Art and antiques news from 2002

Period Styles by Anna Jackson with Morna Hinton, published by V&A Publications. ISBN l851774328 £25

WILLIAM Wood’s New Englands Prospect..., first published in London in 1634, was intended to “enrich the knowledge of the mind-travelling Reader, or benefit the future Voyager”.

PORTRAIT MINIATURES: A substantial selection of silhouettes and a collection of wax portraits boosted the content of a 311-lot middle ranking sale of portrait miniatures held by Bonhams on March 12.

A high spot of the Sotheby’s sale of December 12 was a group of Jane Austen firsts in the original boards. Illustrated above right is the former Lady Shelley/Earl Spencer/Jerome Kern copy of her first published novel, Sense and Sensibility of 1811, the blue boards with cream paper spines, which made $70,000 (£49,295).

Collectors looking for glamour in the north-eastern seaside town of Scarborough almost found it when they saw that the possessions of Josephine Baker were to be sold by local auctioneer David Duggleby.

Elegant Eating, edited by Philippa Glanville and Hilary Young, published by V&A Publications. ISBN 1851773371. £30hb

DENMARK: Given the continuing vogue for Scandinavian interiors, it comes as no surprise that the first modern art and design auction to be held by Danish auctioneers Bruun Rasmussen (25% buyer’s premium including VAT) in Århus last month on February 12, met with very favourable results.

Decorative arts are especially popular in this part of the West Country, where New Age culture and the wealth of new technology has created a sympathetic market for antiques in general and the arts and crafts in particular.

Wall Masks of the 1950s: Beautiful and Exotic by Horst Makus, published by Arnoldsche Art Publishers, distributed by the Antique Collectors Club, ISBN 3897901536 £35hb

NOTED St. James’s Asian specialists Rossi and Rossi leave their Jermyn Street showrooms for New York this month for an exciting show which runs until March 26 at the galleries of Dickinson Roundell, 19 East 66th Street.

A series of strong bids brought a total of £51,900 for a Chelsea fable painted part-tea service at Lawrence’s of Crewkerne on March 14.

Wallpaper in Interior Decoration by Gill Saunders, published by V&A Publications ISBN 1851773460 £30hb

Shortly before her execution at Fotheringay Castle in 1587, Mary Queen of Scots gave this portrait ring, right, to her lady in waiting, Mary Strickland, as a keepsake. This was the story told to Devon auctioneer Robin Fenner by the vendor, whose late mother was the last of the Boynton Stricklands.

Artists with any kind of American connection almost invariably attract an extra level of interest when their work comes up for sale at a UK provincial saleroom. This was certainly the case when this 2ft 53/4in by 223/4in (75 x 57cm) genre canvas, right, by John Thomas Peele (1822-1897) came up for sale at the Heathfield, East Sussex rooms of Watsons (10% buyer’s premium) on March 7.

On the morning of March 28, 1941 at about 11.30am, 59-year-old novelist Virginia Woolf put on her thick fur coat, picked up the faux bamboo walking stick illustrated above and left her farmhouse in Rodmell, Sussex.

THE smaller items among the quality furniture, clock and collectable entries proved the most commercial lots at this 846-lot Herefordshire auction at Brightwells on 6 and 7 February.

THE move towards holding specialist sales among provincial auctioneers has been one of the success stories recent years and one that is paying dividends for Salisbury’s Woolley & Wallis in one of the most arcane worlds – that of carpets and textiles.

LONDON: MAYFAIR dealers Partridge have seen pre-tax profits drop by 90 per cent in what chairman John Partridge has dubbed “the most difficult and uncertain market conditions, for this company, that I have experienced in my 43 years as chairman”.

FOLLOWING months of speculation, Sotheby’s have announced they are to sell Summer’s Place in Billingshurst, West Sussex – but want to continue their twice-yearly garden statuary sales there.

FEARS that the UK arm of online sales provider icollector have gone bust are not founded, the company’s UK spokesman Mark Hill has reassured Antiques Trade Gazette.