Art and antiques news from 2000

UK: The UK Office of Fair Trading and the European Union regulatory body for competition have begun their own investigations into alleged commission fixing by Sotheby's and Christie's.

This simple 91/2in (24cm) diameter pottery 'souvenir' plate, made in Llanelly c.1910 and decorated with Welsh folk heroine Mari Jones in the manner of the factory's most famous painter, Samuel Shufflebotham, sold to a Pembrokeshire collector at £1700 (plus 15 per cent premium) at the Carmarthen rooms of Peter Francis on January 25.

FRANCE: THANKS in part to the Chateau de Groussay sale staged jointly with Sotheby's, Poulain-Le Fur moved ahead of Piasa in 1999 to rank second in Paris with sales of Fr285m (£27.5m).

ELABORATE multi-figure conversation pieces are amongst the most sought-after classes of silhouette.

The automatic passage of the Kent Bill through the House of Commons was halted last week when MPs raised objections prior to its second reading, following successful lobbying on behalf of the Trade.

FRANCE: FRENCH online auction information company Artprice.com became the first dot.com business to hit the Nouveau Marché Paris on Friday January 21. Its stock was placed at Fr125 (£11.67) per share and the 1.15m shares on offer represent 18.4 per cent of the company capital.

UK: PLACES for the one-day conference on Internet Options for the Auctioneer at Southampton Institute on February 7 are almost fully booked, and organisers Drummond Read are already planning a follow-up event for next year.

EIRE: ONE of a number of remarkable prices achieved at James Adam & Bonhams' Irish Art sale on December 8 was the record IR£50,000 (£41,665) given for Harry Kernoff's 1936 oil of a Dublin cab.

UK: ANTIQUES and works of art for sale will not have to carry price tags under the terms of the EU Price Marking Order which will come into effect on March 18, 2000.

US: SETTING a new world auction record for a decoy, this sleeping Canada Goose c.1917, by renowned carver Elmer Crowell of East Harwich, Massachusetts, was estimated at $400,000-500,000 by Sotheby's, New York in a joint sale with Guyette and Schmidt of Maine, but sold to Boston dealer Stephen B. O'Brien Jr in the room on behalf of a client at $620,000 (£375,760) plus premium on January 23.

UK: THE north Indian Agra carpet that topped Christie's South Kensington's two-day sale of the contents of Le Bois Muralt on January 18–19 at £66,000.

UK: Christie's South Kensington chalked up their highest ever London sale total last week when they raised £2.25m net for the contents of a Swiss summer residence, Le Bois Muralt, on January 18-19.

UK: THE KENT County Council Bill, which seeks to impose rigorous controls on all trade in secondhand goods in the county, passed its third reading in the House of Lords on January 18, despite substantial opposition, both inside and outside the House.

UK: ART importer and exporter Ron Tabor says he believes the Trade has nothing to fear from Customs over the recent closure of the VAT loophole on re-imported works of art which appears to threaten those who inadvertently bring back works of art which have been recently exported from the UK.

UK: THE eighth LAPADA Fair opened in its new hall with a new look at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre last Wednesday, January 19, 2000.

UK: LARGELY ignored by the English and Continental trade at Phillips' Edinburgh sale, this 17th century ivory figure of an unknown Dutchman was so desired by two competing Scottish dealers that it brought £11,500 against a £2000 top estimate.

UK: THE Early Edison tinfoil phonograph which topped Christie's South Kensington's December 16 mechanical music and technical sale at £28,000.

SOTHEBY'S are counting on their brand value and guarantees of quality to help them sell high value art and antiques on the sothebys.com website which went online on January 11.

UK: THE rare Schönner 75mm spirit fired train set of c.1902 which topped Christie's South Kensington's Trains Galore sale on December 21 at £10,000.

UK: Come Burns Night on January 25, someone will be paying homage to the Scottish poet with more than haggis and a dram.