Front Page and News

The Open Art Fair, the new incarnation of what was the annual BADA fair in Chelsea, opened in hugely difficult circumstances on Wednesday March 18.

The recent sale of Clarice Cliff, Art Deco & Design at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury included 27 works by the studio potter William Staite Murray (1881-1962).

The collection of Rozenburg pottery and porcelain belonging to the late children’s television presenter John Noakes (1934-2017) was sold at a recent auction in Dorchester.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has set out a package of temporary measures to support businesses through the Covid-19 period of disruption.

With the coronavirus outbreak impacting the art and antiques trade, the number of fairs being cancelled or postponed is extensive.

In an early test of the art market after the announcement of social distancing guidance, Sotheby’s latest ‘Made in Britain’ auction recorded a dramatic increase in online bidding.

The UK’s art and antiques trade is bracing itself for challenging times as the impact of coronavirus takes hold.

One of the highlights of a busy week in the salerooms came at Dreweatts’ auction of the Sir William Whitfield (1920-2019) collection.

Leading auction houses around the UK told ATG last week that their sales calendars will continue as planned, with sensible precautions being taken in the saleroom. Many reported strong sales last week but some expressed understandable concern about future consignments. Here is an edited selection of their comments.

Among the rarest of all Subbuteo games invented and manufactured by Peter Adolph in Tunbridge Wells are those without a sporting theme.

With the UK auction calendar yet to undergo significant changes and cancellations due to the coronavirus outbreak, many sales took place last week. Here are three highlights from around the country.

Online auction marketplace thesaleroom.com (owned by ATG parent Auction Technology Group) made the following announcement to reassure auction houses that internet bidding will continue uninterrupted:

Art and antiques dealers have welcomed news from Chancellor Rishi Sunak that the government will abolish business rates for small businesses for 12 months but warned more still needs to be done.

This pair of 19th century continental silver-gilt figure groups is among the objects from a Rothschild collection to be sold by Woolley & Wallis later this year.

This finely modelled Hellenistic white marble figure of Aphrodite sold for £60,000 (plus 24% buyer’s premium) at Dominic Winter in South Cerney on March 5. Bidding opened at £30,000, twice the low estimate, before bids were exchanged between the internet and the phones.

Significant sales were made in the opening hours of the 33rd edition of TEFAF Maastricht - despite the absence of some major international buyers due to fears over coronavirus.

A pair of doucai ‘dragon’ dishes that was entered for sale by a local vendor sold for over 25-times estimate at East Yorkshire saleroom Hawley’s.