Germany

It is not usually understood that the prophet Mohammed did not actually ban images. This came about some 60 years after his death. In very late AH77 (696AD) the then caliph instituted an epigraphic gold coinage: the dinar (cf. Latin: denarius).

The German-based Oetke Group are currently in negotiations to sell the Bond Street galleries of Colnaghi, one of the oldest names in the London art trade, to the London and Munich Old Master dealer Konrad Bernheimer.

The rediscovery of a significant work by a major Old Master painter is always an event for the art trade, even if the work not obviously commercial. When Anthony Blunt wrote his monograph on Nicholas Poussin (1594-1665) this painting, right, of The Holy Family with St. John the Baptist, executed c.1627-28 when the young Poussin first worked in Rome, was only known from engravings.

TOP German dealer Konrad Bernheimer, who has galleries in Munich and London, is the driving force behind a new international, prestige fair at the Haus der Kunst, Munich scheduled for a 2003 launch.

GERMANY: Over the last few years there has been an increasing awareness that high quality works will always fetch exceptional auction prices almost regardless of where they come up for sale.

GERMANY: Lempertz’ Old Masters in Cologne on May 19 produced a hammer total of DM6.7m (£2.1m) and a surprise price of DM192,000 (£60,000), paid by the Italian trade against an estimate of just DM4000, for a Bildnis eines Singers, a portrait of a singer with crimson turban and coat, his left forefinger resting on a musical score, 3ft 1in x 2ft 6in (93 x 77cm).

AFTER Grosvenor House, a number of leading dealers’ next major fair is at Basel – Cultura, which will be held from October 13 to 21 at Hall 3 of Messe Basel where some 85 exhibitors from Europe and the US will stand.

ENOUGH of the 117 exhibitors reported decent sales at the 32nd Kunst Messe Koln, the West German Antique Dealers Association national fair at Cologne’s Trade Fair Centre from March 24 to April 1, to record a solid performance, probably up on last year.

GERMANY: ONE of the earliest items available at W.G. Herr’s (buyer’s premium 18 per cent + VAT) latest sale on March 17 was an iron and copper Zunftdose (guild member’s box, right), 81/2in (22cm) tall and engraved Magnus Brock Möller der Hunger 1697, that comfortably cleared estimate with DM7500 (£2400).

TEFAF Maastricht closed on Sunday with museum-quality goods having sold well – particularly Old Masters, Contemporary art and Oriental – but business was being achieved from the opening party on March 9, when collectors converged on this showstopping pottery model of a recumbent Bactrian camel, 101/2in (27cm) high, on the stand of London specialist Ben Janssens.

GERMANY: Telecommunication items sold at Auction Team Breker in Cologne included another great rarity: a Telefon-Globe Hide-A-Phone‚ manufactured c.1928.

Albert L. Marsh, a young inventor from Illinois, was granted a patent in 1906 for his discovery of an alloy that would only oxidize and burn up after many thousands of heating cycles.

GERMANY: WITH an attendance of 70,000, there was certainly plenty of interest in the work at the 34th Art Cologne, one of the world’s leading fairs for modern and contemporary work which showcased 276 dealers from 21 countries in Cologne Exhibition Centre between November 5 and 12.

IN a week that has seen the NASDAQ plummet and general gloom settle over the dotcom world, the massive Tek Sing cargo sale has shown that the Internet can play an extremely useful role in the international auction scene.

THE German Society of Art Auctioneers is to consider acting as an Internet portal for its members, so that they can all make a “joint appearance” together.

GERMANY: New technology looks set to cause a leap forward in German retail practice.

EU: BRITAIN’S opponents on the droit de suite issue were in retreat last week with the emergence of telling evidence from France and Germany (the two main champions of artists’ resale rights) that the levy is both damaging to art markets and of little benefit to living artists.

GERMANY: THE German Society of Auctioneers, Der Bundesverband Deutscher Kunstversteigerer is mounting a legal challenge to prevent Internet auction firms from advertising their sales in Germany as public auctions or sales.

GERMANY: COMPANIES advertising public auctions or sales on the Internet in Germany are breaking the law and should be stopped, say the German Society of Auctioneers and Fine Arts, Der Bundesverband Deutscher Kunstversteigerer.

GERMANY: ARTLINK have conducted what is being claimed as the first live online art auction. The sale – of International Young Baltic Art – took place on the evening of Saturday, August 7 at Rostock in Germany.