News In Brief – including news of a stolen Presidential pocket watch

21 Dec 2020

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Presidential pocket watch trade alert

The trade is being asked to look out for a gold pocket watch that was stolen on December 12 from a gallery in Camden Passage, Islington, London. The presidential pocket watch was in an original presentation box and had been given by the then US president Woodrow Wilson to the master of the British steamship The Nubian for rescuing an American seaman from the schooner Julia A Trubee. The owner of the watch said a “reward will be paid to anyone giving information leading to the recovery of this watch”.

Anyone with information on should call 101 quoting the Metropolitan Police crime reference number 2727707/20 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Hallmarking guide revised over Brexit

The British Hallmarking Council has updated its guidance on hallmarking requirements from January 1, 2021. Obligations to recognise equivalent EU hallmarks will end in Great Britain.

For the Northern Ireland market, EU hallmarks will continue to be recognised, by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act. Any product already on the market before January 2021 will be legal, under the same legislation.

Any new stock entering the Great Britain market will require a UK national hallmark or an International Convention hallmark.

For more information visit The British Hallmarking Council.

Brueghel sells to US from Switzerland

Wooded Landscape with Travellers by Jan Brueghel the Elder, 1610, was bought by the National Gallery of Washington for a seven-figure-sum.

The Koetser Gallery in Switzerland has sold a Jan Brueghel the Elder picture to the National Gallery of Washington for a seven-figure-sum.

Wooded Landscape with Travellers (1610) was purchased from Koetser with the help of The Lee and Juliet Folger Fund. It was previously owned by Max Stern (1904–87) of the Galerie Stern, Düsseldorf, before he fled the Nazi regime in December 1937 and emigrated to Canada via England.

Before the National Gallery acquired the 15 x 23in (37 x 58cm) oil on wood panel, dealer David Koetser and the heir to Stern’s estate (The Dr & Mrs Max Stern Foundation) in Canada, reached a “friendly settlement resolving any and all of the foundation’s claims to the painting”.

Rare Nuremberg Chronicle emerges

A page from Liber chronicarum Nuremberg (the Nuremberg Chronicle) 1493 – $350,000 at Bonhams New York.

A rare first edition of the Nuremberg Chronicle, hand-coloured by contemporary artists and in its original binding (for the publisher in Nuremberg by the Weltchronik- Meister), set an auction record at a recent Bonhams sale in New York.

It was hammered down at $350,000 (£257,710) or $437,812 including premium at Bonhams’ Fine Books & Manuscripts sale in New York on December 11.

It had been estimated at $200,000-300,000.

The Nuremberg Chronicle was written over several years by the doctor and book collector Hartmann Schedel, who was commissioned by two Nuremberg merchants.

It was originally published in Latin in an edition of around 1400-1500, of which 400 are thought to have survived.

Weiss Gallery: latest appointments

The Weiss Gallery has promoted Charlie Mackay, its long-time gallery manager, to gallery director following the departure of Florrie Evans, who has joined The Fine Art Society. It has also appointed Flora Crichton-Stuart as its new gallery manager.

In Numbers

400

The number of lots to be offered by Sotheby’s from the personal collection of the late artists Christo and Jeanne- Claude in Paris in February 2021. The auction will feature 400 works by Post-war artists such as Andy Warhol as well as a selection of works by Christo and Jeanne-Claude spanning their multi-decade careers.

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