birds’ Hell) by Max Beckmann – £32m at Christie’s.
Max Beckmann’s terrifying image of the horrors of the Nazi regime in Germany sold at Christie’s on June 27 for a record-breaking £32m.
Hölle der Vögel (Birds’ Hell) from 1938, with a third party guarantee of around £30m, sold to dealer Larry Gagosian, taking instructions from a client on his mobile.
It is a record for Beckmann (bettering Self-Portrait with Horn of the same date which sold for a premium-inclusive $22.6m/£15.9m at Sotheby’s New York in 2001) and for German Expressionism.
Beckmann began the work while in exile in Amsterdam and completed it in Paris at the end of 1938. It came to auction from the collection of New York dealer Richard Feigen who had acquired it privately in 1983.
Christie’s Impressionist & Modern Art evening sale achieved a hammer total of £131m with 30 of the 32 lots sold (94%).
Holey Grail of Australian coins
A previously unrecorded Australian Holey Dollar sold for £82,000 at London saleroom Morton & Eden on June 15.
The coin, fashioned like a ‘doughnut’ from a Spanish eight reales piece and stamped with the words New South Wales and the date 1813, is one of only 300 or so known to survive from the penal colony.
1813 New South Wales Holey Dollar – £82,000 at Morton & Eden.
It came by direct descent from the coin collector Sir Gerald Strickland (1861-1940), who probably acquired it during his tenure of office as governor of New South Wales from 1913-17.
Several Holey Dollars have emerged for sale in Australia recently. In April 2015 Melbourne coin dealer Coinworks sold a ‘Madrid Holey Dollar’ to a Queensland collector for Aus$550,000 (£286,500).
Only six of this type, originally struck at the Spanish Mint in Madrid, exist, with this the only one in private hands.
Reward offered for 'worshipful' badge
A £500 reward is being offered for information that leads to the recovery of this badge belonging to the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. The badge, worn by the deputy master, was lost in central London earlier this year. Dating from the 1890s, the crest and arms are 18ct gold with enamelling on 22ct gold and platinum. It contains the motto ‘Tempus Rerum Imperator’.
In Numbers
£334.8m
The overall total from Sotheby’s and Christie’s sales of Impressionist & Modern art in June. This compared to £190.8m at the equivalent series last year.
