TEFAF

THE size of the world art market all but doubled between 2002 and 2006, according to the latest survey commissioned by The European Fine Art Federation.

One of the highlights of this year’s TEFAF (The European Fine Art Fair) in Maastricht was this delightful Chinese Warring States bronze wine pourer formed as a tapir on the stand of St James’s, London Oriental specialists Littleton and Hennessy.

THE untimely death on January 16 of Robert Noortman, the charismatic Dutch picture dealer who co-founded of the TEFAF Maastricht art fair, inevitably raises questions about the controversial relationship between Noortman Master Paintings and its owners Sotheby’s.

ROBERT Noortman, the high-profile Maastricht picture dealer and one of the founding fathers of the TEFAF Maastricht fair, has died of a heart attack, aged 60.See next week's ATG for a full report.

WE regret to announce the death on January 5 of long-time exhibitor and chairman of TEFAF Maastricht Dave Aronson. He was 60.

HOTELS, restaurants, insurance, security, shippers and packers, design and print, marketing and promotion. These are just some of the ancillary industries that benefit when the show comes to town.

WHEN TEFAF Maastricht opens its doors next March, something will be different. An extraordinary sequence of events means that for the first time, the world’s two biggest auctioneers will effectively stand as exhibitors at the world’s most important fair for specialist dealers in fine art and antiques.

“YOU have to wait until June at the earliest to assess just how Maastricht went,” said one veteran of the world’s top fair. Other exhibitors maintain you do not really know just how successful Maastricht was until a year after its close.

MARCH in the small and ancient Dutch city of Maastricht is not just the hub of the international art world for the duration of the world’s top fair, TEFAF Maastricht. It has an impact which reverberates throughout the whole year and is a commercial event unparalleled in its quality and expertise.

Following the lead of The Fine Art Auction Group, Fernhurst auctioneers John Nicholson are to increase their buyer’s premium from 15 to 17.5 per cent.

IT is never too early for some advance news of the world’s top fair, TEFAF Maastricht, which will run in the Dutch city from March 4 to 13 with the private preview on March 3. So here is a sample of what to expect on the stand of Dutch Chinese specialists Vanderven & Vanderven, who have been with the fair since its inception.

BELIEVE it or not pinball wizards are not a louche product of the bars and cafes of the 1930s, they were active in the louche gaming dens of late 18th century Venice, as this fascinating and exceptionally rare Venetian gaming machine, known as a gioco delle biglie, testifies.

THERE are a plethora of fairs in March but, as usual, the one that will dominate will be TEFAF Maastricht in the Dutch city’s MECC (exhibition centre) from March 5 to 14, with the famous vernissage on the evening of March 4. Here is a taster of the kind of finds you can expect at the world’s number one art and antiques fair.

A COLLECTION of essays published at the launch of the Maastricht fair aims to tackle prejudice against the art market among politicians, academics and the public.

IT was not just Sotheby’s and Christie’s who were generating some exceptional prices for Old Masters in New York in the third week of January. The East 87th Street auctioneers Doyle’s (19.5/12% buyer’s premium) generated keen interest from TEFAF Maastricht exhibitors in the room when they included a moody Gottfried Schalken (1643-1706) canvas in their January 21 sale.

AXA Art have struck a three-year deal to act as principal sponsor for the TEFAF Maastricht fair from 2004. The sponsorship is a natural fit for the global art insurer, many of whose leading clients are exhibitors at what is acknowledged as the world’s top art and antiques fair.

CONSIDERING the pervading gloom and doom, exhibitors at the private view of TEFAF Maastricht last Thursday night were surprisingly optimistic and the overall mood at the packed party was distinctly upbeat.

Scrap it or at least make life easier for the trade, new study demands: THE European Union should look again at the whole issue of Import VAT and art market red tape, say The European Fine Art Foundation.

THERE are no datelines at TEFAF Maastricht, which runs in the Dutch city until March 17, but Old Masters and top quality antiques are the stock that springs immediately to mind.

FAIRS are among the most contentious, gossip-ridden and difficult-to-read aspects of the whole antiques business. But while organisers’ rivalry can often verge on the psychotic, there is one thing they all agree about, and that is the status of The European Fine Art Fair at Maastricht.