Christie’s stages a Fabergé auction
A dedicated sale of Fabergé works of art will be held at Christie’s as part of the Russian Art season of sales.
The 86-piece collection being offered on November 29 is from Harry Woolf (d.2019). Woolf, a businessman in pharmaceutical distribution, began buying Fabergé in the 1970s. Estimates range from £1000-200,000.
The auction coincides with the V&A exhibition of Fabergé: From Romance to Revolution which opens on November 20. This features around 10 pieces from Woolf’s collection (not included in the Christie’s sale).
Dealer associations issue Afghan alert
A group of 12 art, antiques and antiquities associations including the Antiquities Dealers’ Association (ADA) and the International Association of Dealers in Ancient Art (IADAA) have teamed up to remind the trade of the risks of illicit cultural property coming out of Afghanistan.
The group said the trade must be prepared to do what it can and the associations will continue to alert their members and the wider art and antiques market to the heightened risks involved.
Exeter firm gives trio new roles
Neil Grenyer, Brian Goodison-Blanks and Cristian Beadman of Bearnes, Hampton & Littlewood.
Exeter auction house Bearnes, Hampton & Littlewood has appointed Cristian Beadman as a director and joint head of furniture. Having spent a decade at Christie’s, 15 years at Dreweatts and then at Duke’s from 2019, Devon born-andbred Beadman said he is “now home”.
Also at BHL, Brian Goodison-Blanks will be joining the board of directors. He has worked for the company for 17 years and is head of the maritime, sporting and collectors departments.
The firm has appointed Neil Grenyer as its Dorset representative. Grenyer has worked at Bonhams and a number of regional auction houses including Lawrences of Crewkerne.
LAPADA appoints Mitton to its board
Dealer Freya Mitton has been appointed to the LAPADA board.
Art and antiques association LAPADA has appointed Modern British art dealer Freya Mitton to its board. Her appointment helps to “round out the disciplines” of its board members, joining fellow paintings dealer Matthew Hall of Panter & Hall and taking the board to 13 members.
Mitton launched her dealership in 2012, previously having worked at Bonhams and Sotheby’s where she also specialised in 20th century British art.
An introduction to British silver
The Silver Society, with the Goldsmiths’ Company and The Goldsmiths’ Centre, have launched an online course ‘British Silver, An Introduction’. Held over six weeks every Wednesday from October 20, it will explore the evolution of British silver by studying objects from collections across the world and from the collection of the Goldsmiths’ Company.
Bookings and further information are available at: goldsmiths-centre.org
Shredded canvas sets Banksy record
Banksy’s Love is in the Bin – £16m at Sotheby’s.
The half-shredded Banksy painting Love is in the Bin returned to Sotheby’s last week, bringing a fervent competition and making a record £16m.
Billed as “an audacious piece of performance art”, it was offered with a £4m-6m estimate at the sale in London. The auction house reported that it drew nine bidders in the room, online and on the phone.
The final sum topped the auction record for Banksy, the £14.4m for Game Changer that sold at Christie’s in March this year (sold to support the NHS).
The current sale coincided with Frieze week and took place three years after the spray painting on canvas from 2006 (then titled Girl with Balloon) shredded itself moments after it was sold for £860,000 (£1.04m with premium).
The buyer of the work in 2018, who was the vendor here, had decided to complete the sale after the half-shredded work had quickly been retitled Love is in the Bin. It was also granted a new certificate by Pest Control, Banksy’s authentication body.
As the bidding concluded this time round, Oliver Barker of Sotheby’s who was on the rostrum said: “I can’t tell you how terrified I am to bring down this hammer.”
The price plus premium was £18.6m with a further €12,500 due in Artist’s Resale Right.
Most read
The most viewed stories for week October 7-13 on antiquestradegazette.com
1 Trade rallies to help fundraise for fellow antiques dealer ahead of weekend stock sell-off
2 Maiolica dish makes £1.04m impact at auction
3 Versailles acquires bust of Sun King’s doctor from London dealer following TEFAF 2020 fair
4 Sotheby’s adjusts sale categories in time for upcoming New York auction series
5 Manuscript missing for 30 years returns to Italy
In Numbers
$24,291
The average price paid for a lot in timed online auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips in the first half of 2021 (almost triple that of 2019 – $8529), according to the Hiscox Online Art Trade Report 2021 (Part 1).
