North America

Conservative estimates tailored to new realities enabled the New York flagship sales of post-War and contemporary art to set solid selling rates. But, for both major houses, the financial gulf between this year and 2008 was enormous.

Thin catalogues and thin demand for aggressively-priced works by Modern masters characterised the recent sales of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York.

NEW York specialists in high-end English furniture, paintings and objects Dillingham and Co have closed their shop at 217 East 60th Street.

FLORIDA fairs impresario David Lester and his wife Lee Anne will launch the Miami International Art Fair at the Miami Beach Convention Center from January 6 to 10 next year.

A YEAR that marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species has already produced several television and radio programmes on Darwin, and it was always to be expected that his saleroom profile might be high in 2009.

THE deadly sin of avarice was the theme of this large 16th century Flemish tapestry, but the warning failed to temper the desire of bidders when it came up at Skinner's most recent sale of European furniture and decorative arts in Boston in the USA on April 11.

TWO former senior executives of dmg World Media have bought the three American SOFA fairs and the Charlotte, North Carolina showground fair from their former company.

eBay are to introduce a new dispute-resolution process in America that includes the offer of a toll-free telephone number to discuss problems verbally with Ebay customer support.

This rare Märklin toy, the so-called Fidelitas clown caravan, proved the highlight of the sale of Part I of the Donald Kaufman collection conducted 'without reserve' by Bertoia Auctions of Vineland, New Jersey on March 19-21.

A US picture dealer has pleaded guilty to falsifying business records while a director at New York’s Salander O’Reilly Galleries.

A LEGAL dispute in the US Federal court over auction guarantees could lead to a tightening of the terms and conditions under which they are issued.

LAWRENCE B. Salander, the former owner of the bankrupt Manhattan art gallery Salander-O’Reilly, has been charged in a 100-count indictment with stealing $88m. He faces up to 25 years in prison.

AN impressive example of Renaissance revivalism seen at Boston-based auction house Skinner on March 17 combined blue chip-names in both provenance and maker.

SOTHEBY'S have completed the purchase of their New York headquarters in a $370m deal.

IT doesn’t happen very often that either Sotheby’s or Christie’s can claim a major sales victory over their rivals, but at the latest Old Masters series in New York one side came out the clear winners.

A former long-term employee of New England auctioneers Skinner has been indicted by a grand jury for allegedly stealing over $724,000 worth of cash and auctioned property.

A retired Massachusetts lawyer found guilty of involvement in a major art theft that extends back three decades has been sentenced to seven years in a Federal prison.

LONDON-based organisers Brian and Anna Haughton have cancelled the International Asian Art Fair scheduled for March 11 to 15 at New York's Park Avenue Armory – the first major fairs casualty of the world economic turmoil.

DMG, one of the world’s biggest antiques fair organisers, have sold another show from their American portfolio.

BONHAMS & Butterfields saw a strong price for a Korean ceramic in their Asian works of art sale in San Francisco on December 9.