International

THE value of UK exports of antiques to Hong Kong almost trebled in 2005 according to the latest Customs figures.

THE Australian government has acted to protect indigenous artists following media reports that exposed exploitation and corruption in the Aboriginal art world.

A POWERFUL group of top-end American dealers have voiced opposition to the British Antique Dealers’ Association’s decision to stage a 50-stand fair at Sotheby’s New York early next year.

The current boom in the market for Chinese Contemporary paintings could hardly be better illustrated than by the way sale statistics have been leapfrogging around the globe in the last couple of weeks.

The enormous potential of the market for contemporary Chinese art was dramatically underlined by almost frenzied scenes at Sotheby’s (20/12% buyer’s premium) eagerly awaited March 31 Contemporary Art Asia sale in New York.

50-stand event planned at Sotheby’s

WHAT'S up Down Under? The very day Christie’s announce that they are downsizing in Australia by ceasing to hold sales there, Bonhams and Goodman say they are expanding operations.

A cache of William Blake watercolours, unearthed in a Glasgow bookshop five years ago, are to be sold in New York after attempts to keep them together in the United Kingdom have failed.

Hidden away in a bank vault for over 80 years, the fabled Damon Collection of rare coins, medals and bank notes will fall under the hammer in March.

Tiffany the jewellers are suing eBay in a case that challenges the very formula that has made the online giant such a success.

A revamp of Cologne’s early spring fairs fest sees the amalgamation of the city’s three February fairs into one new five-day event to be held a week earlier in the year.

Alongside the Americana offered in the New York salerooms earlier this month, there was a strong representation of early English ceramics. Sotheby’s January 20 sale of the pottery collection of Harriet Carlton Goldweitz was followed the next day by Christie’s auction of the Mrs J. Insley Blair collection, which included some key Staffordshire productions alongside its blue chip American furnishings.

Christie’s will test the potentially lucrative waters of the Middle Eastern market in situ by holding an inaugural sale in Dubai this spring.

Ninety-one-year-old John Werner Kluge is the stuff of the American Dream – a German immigrant who amassed his fortune in the States buying radio and television stations.

Sales at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris rose 16 per cent in 2005 to €414m (£280m), but firms based elsewhere in the city also continued to increase their market share.

AFTER buying two of the most famous flea-markets in Paris, the Duke of Westminster’s property company and their partners say they will undertake new ways of promoting the historic sites.

...and I’ll fight it in the courts if I have to

18th century French furniture was much in evidence on both sides of the Channel at the end of last year. It was the mainstay of two single-owner collections offered at the height of the pre-Christmas season.

FOR the second week in a row a Government U-turn has dealt the British art and antiques industry a bodyblow – but the latest move is far more serious than last week’s SIPPs debacle.

Who has the resale right? The artist holding copyright of their work or a qualifying body to whom they have assigned the right under the regulations, such as a charity. Until January 1, 2010, the right only applies if the artist is living.