Tissot portrait goes to Ulster Museum
The Ulster Museum, part of National Museums Northern Ireland, has acquired a portrait by French artist James (Jacques) Joseph Tissot (1836- 1902) via the government’s Acceptance in Lieu Scheme.
The purchase was also supported by major grants from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund and the Department for Communities.
Quiet depicts the artist’s mistress and muse Kathleen Newtown, whom he lived with in London. It will be part of an exhibition in Belfast called Tissot’s Mysterious Irish Muse.
The painting, from the estate of Dr John Newton, settled £740,382 in tax and grants included £90,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and £70,000 from the Art Fund. The offer of the painting was negotiated by Christie’s.
Coins taken after hotel break-in
SVcollector’s Christos Pouloglou is offering a reward of £100,000 for the return of his missing coins.
Coins and collectables firm SVcollector from Athens suffered a theft of its coins from a hotel room in London following the Coinex fair.
SVcollector’s Christos Pouloglou had stored the coins in the room following the event and had left for dinner on the evening of Saturday, September 25. When he returned he found his room had been ransacked and more than 150 coins taken.
Pouloglou reported the incident to the hotel and police and has put up £100,000 of his own money as a reward for the return of the coins. Anyone with information should call 101 quoting number CRIS 6536564/21 from the Metropolitan Police or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Among the 150 missing coins, believed to have a value of £500,000, are a 1838 Victoria gold sovereign, 1858 Napoleon 100 franc and a 1935 George V silver jubilee proof.
Sotheby’s revamps sale categories
Sotheby’s Modern evening auction in New York takes place on November 16 and among the star lots is Frida Kahlo’s Diego y yo (Diego and I), a self-portrait from 1949 which is estimated in excess of $30m.
Sotheby’s has tweaked its sale categories for its flagship 20th and 21st century art auctions and will apply the changes at its New York series in November.
The back-to-back sales of Impressionist & Modern Art and Contemporary art are being subtly rebranded as ‘Modern’ and ‘Contemporary’ auctions.
The Modern auctions will feature what the auction house describes as “trailblazers of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century” while the Contemporary sales will focus on works from the latter half of the 20th century.
An extra evening sale will also be launched titled The Now auction focusing on works from the last 20 years.
In a statement Sotheby’s said: “In practice, these auctions will be curated on stylistic grounds rather than strictly by date – giving flexibility for artworks to go in either sale depending on what feels like the best fit, whether this is aesthetically, by mood or by historical context.”
Connell joins Catherine Southon
Stephanie Connell has joined Catherine Southon’s firm.
Stephanie Connell, formerly director of collector sales at Bonhams, has joined Catherine Southon Auctioneers and Valuers in Chislehurst.
After leaving Bonhams in 2014 she worked as a consultant and dealer under her own brand Stephanie Connell Art and Antiques. At Catherine Southon she has taken on the role of valuer and auctioneer.
Tyrrell takes on Dawsons role
Siobhan Tyrrell is now at Dawsons’ auction house.
Siobhan Tyrrell has joined Dawsons Auctioneers as head of valuations in its Hampstead office in London.
Tyrrell, who is a jewellery, women’s history and medals specialist on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, has previously worked for Phillips, Son & Neale and Bonhams, and from 2004 at Gurr Johns Fine Art Valuers. She is also a fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain.
Duo charged over Viking hoard theft
Two men will go to trial on June 20 next year on charges relating to a Viking hoard of Anglo-Saxon coins and silver worth almost £1m. Roger Pilling, 73, and Craig Best, 44, appeared before Durham Crown Court to plead not guilty to all charges.
They denied charges of conspiracy to conceal and convert criminal property between September 2018 and May 2019.
Pilling, of Loveclough, Lancashire, also denied two charges of possessing criminal property – Anglo-Saxon coins and a silver ingot. Best, from Bishop Auckland, County Durham, denied a charge of possessing criminal property, namely Anglo-Saxon coins.
Most read
The most viewed stories for week September 30 to October 6 on
1 Rare piece of Polar memorabilia flies above estimate at Ipswich auction
2 Greek dealer offers £100,000 reward for stolen coins
3 Art dealership Tomasso hit by break-in
4 Classic country house offering brings spectacular selection of lots
5 Clarice Cliff film role for Antiques Roadshow auctioneer
In Numbers
$110m
The amount raised by fractional ownership platform Masterworks in its latest round of funding. Founded in 2017, the New York-based start-up has tradeable shares in works by artists including Banksy, George Condo and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
