Art and antiques news from 2000

UK: AFTER 16 years of working at Dreweatt Neate to develop their ceramics department, Mark Law, the Berkshire auctioneers’ ceramics specialist, has left the partnership and has joined Andrew Hilton at the nearby Reading firm Special Auction Services.

UK: THIS bronze, Theseus Slaying the Minotaur, stamped Barye 1, made £105,000 at Sotheby’s on April 19.

HONG KONG: Christie’s and Sotheby’s enjoyed a successful start to their Spring series of sales in Hong Kong last week, despite some local difficulties.

FRANCE: AFTER two readings in both the Sénat and Assemblée Nationale, France’s auction reform bill still awaits ratification.

UK: “ONE of only two known examples of Marconi’s first commercial wireless set in complete condition”, was how this inconsequentially appearing box was described by the English trade underbidder at G.A. Key’s sale in Aylsham, Norfolk on May 4.

UK: THE designs of Charles Rennie Mackintosh are normally associated with stellar prices in the salerooms, but this stained birch day bed struggled to get away at Lyon and Turnbull’s Glasgow sale of Decorative Arts on April 18 and indeed had experienced a fair degree of ignorance or neglect in the course of its history.

US & FRANCE: TWO works by Philippe de Champaigne have been withdrawn from the sale of the Karl Lagerfeld collection, in New York on May 23, and offered to the French State.

UK: POOR old Neville Chamberlain. He always takes the blame for all but delivering up the British people to Adolf Hitler, when perhaps he should really be seen merely as one of those Edwardian throwbacks like Eden who believed, quite rightly, that there was no aspect of a fascist dictatorship which could threaten the lifestyle of the English upper classes.

FRANCE: SEVENTEEN terracotta statuettes from Nigeria (Nok) and Niger (Bura), expected to bring prices between £250 and £5000, were withdrawn from sale at the Hôtel Drouot on April 21 after last-minute objections from Nigeria and Niger.

Highly desirable Clarice Cliff Blue Lucerne globular vase, 6in (15cm) high, shape 370, decorated with a stylised geometric Mediterranean landscape.

UK: Trade risks cutbacks in police commitment over due diligence.

UK: TO the businessman in late 18th century rural England, these porcelain tokens would only have been worth a couple of shillings each, but to bidders at Dreweatt Neate’s Banbury salerooms on March 29 their value was to be measured in thousands of pounds.

UK: LEADING London art dealer Simon Dickinson has announced the sale to the Brooklyn Museum of Art of the 14th century Florentine gold ground painting of Christ in Majesty which he bought for £66,000 at Dorchester rooms of Hy. Duke & Son on March 9

US: NEW York financier Saul Steinberg is to sell his collection of 61 Old Master paintings through the New York art dealer Richard Feigen. With obvious carrots dangled by the leading auction houses for such an important collection, conservatively valued at some $52m, this is a major fillip for the fine art trade.

UK: LEADING representatives of the trade have given evidence before the Culture Select Committee which is considering whether Britain should introduce new laws to tackle art theft and trade in illegally exported antiques.

US: MARK Poltimore has resigned as deputy chairman of Christie’s Manson and Woods Ltd. to take up a position with the Internet startup company eAuctionRoom.com.

UK: At the International Classic Motorcycle Show in Stafford on April 16, two determined collectors fought this rare 1954 AJS E90 ‘Porcupine’ to £142,000 (plus 15/10% buyer’s premium).

UK: INTERNET auction specialists Gavelnet have announced that they will now be offering dealers a low cost service. All technical problems will be taken care of by Gavelnet – only a phone is necessary.

The Berkshire auctioneers Dreweatt Neate led the table of provincial auctioneers who were prepared to reveal their turnover for 1999.

GERMANY: New technology looks set to cause a leap forward in German retail practice.