Robert Maxwell medals on offer
A group of medals belonging to the controversial media mogul Captain Robert Maxwell (1923-91) will be offered at Dix Noonan Webb in its auction of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria on September 15.
Maxwell was born Ján Ludvîk Hyman Binyamin Hoch into an Orthodox Jewish family in a small town in Czechoslovakia (later Hungary and now Ukraine). He joined the Czechoslovak Army in exile in Marseille in 1940 but after the fall of France and evacuation of the British Army he transferred in Britain to the Pioneer Corps and subsequently in 1943 to the North Staffordshire Regiment.
He served throughout the campaign across Europe from the Normandy Landings to the fall of Berlin, was commissioned into the Queen’s Royal Regiment in January 1945 and the same month won the Military Cross at Paarlo, Netherlands.
Consigned by the estate of a deceased collector, the group has an estimate of £6000-8000.
Valuers team up with jewellers
The Institute of Registered Valuers’ annual conference will take place as part of the National Association of Jewellers’ NAJ Summit in Northamptonshire from September 11-13.
Among those scheduled to speak are valuer David Callaghan; jewellery historian Dr Jack Ogden; valuer Craig O’Donnell; auctioneer Richard Winterton; and jewellery specialists Joanna Hardy, Sandra Cronan and John Benjamin.
There will be more than 50 speakers and workshop hosts in attendance with topics from Cartier, Georgian gems and sapphires through time.
Further information can be found at naj.co.uk/whats-on/naj-summit/
Woodturning wizards in action
An exhibition of contemporary and historical woodturning organised by The Worshipful Company of Turners is returning this autumn.
Wizardry in Wood takes place on October 13-16 at Carpenters’ Hall, 1 Throgmorton Avenue, in London.
Works by established and up and coming turners will be on display as well as talks and lectures and an exhibition of 400 years of turning.
For information and tickets visit the company’s website at turnersco.com/turning/wiw/
Evans promoted by Goldsmiths
The Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office in London has promoted Will Evans.
The Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office in London has promoted Will Evans to the post of general manager following the retirement of Robert Organ as deputy warden in October.
Organ will take up a new role as senior hallmarking consultant to the Assay Office.
Evans started his career at the Assay Office in 2000 as a lab assistant and progressed through the ranks, eventually becoming superintendent assayer in 2017. Organ will continue to be involved with a number of initiatives such as co-ordinating the Antique Plate Committee, the body for adjudicating spurious silver articles, taking part in the annual Trial of the Pyx (testing the nation’s coinage), as well as representing the London Assay Office on trade and government bodies.
TEFAF funds aid Manet restoration
Portrait de Monsieur Jules Dejouy, 1879, by Édouard Manet.
The National Museum Wales has received a €20,000 (£17,130) grant to restore an Édouard Manet (1832-83) picture.
Funding came from The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) Museum Restoration Fund as well as help from the Friends of the Museum and The Finnis Scott Foundation.
The museum had acquired the Manet work via the government acceptance in lieu scheme in 2019. It had previously been in the same private family collection for more than 90 years. The picture is of Jules Dejouy (1815-94) who was Manet’s older cousin and an important figure in the artist’s life.
The TEFAF fund was established in 2012 and each year a maximum of €50,000 is allocated to projects – usually two a year.
The second winner of this year’s fund is The Beirut Glass Project, a collaboration between the British Museum and the American University of Beirut.
Most read
The most viewed stories for week August 26 to September 1 on antiquestradegazette.com
1 Bonhams’ former owner and chairman Robert Brooks dies
2 Cambridgeshire dealer spots clock and table sleepers at auctions
3 Butterfly-handled tea service and a group of Anglo-Saxon roundels are among six lots to watch
4 Oppenheimer collection at Sotheby’s includes Meissen created for founder of the factory Augustus the Strong
5 Steam ship model stars in our weekly pick of five auction highlights
In Numbers
383
The percentage rise in online donations to the National Trust in the year 2019/20. Despite closures due to the pandemic, the charity that looks after more than 500 heritage properties reported that online donations reached £865,000. It said that 84.2% of its membership was retained during the same period – about 1% less than the previous year.
