Edinburgh whisky auctions launch
Lyon & Turnbull is to launch regular, dedicated whisky sales at its Edinburgh saleroom.
It has hired independent whisky specialist Adam Irvine to work with its consultant Colin Fraser, who will lead the whisky department. Fraser has worked with L&T as a silver, coins, medals, arms and armour specialist since 2005.
The firm plans its first auction for December 5 and could hold up to three a year. The December sale will be a live auction in the Edinburgh saleroom with live bidding available on platforms including the firm’s own L&T Live and thesaleroom.com.
It will include around 100 lots with estimates starting at £100 and going up to £20,000. In line with the wines, spirits and whisky sector, the buyer’s premium is 15%.
Export bar placed on Canova bust
The UK government has issued an export bar on a previously lost Antonio Canova bust that sold at a Sotheby’s auction earlier this summer.
The white marble Bust of Peace sold for £4.5m (£5.3m including buyer’s premium) at Sotheby’s on July 4, 2018.
The Canova 'Bust of Peace' now subject to an export bar to try to keep it in the UK.
Following an application for an export licence by the new owner, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) deemed the sculpture to be a “significant cultural object symbolising the end of Napoleonic era and return of peace to Europe after years of conflict”.
The government made the decision after the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) deemed it should be temporarily blocked from leaving the UK.
The decision on the export licence application will be deferred until February 1, 2019, and could be extended until July 1, 2019, if a serious intention to raise funds to purchase it is made at the recommended price of £5.3m plus VAT.
Bob Monkhouse comic art on offer
Bob Monkhouse was loved as one of the best comedians and presenters of his generation but few people know about the huge respect he is also held in by comic collectors.
Monkhouse (1928-2003) became particularly famous for his TV gameshow presenting skills, such as Family Fortunes.
When he came out of the RAF in the late 1940s his first involvement with making people laugh did not involve the stage, radio or early TV however, but the world of comics – doing his own scripts and drawings.
'Thunderbirds' original artwork (1966) drawn, painted and signed by Frank Bellamy for 'TV Century 21' No 90. It comes from the Bob Monkhouse Archive on offer from Comic Book Auctions, estimated at £1800-2300.
His career developed into scriptwriting and TV work but he never forgot his comic book roots and indeed became one of the foremost comic collectors in the UK.
This early interest is highlighted by a timed auction starting on November 14 and ending on November 25 being held by Comic Book Auctions (CBA).
The latest slice focuses on original comic artwork collected by Monkhouse rather than the comics themselves.
Martin moves on from Flog It! days
TV presenter and antiques specialist Paul Martin’s new daytime show Make Me a Dealer made its debut at 4.30pm on Monday, November 5.
It is one of two new programmes he is making following the announcement that Flog It!, the show he presented for 17 years, has been scrapped.
Flog It! is going to be a hard act to follow, though, judging by the early reaction to Make Me A Dealer.
Fellows’ £1m jewellery sale
Emerald-cut diamond ring sold for £255,000 by Fellows.
Fellows held its largest jewellery auction so far this year with a hammer total hitting the £1m mark. The top lot was an 13.86ct emerald-cut diamond ring with tapered baguette-cut diamond sides which sold for a hammer price of £255,000 at its Antique & Modern Jewellery auction on November 8 in Birmingham.
New home for Plowden & Smith
Conservation and restoration firm Plowden & Smith will move to a new home next month which has been specially designed to accommodate its conservation work, including a larger specialist room for storing sensitive objects.
The new office in south-west London includes 11 studios and a room which is “environmentally monitored, lit throughout with colour-corrected LED lighting… and a climate-controlled strong room”.
Plowden & Smith managing director Camilla Hughes-Hunt said: “For the past few years, the restrictions imposed on us by working in an historic building have proved incompatible with providing a high-quality service and the importance we place on reducing our carbon footprint.”
Most read
The most clicked-on stories for week November 1-7 on antiquestradegazette.com
1 Former Flog It! presenter Paul Martin launches new BBC show
2 Amazon-owned AbeBooks u-turns after boycott by more than 550 book dealers
3 Assyrian relief sets second-highest price for ancient art at Christie’s New York despite Iraq’s repatriation call
4 TEFAF ‘says farewell’ to dealer and auction house vetters after change in global policy
5 Gas explosion causes blaze at Nottingham Cattle Market but auction house Arthur Johnson unaffected
In Numbers
3.79m
The number of books that were temporarily removed from the web portal AbeBooks as part of a protest by more than 580 dealers across 27 countries against its plan to pull out of four countries. AbeBooks later agreed to scrap the move.
