The list of experiences to bid for at the online auction includes recording a song with Sting, a coffee with Hillary Rodham Clinton and a Shakespearian acting lesson with Sir Patrick Stewart.
The May day online auction will run from May 1-8 via Sotheby’s to support those impacted hardest by the spread of COVID-19.
Surrey dealer launches charity sale
Remaining on the celebrity and charity auction theme, an antiques dealer in Surrey is hosting an online auction for NHS charities with lots including a coat worn by actress Emma Thompson.
The 75-lot sale is being organised by antiques and collectables dealer Phil Mires.
He was inspired by his healthcare worker mum who works at St Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey.
Items on offer will include contemporary art, decorative ceramics, collector’s toys and memorabilia. Bidding will start at 99p on everything and there are no reserves. Proceeds will be donated to the Association of NHS Charities.
The dark grey wool coat on offer was worn by Emma Thompson at Maria Grachvogel’s 2013 London Fashion Week show and when accompanying her mother (the actress Phyllida Law) to Buckingham Palace to collect her OBE from the Queen.
The auction can be viewed via Mires website www.pm-antiques.co.uk and is hosted on eBay where it runs until May 3.
Trade moves online to help health workers
A number of dealers have begun charity sales to help in the coronavirus pandemic.
Mayfair art dealership Richard Green Gallery has launched a charity exhibition: Art for Heroes. The business is backing the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals’ charity Supporting the Frontline, an effort launched by two local private members’ clubs, 5 Hertford Street and Oswald’s. The effort provides food boxes for hospital staff and their families.
To enhance the initiative, the gallery is offering 25 modern and historic paintings at discounted rates – mostly at or below cost price – with 15% of the purchase price going to Supplying the Frontline. It is also absorbing the 4% ARR charge.
Read more about the charity efforts of Green and other dealers in the latest Dealers' Diary section.
To see more on dealers and auction houses raising money for Covid-19 NHS charity appeals read Antiques Trade Gazette's latest NHS charity round-up.
