Dealers

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.

FIVE of the six dealers who have left Chelsea antiques centre Bourbon-Hanby are consulting lawyers over whether their leases have been honoured.

UK: THE trade have issued a warning to colleagues about a criminal gang operating in the Pimlico Road area who are known to target antique shops.

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.

TOP people’s favourite antiques event The Grosvenor House Art and Antiques Fair has been running since 1934, the age of Deco, and as an established part of the London Season is not the place that comes to mind when thinking of something for the decorators.

JOINING the illustrious roster of exhibitors at this month’s Grosvenor House Art and Antiques Fair, which runs at Mayfair’s Grosvenor House Hotel from June 12 to 18, is the distinguished arms and armour dealer Peter Finer.

VALUE investor Jack Petchey has taken just under a 20 per cent stake in Mayfair dealers Mallett. He acquired the 2.66m shares, representing a 19.28 per cent stake in the company, at a price of £2.10 a share, from Merrill Lynch, on May 30.

THE spectre of misleading fair guides landing dealers with bills for hundreds of pounds for unwanted advertising has risen yet again.

THIS wig powderer was made in York in 1817. Described in Michael Clayton’s book The Collector’s Dictionary of Silver & Gold of Great Britain & North America as “a tapering cylinder, from the cover of which rises a tube with a mouth of spherical form,” this type is dated to around 1800.

LONDON antiques centre Antiquarius say they are delighted to have the opportunity to sign up some of the dealers who have quit nearby Bourbon-Hanby in a disagreement over rent rises and lease terms.

PLANS to give a London antiques centre a makeover – turning it into an arcade for interior decorators – has meant six dealers getting their marching orders... or so it seems.

AS a regular exhibitor at that most traditional of fairs, the Chelsea Antiques Fair, and after enjoying a most successful debut at New York’s Winter Antiques Show earlier this year, there is no doubt that European folk art specialist Robert Young is very much an antique dealer.

Oriental art dealer Christian Deydier has been voted in as the new president of the France’s Syndicat National des Antiquaires (National Dealers’ Association) in Paris, defeating book dealer Claude Blaizot by 10 votes to 6. Outgoing president Dominique Chevalier, recently injured in a motorcycle accident, did not stand for re-election.

THE Dutch Ambassador welcomed British and Dutch dealers to a reception at the London embassy on April 24 to celebrate the signing of a formal agreement between two leading trade associations.

KENT rug dealer Desmond North has been successfully holding “rug-ins” for the past 30 years and on that wisest of maxims, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, he continues this dealing tradition twice a year and over the Bank Holiday weekend of May 4 to 6 holds his Spring Rug-In.

“Thank goodness he didn’t put up VAT”, said one dealer in response to Gordon Brown’s budget – the worst fears of the trade did not come true last week.

Operating for many years from their warehouse space in Eccleston, Lancashire, Bygone Times International were one of the UK’s largest dealers in memorabilia supplying themed bars and restaurants worldwide.

The British Antique Dealers’ Association’s annual survey of its 388 members shows that, despite economic jitters, their aggregate turnover rose from £727m in 2000 to an estimated £782m last year.

LONDON: THE trade are being warned about credit card cloning after several incidents in London in the past few months. In mid-January, a King’s Road gallery sold a French 19th Century bronze figure to a customer, and was paid with a credit card which, though authorised at the time, now appears to have been fraudulent.

FRANCE: A remarkable 21 new dealers are joining this year’s 21st Biennale des Antiquaires, which will be held at the Carrousel du Louvre, in Paris from September 20 to 29.