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Latest art and antiques news from Antiques Trade Gazette. Browse by topics such as art finance, auctions, insurance and recruitment.

Not just any old iron for display

05 April 1999

UK: IT HAD been forged as ecclesiastical strongchests for church treasure in medieval Europe and wrought in the form of bedsteads in 17th century Italian villas, but it was only with the rise of industrial manufacture and the growth of the middle-classes in the 19th century that iron became a commonplace element in the gardens, and then the houses of the British gentry.

Love is not quite enough for private press books

05 April 1999

UK: PRINCIPAL FOCUS of attention at this auction was the range of private press, limited edition and other modern illustrated books on offer.

From Zanzibar to the Cotswolds

05 April 1999

UK: FURNITURE from the East Coast of Africa is hardly common currency within the Cotswolds antiques trade but it was given unusual prominence last month with the appearance of this substantial 18th century hardwood chest with brass studwork decoration at the Gloucestershire rooms of Wotton Auction Rooms on March 23-24.

Collectors buy offbeat pieces

05 April 1999

UK: UNUSUAL collectables on the first day and standard furnishings on the second at this 495-lot Essex dispersal.

Out of Africa and into the rich treasure house known as Sussex

05 April 1999

UK: AS two of the wealthiest and most densely populated of the Southern Counties – housing large communities of former expats, retired professionals and alpha-class commuters – it is hardly surprising that West and East Sussex have a multitude of salerooms.

£20,500 sparks more talk of Burges

05 April 1999

UK: IS this Gothic revival red walnut foldover card table, left, another rediscovered work by the great William Burges?

Coasters clean up nicely at £1900

05 April 1999

UK: A SMART pair of George III coasters, 61/4in (16cm) diameter – appealing for their wirework gallery and turned hardwood bases centred by (possibly later) crested central roundels – was unearthed by George Kidner auctioneers during a house clearance, neglected and black with dirt.

Toll board charges ahead

05 April 1999

Works of Art at Sotheby's South

Kaempfer and Titsingh offer posthumously published revelations of Japan through Western eyes

05 April 1999

UK: THE Christie’s South Kensington sale of March 19 fielded no fewer than three copies of the book that was the main source of western knowledge of Japan in the 18th century, the two-volume History of Japan... written by Englebert Kaempfer.

£3100 for mirror with nautical air

05 April 1999

UK: THIS Victorian gilt overmantel mirror, right, was the unexpected highlight of Plymouth Auction Rooms (buyer’s premium 10 per cent) February 24.

How £29,000 pleased vendor – and £239,000 delighted buyer

05 April 1999

SWITZERLAND: NOWADAYS the trade makes much of its living out of putting pictures through the salerooms, but there can be few more spectacular profits in recent months than the £200,000 St James’s dealer David Mason made out of this Albert Anker (1831-1910) oil, right, Strickendes Mädchen which sold for SFr550,000 (£239,130) at Christie’s Zurich (15/13/7.5 per cent buyer’s premium) on March 23.

Ovid, Euclid and the Kôs

05 April 1999

Sales in Switzerland A SCARCE first edition, in a ‘curious’ binding, of the Marquis de Sade’s Justine which proved a surprise star turn of a Galerie Koller auction held in Zurich on February 8, selling for a premium inclusive SFr51,168 (£22,745), was illustrated and described in an earlier issue of the Antiques Trade Gazette, but illustrated and described here are a few more of the highlights.

Bidders go Wilde

05 April 1999

UK: SIGNED cabinet photographs of Oscar and Constance Wilde flank one of their younger son, Vivian, which has been inscribed and dated 1891 to the reverse – although the well known portrait of Oscar is known to date from 1889.

US candelabra bid sets a £39,000 house record

05 April 1999

UK: ROBERT Garrard is a heavyweight in the Victorian silver market, renown for large and imposing tablewares produced for the great and the good of mid-late 19th century society. And a fine example of the Garrard output was on offer at the Bournemouth Auction Galleries in March.

Trade flock to Cotswolds for all manor of delights

05 April 1999

UK: NINETEENTH century brown carcase furniture of country house proportions and impeccable provenance attracted the higher prices at this monthly sale in the Cotswolds.

A madness for King George...

05 April 1999

Georgian grandeur helps break the £1m barrier UK: THE reign of George III is a popular collecting theme and so it is worthwhile reporting on Spink’s (10 per cent buyer’s premium) specialist sale of the Herman Selig collection on March 2.

Why the back of beyond is a firm fixture on the national trade route

30 March 1999

‘Town’ piece leads field in farmhouse territory UK: AUCTIONEER Richard Harrison describes his rooms as being ‘in the back of beyond’ but the Northern English, Scottish and Irish trade and not a few London dealers can be relied on to make their way to Cumbria for the quarterly sales.

PINning down their clients

30 March 1999

IT IS not only in their association with The Auction Channel that Bonhams are forging ahead with new technologies; the saleroom recently re-launched its Web-site, which has been redesigned to incorporate a range of new client services.

Romeyn was more than a chip off the old block

30 March 1999

UK: A contemporary reviewer described a multi-volume study of The American Woods by Romeyn Beck Hough as “one of the most marvellous and instructive books ever made”, but this accolade seems something of an understatement when one considers that this work and a spin-off (or should that be sawn-off) companion work on ...Commercial Woods were illustrated with actual specimens of over 300 species!

A volume that really does live up to its title

30 March 1999

The Ultimate Corkscrew Book by Donald A Bull

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