Art and antiques news from 2005

THE engaging subject and large size of this 16 x 13in (41 x 33cm) Berlin-style porcelain plaque, right, helped it to the top slot at the January 18 sale held by Philip Laney (15% buyer’s premium) at the Malvern Auction Centre.

THE fortifying glass of fruit punch offered by the Wadebridge auctioneers Lambrays (15% buyer’s premium) to buyers before the start of their traditional Cornish New Year’s Eve sale may not have fuelled much interest in the mid- to low-range quality furniture – around two-thirds of which failed to sell – but it whetted one private buyer’s appetite for the large shaped stained glass window, right.

A WORK of art in itself, a piece of US history and redolent of the tragic past of the American Indian tribes in which so many collectors are now passionately interested. Could any artefact be more likely to guarantee a huge price than this Blackfoot war bonnet, right, dating from the early/mid 19th century but still in fine condition?

Responding to requests from auctioneers and site users, the pop-up images on antiquestradegazette.com are now bigger.

François Tajan, chairman and principal auctioneer of Tajan SA, France’s leading auction firm for many years, is quitting the company and will leave at the end of April.

CHRISTIE’S have launched their appeal against the High Court judgment in the Houghton urns case.

DEALERS who have been waiting in vain for a sustained up-turn in business are being urged to register for the fourth Art of Dealing conference on May 16.

No great improvement in trading conditions was reported by the majority of dealers who completed the most recent BADA survey.

IN February 1885, a 21ft long illuminated manuscript dating back to the 1320s was exhibited to the Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries in London.It was described as “a very curious Genealogical Roll of the Kings of England” whose “chief point of interest is the artistic excellence of the figures”.

VISCOUNT Linley has joined Christie’s as a non-executive director.

THE Andrew McIntosh Patrick Collection of metalwork by Christopher Dresser – to be sold by Edinburgh auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull in April – is on view at The Fleming Collection, 13 Berkeley Street, London W1 on Thursday, March 10 (not March 7 as previously advertised).

Normally the phrase ‘museum quality’ implies pieces so rarified that you only occasionally meet them in the normal course of antique hunting.

Carl Richard Lepsius led a well prepared Prussian expedition to Egypt in 1842-45 and as well as surveying the monuments, sent back some 15,000 antiquities to Berlin.

Police have issued this CCTV image of a man wanted for questioning in connection with a theft at a Greenwich antiques shop.

Back in the 1920s the Great Western Railway was amongst the pioneers of marketing. It produced a large array of promotional items, among which were the well-known series of wooden jigsaw puzzles made by the Chad Valley toy company, and sold on the railway’s bookstalls. Nearly 40 different puzzles were made.

A GROUND-BREAKING study into the likely effects of a new levy on art shows it could seriously damage the UK market and cost jobs.

Following the success of the discounted entry to the Newark fair, dmg Antiques Fairs will test a reduced entry price of £10 for trade day at the Ardingly fair on April 19.

Figures of Victorian cricketers are, like all of the sporting groups, amongst the most desirable of the Staffordshire portrait groups.

Bonhams are expanding their existing New York presence by taking gallery space at the Fuller Building, 595 Madison Ave. The new space will enable Bonhams to hold regular sales in New York beginning in the summer.

Christie’s are launching new large-format magazine style catalogues to accompany the periodic house furnishing sales that they hold in their London and New York rooms.