Europe

A traditional art event keen to move with the times is pulling off a difficult double act.

In ATG No 2385 we ran a story on Rebecca Lloyd Marlow’s 12,000-strong collection of 18th to 20th century buttons which she had sourced over the past 20 years at fairs and brocantes across France. Here is a focus on two such events, one in the north and one in the south of the country where not only buttons but plenty of textiles, French furniture, ceramics and all sorts of desirables in between tempt hundreds of buyers.

France’s annual Journées Marteau event, organised by the French auctioneers’ association SYMEV (Syndicat National des Maisons de Ventes Volontaires), takes place this weekend, April 5-7.

Head and shoulders above anything else in Millon’s (25% buyer’s premium) animalier bronze sale, Bestiare, held on March 8 at Drouot in Paris, was a dramatic study of a lion eating by one of the most sought-after names in the genre and the star of the so-called Antwerp school of sculpture.

A pair of early George III carved walnut Gainsborough chairs, c.1765, were among the early highlight sales at BADA 2019. Offered from the stand of Richard Courtney in excellent original condition, they sold for a price in the region of £70,000.

A very rare gold coin took top honours at the auction held by Künker (23% buyer’s premium) in Berlin on January 31.

Almost 140 carpets and weaves which illustrate the differing designs of the individual tribes that make up the people of Turkmenistan are to be offered by Dorotheum in Vienna on April 9.

Two iron padlocks caught the eye of numerous bidders at the February 28 sale at Wendl (18% buyer’s premium) in Rudolstadt.

Through his numerous inventions, the Parisian craftsman Julien Leroy (1686-1759) is credited with revitalising the art of clock and watch making in the French capital and throughout the country.

Contrary to popular opinion, the name of the Rock-Ola company of Chicago, which became famous for the production of distinctive jukeboxes, has no connection to rock ’n’ roll. It is in fact a fortuitous coincidence that the firm’s founder was actually called David Cullen Rockola.

Early 20th century Italian sculpture attracts six-figure result in German auction house.

Eager buyers made a beeline for Delft fruits, a Renoir and Paul Storr silver candlesticks in the first few hours of TEFAF Maastricht this year.

Our very special and beloved father, Evert (Everardus Josephus Maria) Douwes, passed away on March 6 at the age of 90.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from March 19-30, 2019.