News

London has shed its reputation as the world’s only major art market centre without a major contemporary fair with the inaugural Frieze Art Fair in Regent’s Park.

AXA Art are holding a one-day seminar on protecting and conserving art on October 28 at the Royal Society of Arts, London. Before Art Falls Apart: Achieving Consensus on Care, Protection and Value will look at the changing role of dealers, curators, collectors, legal and academic experts, brokers and insurers in this field.

Sad news. The drunken rats and the two-faced lamb have finally parted company.

RUNNING at the racetrack since 1988, Caroline Penman’s Chester Antiques & Fine Art Show is a favourite with both local collectors and the 60 or so dealers who regularly exhibit. It will be held, as usual, at the County Grandstand, Chester Racecourse from October 23 to 25 and, also as usual at this event, most stock will be pre-1920.

AUSTRALIA: Today there is no love lost in any Ashes series between England and Australia. It is a hard-fought duel which engenders at best a grudging respect, but a silver presentation tray which will be offered by the Australian auctioneers Lawson Menzies on October 19 is a reminder that the original Ashes series was played in a rather more convivial spirit and ended in a true love match.

MORE worthwhile activity from our busy and productive local dealers’ associations which have surely proved their worth now, even to traditionally independent sceptics. As the stalwarts of the Cotswolds Antique Dealers’ Association wrap up their series of exhibitions, the equally industrious members of the Thames Valley Antique Dealers’ Association prepare for their autumn fair.

Exceptional quality pictures with truly international appeal from long-standing private collections have become an all-too-rare sight in the provinces, but on October 3, thanks to significant consignments from no fewer than three deceased estates, Mallams Oxford (15% buyer’s premium) were able to offer at least half a dozen lots that wouldn’t have looked out of place at any of the world’s most expensive art fairs.