Some of the stolen jewellery taken from Top Banana Antiques on New Church Street, Tetbury.
Centre hit by jewellery raid
An antiques centre in Tetbury was targeted by thieves and more than £30,000 worth of jewellery was stolen. Gloucestershire Police are making enquiries following reports of two men entering Top Banana Antiques in New Church Street, Tetbury at around noon on May 2 and stealing several pieces of jewellery from a display cabinet. Stolen items include gold and silver rings, bracelets and necklaces.
Anyone with information should contact Gloucestershire Police by calling 101 quoting crime reference incident number 325 of May 4 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
‘Mary, Queen of Scots casket’ sold
This casket believed to have once belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots has been bought for £1.8m by the National Museum of Scotland.
A casket believed to have once belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots has been bought for £1.8m by the National Museum of Scotland with help from donors and art funds.
Made in Paris, probably between 1493-1510, it is a rare example of early French silver.
According to a handwritten note from the late 17th century stored with the casket, it was believed to belong to Mary Queen of Scots and believed to have played a role in her downfall.
It contained what have become known as the Casket Letters: love poems and letters, allegedly from Mary to her third husband, the Earl of Bothwell, that implicated the pair in a conspiracy to murder her second husband, Lord Darnley. But the letters are now thought by many historians to have been doctored.
Subsequently the casket was later owned by the family of the Dukes of Hamilton for three centuries, passing by the mid- 20th century into the ownership of Lennoxlove House, a historic East Lothian home and the seat of the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon.
The sale was managed by Sotheby’s.
Collection to sell over eight auctions
An important English collection of Impressionist pictures, silver and furniture will be auctioned across eight different sales at Sotheby’s this summer.
With around 70 lots in total, the consignment includes paintings by major names including Monet, Renoir, Pissarro and Degas which will be offered at Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary evening sale on June 29.
It is led by Claude Monet’s (1940-26) Vétheuil, a quintessential Impressionist landscape from 1880 which is pitched at £10m-15m.
The small village of Vétheuil, situated along the Seine, was the home to Monet and his family from September 1878 until December 1881.
A number of British pictures from the collection will be offered at the sale titled British Art: The Jubilee Auction on June 29.
Some impressive pieces of silver, such as a pair of George III silver wine coolers by John Parker and Edward Wakelin (estimate £150,000- 200,000), are up for auction at Sotheby’s Treasures sale on July 5.
40th year of the Goldsmiths’ Fair
Goldsmiths’ Fair, an exhibition for independent silversmiths and makers of contemporary jewellery, will celebrate its 40th anniversary this autumn.
Of this year’s 134 exhibitors 13 are new and 10 are graduates.
The fair, at Goldsmiths’ Hall in the City of London, takes place over two weeks with a different, curated selection of 68 exhibitors participating each week. It will run from September 27 to October 9.
Bridges appointed
The Goldsmiths’ Company has appointed its 695th prime warden. Lord Mark Bridges succeeds Dame Lynne Brindley. Former private solicitor to the queen, and partner at the law firm Farrer & Co, Bridges became involved with the Goldsmiths’ Company in 1991 and has held numerous roles.
Dealer Pritchard closes his shop
Antiques dealer Drew Pritchard has closed his shop in Conwy, Wales, and is searching for a new location.
He will continue to trade via drewpritchard.co.uk. He has been dealing since 1993 and had run the shop for the past five years.
Pritchard is known for his TV appearances including Salvage Hunters.
Goldman to run Bellmans London
Harrison Goldman has joined Bellmans.
Harrison Goldman has joined Bellmans as auctioneer and valuer to run its London office. He was previously at Dawsons.
After graduating from The Courtauld Institute of Art he worked at Christie’s in its house sales and private collections department, furnished two country houses for a private collector and curated an exhibition on Bauhaus-style architecture in Tel Aviv.
He is on the committee of the Young Georgian Group.
Most read
The most viewed stories for week May 19-25 on antiquestradegazette.com
1 A Buddha in the hand at 350-times estimate
2 Mary, Queen of Scots silver casket sold to Scottish museum for £1.8m
3 Exceptional Chinese ‘nine dragon’ vase stars in our pick of six auction highlights
4 ‘Kitchen’ vase flies to £1.2m at Dreweatts and leads UK Asian art sales
5 Sotheby’s to offer major English collection this summer
In Numbers
1311
The 1.8m tall bottle of Macallan whisky.
The number of litres of 1989 Macallan held by the world’s largest bottle of whisky. The 1.8m tall vessel sold for £900,000 (£1.1m with premium) at Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh on 25 May. For ease of transport (and presumably serving) the liquid is now contained in 178 separate 1.75 litre bottles. Tasting notes say it has a ‘lengthy, warming finish and a suggestion of French apple tart in the aftertaste’.
