News

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).

UK: Dealers and auctioneers in the worst affected areas have told the Antiques Trade Gazette of their struggle as the trade braces itself for a third month of business blighted by the Foot and Mouth epidemic.

UK: THE arrival of the BBC at the Somerset auctioneers to film Bargain Hunt attracted a larger than usual crowd to this 670-lot dispersal but it appears bargain hunters had a hard time of it.

Rightly described as ‘superbe’ this 28mm diameter portrait of Augustus made a slightly over-estimate E290 (£180).

This energetic charging knight of Philip the Good (1355-83) Count of Brabent (27mm diam.) could have been bought for E1250 (£775).

A fine piece of calligraphy in gold of the Mameluks in Egypt (c.1400AD – 26mm diam.) made an affordable E200 (£125).

UK: IT’S not just rose-tinted nostalgia – the old days really were more pleasant and these really are some of the toughest times the trade has known. The fact is that more dealers are chasing fewer lots at auction than ever before. Gloucestershire auctioneer Philip Allen has noticed a dramatic increase in private buying at auction in the past decade, which has obviously denied the trade much business, but what he has to say about the activity of dealers is even more depressing.