Southampton

In covering art and antiques, it is easy to overlook the role of the collector in among the people who created objects in the first place, and of course the dealers and auctioneers who sell them. But one collector, the late David Brown, is the subject of a show coming up in Winchester.

An antiques dealer who forged signatures of famous people such as Winston Churchill and Robert Louis Stevenson has been told he will have to sell his house to pay back more than £33,000 he took in through the scam.

The rare First World War German ship’s bell featured in ATG No 2133 has found a very suitable home – the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

Campaigners are calling on the government to create an independent trust to prevent Southampton City Council selling off artworks from its public collection.

Theophilus Jones, a private in the Durham Light Infantry, achieved the unfortunate distinction of being the first soldier to be killed on British soil during the First World War.

The Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association is taking the fight to forgers after one of its members was instrumental in bringing serial forger Allan Formhals to justice.

Southampton Solent University will officially launch their new Art, Design and Society Scheme on Friday June 23.

New degree demands a higher entry qualification in bid to win RICS backing

SOUTHAMPTON Institute has two reasons to celebrate this week: its newly adopted status as a university college, granted on November 1, and the awarding of a number of prizes to its fine arts valuation students.

RARELY do organisers get together for a joint venture but David Smith of EW Services and Nick Cox of Abbey Art Deco Fairs did just that for the first Southampton Art Deco Fair, held at Southampton university on Sunday April 27.

THE National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers hold their Spring meeting at the Southampton Institute this Friday, May 9.

THE Society of Fine Art Auctioneers have agreed to accredit the Southampton Institute’s BA (Hons) Fine Arts Valuation degree as an approved entry route to professional qualification within the Society.

A VENDOR has been ordered to pay more than £10,000 legal costs after a picture he sold at auction proved not to be by the famous German artist to whom it was attributed.

The Fine Art Valuation degree course at Southampton Institute has lost almost half its teaching staff in the past year with the student intake dropping 60 per cent since 1998.

UK: DOUBTS over the authenticity of several paintings, including a ‘Picasso’, led to the cancellation of a whole sale last week.

UK: PLACES for the one-day conference on Internet Options for the Auctioneer at Southampton Institute on February 7 are almost fully booked, and organisers Drummond Read are already planning a follow-up event for next year.