Art and antiques news from 2001

AUTUMN opened at Sotheby’s Sussex with a modest, but quite keenly bid for, furniture offering where the top sellers were two (7ft 6in (2.29m) William IV pine and oak bookcases.

Sotheby’s 236-lot Clocks, Watches and Barometers sale was the largest of the three held on September 20. Timed to capitalise on the recent opening of the Olympia saleroom, it brought £417,645 and was 73 per cent taken up by lot. This small olivewood marquetry longcase clock, c.1680, 7ft 6in (2.15m), by Joseph Knibb, stole the limelight.

Gordon Russell, the Cotswolds School designer, is now famous for his austere designs of utility furniture. Unfortunately for Russell, this means that his work is often neglected and undersold by owners who do not realise his significance in the history of Arts and Crafts design.

The September 20 auction of Doulton, Poole and Carlton ware at Christie’s South Kensington (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) was a three-part sale that gave two distinctly different performances.

PICTURE restorer Andrew Finlay has adapted a piece of techology designed for protecting motorbikes to help beat art theft.

THE Essex auctioneers Trembath Welch put together a sound 450-lot sale on 10 September to open the autumn season and were rewarded with generally solid prices and one happy surprise to offset one disappointment – an almost inevitable event in the currently hyper-selective market.

UK: THE dealer charged in connection with the theft of the German Enigma cypher machine from Bletchley Park has been told he could go to jail after admitting receiving stolen goods.

“It never gets any easier, it only gets more difficult,” a dealer told Guy Schooling before Sworders’ autumn sale on 18 September. Certainly the Essex auctioneer was ready to assume the worst after a summer so quiet he had to cancel a general sale in August, but the market is also known for its unpredictability, and a frantic two weeks at the beginning of September brought more than 500 lots through the doors.

CANTERBURY Auction Galleries are celebrating the relaunch of their rooms after a £300,000 modernisation programme. The Lord Mayor of Canterbury, Councillor Fred Whitemore, will re-open the rooms on October 4, revealing, among other changes, a grand new slate staircase and entrance lobby, with new reception area.

An evening sale of contemporary ceramics, held by Phillips (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) on September 25 yielded a healthy set of overall statistics and some strong individual results. Just over three-quarters of the 200-odd lots changed hands (82 per cent in value terms) chalking up a net total of just under £390,000.

This early Meissen silver gilt mounted tankard painted in the manner of Horoldt was spotted sitting on top of a radiator by auctioneer Mark Law during a routine valuation.

“THIS was a very good way to get the season rolling,” said auctioneer Ben Lloyd of this 371-lot sale at Mallams Oxford on 7 September from which only one lot remained unsold.

Transit papers lost in terror attacks. UK shipping firms have reported cancellations from American dealers and a back-log of freight waiting to clear US customs in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on September 11.

DEALER antipathy and logistical problems have forced Anna and Brian Haughton to postpone their New York International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show after all.

RELATIVELY quiet July and August sales caused a bit of a re-think at Gorringes: “After July we were a little bit worried,” said Lewes specialist Nick Muston. “There has been an adjustment in the market and we have adjusted prices accordingly.”

Fewer than half of the 128 lots that made up The Cat Sale at Bonhams & Brooks on September 12 found buyers, but while demand was distinctly patchy and only 10 of 22 works by one of the foremost contemporary exponents of feline portraiture, Anne Mortimer, found buyers, there was no stopping Louis Wain.

From the day it was delivered to Lord Yarborough in 1826, this Benjamin Vulliamy travelling clock had remained in the same family until it was sold at Hy Duke’s sale in Dorchester on September 20.

Bretby Art Pottery: A Collector’s Guide, by Michael David Ash, published by David Ash Publishing, 165 Station Street, Castle Gresley, Swadlincote, Derbyshire DE11 9JY. Tel: 01283 212390. www.bretbyartpottery.com ISBN 0954061306. £8pb plus £2.50 p&p.

The Loving Eye and the Skilful Hand: The Keswick School of Industrial Arts by Ian Bruce, published by Bookcase, 17 Castle Street, Carlisle CA3 8TP. Tel: 01228 544560. www.bookscumbria.com £30 hb (signed limited edition) £15 pb, both plus £ 2 p&p.

When this walnut chair arrived at Shanklin Auction Rooms (10 per cent premium) on the Isle of Wight it was catalogued as Victorian and expected to fetch £400-600. However, specialist dealers who viewed it before the September 4 sale noted its clean, classical lines its ebony strung motifs and, most significantly, the wrap-around back.