Latest News Articles by Anne Crane
Drouot affair “belongs in the past", says French auctioneer body
09 September 2016The sentencing of former porters and auctioneers in Paris this week for the organised theft of thousands of artworks means the affair “belongs in the past”, the head of France’s auctioneering body told ATG.
Hold on to your hat: Paris' annual Parcours des Mondes gets off to a good start
09 September 2016The Parcours des Mondes, Paris' annual tribal trail and one of the biggest commercial gatherings in this collecting area, opened on September 6.
Cécile Bernard appointed managing director of Sotheby’s France
05 September 2016Sotheby’s have announced the appointment of Cécile Bernard as managing director of Sotheby’s France.
Export bar for Queen Victoria’s coronet sold by London dealer
30 August 2016A temporary export bar has been placed on the coronet designed for Queen Victoria by her husband Prince Albert, giving UK buyers an opportunity to raise the £5m (plus £1m VAT) asking price to keep it in the country.
Just Like That! V&A acquires Tommy Cooper collection
29 August 2016With his trademark fez and deceptively shambolic stage persona, Tommy Cooper was one of Britain’s best known TV personalities. Now the Victoria & Albert Museum is acknowledging his fame and popularity with the announcement that they have acquired the comedian’s memorabilia collection.
Malmo decorative fair – ‘a trade secret amongst Swedish dealers’
19 August 2016The annual Malmo Decorative Antiques Fair (Malmo Dekorativa) takes place at the end of this month at Katrinetorp, a pretty manor house and garden oasis around 10 minutes from the city centre and within easy distance of the airport.
Italian cabinets from Castle Howard head to Fitzwilliam Museum
12 August 2016An impressive and richly decorated pair of early 17th century gilt bronze and pietre dura inlaid Italian cabinets, which stood in Castle Howard, Yorkshire for two and a half centuries, have been saved for the Nation by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
Charles Lindbergh’s record-breaking flying helmet to be offered at Paris auction
10 August 2016Charles Lindbergh’s flying helmet which the American aviator wore on his record-breaking solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927 is to be offered for sale in Paris this autumn.
Tribal art and classic cars boost French auctioneers
13 July 2016Auction houses in France have announced their first half-year sales figures.
King of the saleroom – medieval chess piece sells at £540,000
08 July 2016A medieval chess piece produced one of the most exciting moments in Sotheby’s Treasures auction in London.
Japanese woodblock wonder sets record in Paris auction
30 June 2016Crowning the white-glove success of Japanese works from the Portier collection in Paris was the sale of this signature portrait print by Kitagawa Utamaro for €600,000 (£500,000).
Vaizey places export bar for Florentine pietre dure table top
27 June 2016Culture Minister Ed Vaizey has placed a temporary export bar on a 17th century Florentine pietre dure table top. It was sold in December at Sotheby’s in London for £3m.
Louvre buys duc de Berry’s tomb mourners at Paris auction
24 June 2016Two finely carved marble figures of mourners from the tomb of Jean de France, the duc de Berry (1340-1416) brother of King Charles V of France were secured by the Louvre for €4.4m (£3.67m) at Christie’s Paris last week.
Christie’s open show of famous lots to mark 250 years in business
23 June 2016Christie’s have launched their 250th anniversary celebrations with the opening of Defining British Art, a month-long loan exhibition of works that were sold through the auction house over the course of its history.
Old Master trumps cautious estimate in Paris and soars to €1.56m
20 June 2016A painting catalogued as from the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens soared past a cautious four-figure estimate to take €1.56m (£1.3m) at a recent Paris auction.
Steinway piano leads key sales of musical instruments
14 June 2016One of the main attractions at Piano Auctions’ upcoming quarterly auction at the Conway Hall in London on June 23 is this Steinway with celebrity status.
Duchamp sale sets new record with national treasure
09 June 2016A painting by Marcel Duchamp sold for €1.243m (£1.035m including premium) at Artcurial in Paris on June 6.
Belgian trade unite for 'Cultures'
02 June 2016Tribal art will be making a splash in Brussels around the city’s Sablon area, as it is does every summer, but this year it will be as part of a new cross-cultural promotion.
Paris museum secures rare piece of Akyè art
31 May 2016The Musée du Quai Branly, the dedicated museum for tribal art which opened in Paris in 2006, has been a key factor in boosting the French capital as a world centre for ethnography in both scholarly and commercial terms.
More deaccessions from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
16 May 2016Christie’s are to sell another major slice of deaccessioned material from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, just under a year after they held a dedicated auction devoted to a dispersal from the Met’s holdings of English furniture and works of art.