Features

One highlight of the rentrée is the scholarly exhibitions put on at the same time as the 'Biennale' by the Paris dealership Galerie Kugel.

In Europe summer is traditionally a time of lower activity for much of the working world with schools closed and people heading off for a long break. This is especially true in France, so when activity rekindles in September the French make a big thing of La Rentrée (the return to work).

A well-established lynchpin of the Paris rentrée is the gallery-based, Left Bank tribal art fair known as the 'Parcours des Mondes' (PDM) staged in the small galleries that pepper the network of streets in the 6th arrondisement antiques district around Saint Germain des Prés.

Cristina Ortega is a specialist in Chinese and Japanese ceramics with a gallery in the rue de Beaune. Now taking part in her eighth Parcours de la Céramique, she remains very enthusiastic about the possibilities…

The auction season is only just getting into gear in September but as this is a hectic time of year for fairs and dealers, most auction houses are keen to capitalise on the potential footfall to the Grand Palais and the Left Bank dealers’ trails.

More than 90 exhibitors will gather at the Grand Palais in September for the Biennale Paris, France’s premier art and antiques fair.

All auctions are the same aren’t they? Well not exactly.

The Biennale has restructured as the fair evolves into an annual event. ATG talks to chief organiser and SNA president, Mathias Ary Jan, to hear how the changes are not just practical but cultural as well...

As France’s main tribal art showcase, the 'Parcours des Mondes', prepares for its latest staging ATG speaks to Pierre Moos, director of Tribal Art Management, organiser of the event. Moos outlines its origins, his role in its growth and how it has changed since its inception.

An RAF logbook added value to a Second World War casualty group sold at Ipswich saleroom Lockdales (19.5% buyer’s premium) on July 15-16.

Operations behind enemy lines was the theme linking two special forces medals groups sold by London auction house Spink (20% buyer’s premium) on July 26.

Medals for service in the Falklands, Northern Ireland and long service/good conduct denote a busy 1980s career. In value terms, for a non-special forces unit, it means a price probably within £1000 at auction. But it is a single action lasting about 17 minutes from start to finish which explains why such a group on offer at Woolley & Wallis on November 22 is estimated at £20,000-30,000.

Thomas Del Mar, former Sotheby’s specialist and founder of the 25 Blythe Road group of auctioneers, turns fair organiser next month. The first Olympia Arms Fair takes place on September 30.

The London Antique Arms Fair is usually a biannual event, but this year the organiser is rather busy – in November they are putting together the Passchendaele Salute 2017 at Fort Seclin near Lille, France.

Warwick arms and armour dealer Runjeet Singh will have a representative at the new Olympia fair (see separate story) but he has a ‘fixture clash’ to cope with. The west London show coincides with his first exhibition in Asia.

Medals and orders can be heavy things. So what better way to carry around your various hard-earned gongs than a one-size-fits-all miniature version of them all?

Considering there were only 150 men defending Rorke’s Drift against the Zulus, an impressive number of medals awarded after that epic 1879 encounter have come to auction recently.

Personal and unique insights into warfare score highly at auction. So it proved at Cambridge firm Cheffins (22.5% buyer’s premium) in The Connoisseurs Sale on July 6, when a journal revealing the private thoughts of a Second World War fighter ace credited with more enemy ‘kills’ than any other British pilot doubled the top estimate to sell for £16,000.

In the days when loved ones in the armed forces would head abroad on service for up to several years, not knowing when or if they would return, ‘sweetheart’ brooches were a way of remembering them.

The BBC’s hit series Fake or Fortune? returns to our screens on Sunday August 20. ATG's Laura Chesters went behind the scenes for insight into the making of the show and to ask why the trade should tune in.