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Art and antiques news from 2002

In 2002 Tim Hirsch led a management buyout of Spink from Christie's.

Alfred Taubman received a jail sentence for his part in the Christie's/Sotheby's collusion scandal.

Rubens' long-lost Massacre of the Innocents sells for £45 million at Sotheby's in London. At the time it was the third most expensive painting ever sold at auction.

Coming up in....London

05 July 2002

Medieval illuminated manuscripts are hardly two a penny but religious works such as bibles and books of hours are much more frequently encountered than secular ones.

Midsummer stills brings out buyers

05 July 2002

THERE were few out and out stars at the Amersham Buckinghamshire rooms on 6 June but the buyers were keen enough to support the auctioneers’ contention that, with more widespread holidays and the Internet, it is only vendors who are cautious about midsummer sales.

Bailey bids to fill a gap in his market

05 July 2002

EVER-resilient Essex organiser Robert Bailey is back on the acquisitions trail, if in a modest way. He has just taken over fellow Essex organiser Patricia Cox’s twice-yearly Tattersalls fairs at Newmarket, Suffolk and will run the next fixture from September 13 to 15.

How art dealers can help spread the pictures of health

05 July 2002

ART dealer Caroline Wiseman, who as Wiseman Originals works mainly from her Georgian house in Lambeth but also from her Manhattan apartment and an old colonial house in upstate New York, has a new interest in her busy life.

Making their mark…

05 July 2002

Collins Gem Antique Marks, published by Harper Collins. ISBN 000713717 £4.99p.

A gem of a reference work

05 July 2002

Bradbury’s Book of Hallmarks, revised edition 2002, published by the Sheffield Assay Office, Guardians Hall, 137 Portobello Road, Sheffield Sl 4DS. Tel: 0114 275 5111 Hardback £16 ISBN l872212026. Paperback ISBN 1872212034 £5.50

Irish privates rule at home but UK trade bid wins convent’s £85,000 treasure…

05 July 2002

GOOD house contents sales, now a rarity in Britain, still crop up in Ireland and although the latest was a reversal of the usual reason for such events – the owners were actually moving back into the house rather than leaving it – Lissadell in Co. Sligo followed the familiar pattern of widespread general interest in pieces from ‘the big house’ and enthusiasm among people wishing to buy fresh-to- market pieces.

Ohio calling

05 July 2002

USA: THE second annual Cleveland Summer Antiques Show returns to Cleveland State University Convocation Center from August 2 to 4 with more than 150 dealers from across the US and Canada.

Coming up in...Rugby

05 July 2002

AN example of every Hornby Dublo model from 1948 until the Liverpool factory went out of business in 1964 will come for up auction as a single collection at Barry Potter Auctions in Rugby on July 18.

Emperor of the Channel

05 July 2002

GERMANY: Round about the year 286AD times were very interesting in Britannia. Some small documents of this small and little known facet of British history appeared in the Lanz (15% buyer’s premium) sale in Munich on May 27.

Authenticity in focus

05 July 2002

Allen’s Authentication of Ancient Chinese Bronzes, by Anthony J. Allen, published by Allen’s Enterprises Ltd of Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand, www.allens.antiques.com and distributed in the UK by David Aldous-Cook: Reference Books on Antiques, Sutton, Surrey. Tel/fax: 0208 642 4842. ISBN 0473080451 £60hb

Window rests seen in a new light

03 July 2002

A zeal for collecting in an age of double glazing has created a strong market for pottery window rests, which have been freed from the domestic drudgery of keeping sash windows open and elevated to the mantelpiece as decorative works of art in their own rights.

Bonhams sale at Moyns Park cancelled

03 July 2002

Bonhams Auctioneers announced today that the contents of Moyns Park, an Elizabethan manor house in Birdbrook, on the Essex-Suffolk border near Haverhill, had been sold prior to auction.

Comedy and tragedy together at £24,000

02 July 2002

With their lively if somewhat comic subject matter, these so-called ‘Scotsmen’ famille rose plates, 18th century, always receive a warm welcome. But the comic depiction of this kilted couple of the 42nd Foot Regiment belies the fate that lay in store for them.

Market upbeat about pictures

02 July 2002

Concerns that turmoil in the world’s stock markets would spill over into London’s June round of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary sales proved to be largely unfounded.

A £150,000 record that’s not to be sniffed at

02 July 2002

Christie’s King Street, may not have had their best ever sale but they did have the week’s most admired snuff bottle: a black and white jade inscribed example, signed Shixiang, 1740-1850.

Untiring appetite for Edo views takes set of prints to £480,000

02 July 2002

Sotheby’s Olympia clinched the week’s loftiest price for an Asian work when a mighty £480,000 was placed by a Japanese telephone buyer probably bidding against the reserve for a complete set of Ando Hiroshige’s (1797-1858) 120 woodblock prints: The One Hundred Famous Views of Edo.

Mallett reject takeover bid by property speculator

01 July 2002

LONDON dealers Mallett are reported to have rejected a takeover bid by property speculator Jack Petchey, who recently bought a 19.28 per cent stake in the company at 210p per share.

NEC angry as misleading fair guide strikes again

01 July 2002

JUST as the Office of Fair Trading seemed to be making progress over the misleading marketing tactics of the Barcelona-based European City Guide, another similar operation has struck again.

MP calls for Bill to outlaw the buyer’s premium

01 July 2002

AN MP who has described himself as a lifelong attender of auctions has told Parliament he wants to introduce a Bill that would outlaw the buyer’s premium.