Art and antiques news from 2005

The number of stands at the Summer Olympia will be almost halved by June 2010 in a bid to make it one of the world’s top art and antiques events.

A remarkable array of art and antiques seized by the High Court from an Austrian businessman convicted of fraud were sold by a small-scale Buckinghamshire auctioneer last week.

“SWINDERBY goes it alone, a week before Newark,” was the headline in the ATG’s October 23 issue last year. With dmg’s Newark ditching their Monday and Tuesday slot in favour of a Thursday to Saturday event (February 3-5) this put Swallow Fairs’ at RAF Swinderby a full week ahead with their Thursday to Sunday show on January 28-30.

BEST known for their period silver by the master English silversmiths, Mayfair dealers Marks Antiques are also making a name for themselves with Fabergé, and, on February 18 and 19, hold a selling Fabergé exhibition at Martyn Cook Antiques, Queen Street, Woollahra, Sydney.

DISTINGUISHED Kensington early English pottery specialist Jonathan Horne, whose stock is as popular with his many American collectors as on the home market, returns from the New York Ceramics Fair to his shop at 66c Kensington Church Street, London W8 from February 22 to March 5 for his 25th annual exhibition.

Buoyed by rising stockmarkets and the continuing strength of the euro against the pound, European private collectors were buying in force at Sotheby’s and Christie’s February round of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art sales in London.

A New York jury has ruled in a legal case that has locked the horns of the two biggest names in real-time Internet bidding.

Fine Art Auctioneer Dr. Jürgen Fischer in Heilbronn, Germany has announced an important forthcoming sale of European and Studio Glass to be held on 11th and 12th March 2005.

The Simon Hall collection of cookery books, to which were added lots from other sources, was offered by Dominic Winter on January 27.

SEVEN-figure prices are rare in continental Europe, so there was jubilation in Cologne when a work by Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948) climbed to €1.2m (£857,000) at Lempertz (22.04% buyer’s premium) on December 4.

Appearing at Frank R. Marshall’s (15% buyer’s premium) sale at Knutsford, Cheshire on January 11 and selling at £720, was this 10 x 7in (25 x 18cm) oil-on-canvas, right, by Augustus Edwin Mulready (fl1863-1880 d.1886). Framed, mounted and indistinctly signed, it showed a characteristic subject for the artist, and was estimated at £200-300.

AFTER almost five years in the heart of London’s West End, one of our top dealers, Kevin Smith of Windsor House Antiques, has decided Mayfair is not for him.

Following the lead of The Fine Art Auction Group, Fernhurst auctioneers John Nicholson are to increase their buyer’s premium from 15 to 17.5 per cent.

Preview: One of the classic images of the Victorian era is the picture of the resolute monarch on horseback with her trusted servant and confidant John Brown. This photograph, taken in 1864, is to be found in a remarkable album of memorabilia that the auctioneers Sebök (17.24% buyer’s premium) in the Bavarian city of Bamberg are offering on March 5.

Mallams, Cheltenham. January 6 - Buyer’s premium: 15 per cent WILD animals and ferocious reptiles were major features at this 430-lot Gloucestershire sale.

Franz Xavier Messerschmidt (1736-83) was one of the most extraordinary figures in the history of Western art.

NO more the enfant terrible of the Brit-Art world, shark man Damien Hirst is quite at home in salubrious Knightsbridge, especially after he walked away with £11m from his famous Pharmacy sale at Sotheby’s.

A CONFERENCE addressing the special problems facing the art and antiques trade will be held at the Earls Court Conference Centre in London on Monday, May 16.

Atlanta, Georgia will have a twice-yearly vetted antiques fair to be launched by dmg World Media in October 2006.

With Sir Walter Scott setting the tone and Victoria and Albert in the vanguard, 19th century followers of fashion developed a highly romanticised passion for all things Scottish.