Marks leave Mount St and refocus

For many years head of the firm Anthony Marks, a second generation silver dealer, ran a business in Curzon Street before moving to nearby Mount Street a couple of years ago. Until closing Curzon Street some six months ago he was running and stocking two sizeable Mayfair showrooms.

These were in addition to his high profile international activities where he showed at the major world fairs, including Maastricht, Olympia, Grosvenor House, Palm Beach and Moscow, and also mounted selling exhibitions abroad.

The overheads of running such an operation were daunting and Mr Marks decided, since much of his business came from fairs and personal contact with clients, he could not justify maintaining the showroom.

In September the veteran Paris dealership Steinitz will take over the lease of 128 Mount Street as a London showroom, in addition to their vast premises at Rue de Cirque in Paris.

Mr Marks, however, will retain an office in Mount Street (Tel: 0207 499 1788).

Contrary to some rumours, Marks will not be going over entirely to dealing in Fabergé, although they had notable success selling Fabergé to Russian customers at last month’s Grosvenor House fair.

Mr Marks will continue dealing in high-end silver but has formed a partnership with Stephen Dale, a noted Fabergé expert, to add a new dimension to the business. Mr Dale has worked for Marks for some time, but not as a partnership.

The firm intends to continue with international fairs but are likely to be more selective in the future.

Those who have seen Steinitz’s stands at fairs will be familiar with their large, eclectic stock of highly decorative antiques lavishly displayed in a setting of period panelling.

They are known for their volume of stock and, despite their main Paris showroom with a number of satellite premises in the city, and the new London outlet, they still have excess goods which will be sold in a three-city auction by Christie’s later this year.

Around 1000 lots of European furniture, mirrors, chandeliers and sundry works of art will be offered in New York on October 19, Paris on November 14 and London on December 6.