Art and antiques news from 2009

SHEFFIELD’S ELR Auctions sold this exceptional Victorian inlaid ebony table cabinet as part of their quarterly antiques and fine art sale on March 27.

One of the largest and longest-established antiques centres in the UK, Gloucester Antiques Centre, will be moving to a new dockside location after planning permission has been granted for relocation nearby.

ST James's gallery Dickinson had one of the most impressive selections of paintings at TEFAF Maastricht and, like many other dealers in Old and Modern Masters, enjoyed a good fair.

THE UK government has acceded to European Union rules which would see the extradition of suspects like antiquities dealer Malcolm Hay.

NORTHUMBERLAND auctioneer Jim Railton has taken over the Old Narrowgate Salerooms in Alnwick on a lease from the Duke of Northumberland.

A LOAN exhibition of 20 works from the collection of American billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen opens at Sotheby’s in New York this week.

DEMAND for Martin Brothers pottery may have tapered off slightly but it still provided three of the top prices at Bonhams’ recent Ceramic Design sale.

NO-ONE seemed to be in doubt about the quality of Sevi Guatelli’s Clarice Cliff collection.

When an impressive Wedgwood Fairyland lustre vase featured on the latest edition of The Antiques Roadshow, valuer Stephen Moore (of Anderson & Garland, Newcastle) wanted to suggest it could bring £10,000-15,000.

THE Greek courts have sentenced an English antiquities dealer to three years in jail after convicting him in his absence on charges linked to stolen artefacts.

Surrey auctioneers Ewbank and the Fine Art and Antiques division of Clarke Gammon Wellers are to merge.

Just hours before Sotheby’s sold the contents of Gianni Versace’s Lake Como villa on March 18, they withdrew an 18th century portrait by Johann Zoffany after its subject’s family claimed that it had been stolen from their home in London 30 years ago.

J.P. Humbert Auctioneers are to combine their two salerooms and focus their business in Towcester.

BOOK dealers are turning auctioneers and fair organisers in a bid to generate new income.

AN impressive example of Renaissance revivalism seen at Boston-based auction house Skinner on March 17 combined blue chip-names in both provenance and maker.

THIS iron casket with gold and silver damascening decoration provided the high point of the sale conducted by Shapes of Edinburgh on March 7, selling at £37,000.

AUCTIONEERS’ liability for their catalogue descriptions may soon stretch far beyond the saleroom – even to third parties not involved in bidding – if plaintiffs win a pending New York test case.

DAVID Smith of Neptune Fine Art, the dealer who was duped into buying a fake Lowry painting, has told ATG that potential buyers should be exceptionally careful when considering purchasing a Lowry painting.

COSMETICS giant L’Oréal took their multi-pronged legal tussle with online auction site eBay to the High Court in London last week.

Following days of brinkmanship between the vendor and the Indian authorities, the controversial saga of the auction of Mohandas Gandhi’s personal items reached a satisfactory conclusion when they were acquired for the Indian people by a wealthy businessman.