Dreweatts

Two views on the big questions facing the trade… This week we ask whether promoting the foundation date of an auction house benefits the business' branding.

Billed as a collection, possibly better described as a hoard, the contents of boxes stored in warehouse units were “the magic ingredients for auction goers” according to Dreweatts’ deputy chairman James Nicholson.

A pendulum clock used in an early longitude trial will be offered for sale by Dreweatts next month.

Antiques dealership Mallett and book specialist Bloomsbury are to be relaunched this year after being reunited with former stablemate Dreweatts.

“Every auctioneer dreams of being instructed to handle a wide-ranging collection lovingly put together over decades and then packed away out of sight.“

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

He was among the most prolific and longest serving official war artists of the Second World War, yet Anthony Gross (1905-84) remains an obscure name among 20th century British talents.

Algernon Newton (1880-1968) is one of those British artists whose pictures went unnoticed for many years.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

The last remnants of Mallett’s stock, including a clutch of 18th century pictures, were offered in a final sale in Berkshire on November 8.

Offered at a wider-ranging, paintings and decorative arts sale at Dreweatts (24% buyer’s premium), this Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian lustre vase, below, would have stood out at a post-1860s design sale.

Newly-independent Dreweatts will hold a third – and probably final – Mallett stock sale from Donnington Priory next month.

Update (July 2019): auctions resumed at Bloomsbury in 2018 following Gurr Johns' purchase of Dreweatts and Bloomsbury in 2017. In February 2019 it expanded the number of sales at its London office at 16-17 Pall Mall. The original story is below.

Fine examples of John Sell Cotman’s (1782-1842) draftsmanship appeared at separate auctions in the south of England.

Mark Law has left Dreweatts in Donnington Priory, with the future of the firm now unclear.

Mark Law’s deal to buy auction firm Dreweatts and the Mallett brand from stamp dealer group Stanley Gibbons has collapsed.

The completion of Mark Law’s deal to buy auction house Dreweatts from stamp dealer group Stanley Gibbons has been delayed due to a change in financial backing for the £2.4m purchase.