Latest News Articles by Frances Allitt
Garage sale-find Chinese bronze valued on US ‘Antiques Roadshow’ makes $1.7m at Sotheby’s auction
21 March 2019A Chinese gilt bronze figure bought at a garage sale and appraised on PBS’s Antiques Roadshow sold yesterday in New York for $1.7m (£1.3m) – around 21 times its upper estimate and more than 17,000 times its original purchase price.
Berlin Wall fragments sell in West Sussex auction
19 March 2019Two fragments of the Berlin Wall once used in a memorial to those killed in escape attempts sold for a combined hammer total of £17,000 at an auction in West Sussex last week.
The early bird sales at TEFAF Maastricht
18 March 2019Eager buyers made a beeline for Delft fruits, a Renoir and Paul Storr silver candlesticks in the first few hours of TEFAF Maastricht this year.
The web shop window: Rewind Vintage
18 March 2019Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.
Guy Peppiatt offers rediscovered selection of Welsh watercolours by John ‘Warwick’ Smith
18 March 2019St James’s exhibition shows works of a watercolourist seduced by British rural beauty.
5 Questions: Silver specialist Stephen Kalms
18 March 2019Stephen Kalms set up his antique silver business in The London Silver Vaults in 1991. He specialises in 18th-20th century works, particularly Victorian and Edwardian pieces up to the present.
First solo show of modern British painter Dorothy Rendell at Abbott and Holder
18 March 2019An oil on board painting Rotherhithe from Wapping Pierhead (c.1955) is among the works by Dorothy Rendell (1923-2018) currently on show at Abbott and Holder where it is offered for £2750.
LARTA Fair sales include textiles from east and west
18 March 2019A c.1710 English hunting scene embroidered in deep green crewel work and offered for £1800 by Meg Andrews Antique Costumes & Textiles was one of the stand-out sales at The London Antique Rug and Textile Art Fair (LARTA).
ADFL reports fairs turnout good but biggest buys on hold
18 March 2019Furniture sales at The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited’s (ADFL) first two events of the year contributed to solid results despite the uncertain political climate.
Joy Division sale makes “unprecedented” results as Peter Hook sells huge archives
16 March 2019In 1977, three years before his untimely death, Joy Division’s singer songwriter Ian Curtis wrote the lyrics to ‘Failures’: “Wise words and sympathy/Tell the story of our history.”
Exhibitors report early sales as TEFAF Maastricht 2019 opens its doors with new vetting policy
15 March 2019TEFAF Maastricht 2019 has opened for its preview event and news of sales is already coming through.
TEFAF report reveals art buying trends in China
15 March 2019Sixty-four percent of Chinese art collectors bought Western European modern and contemporary art in the past five years according to a survey conducted for the TEFAF Art Market Report which was presented at the fair as the doors opened for the second preview day.
Unrecorded archive of well-connected Victorian gay rights activist Edward Carpenter makes eight times estimate at auction
15 March 2019A previously undocumented archive of writings by Edward Carpenter, the well-connected socialist poet and gay rights pioneer, sold for a hammer price of £4200, more than eight times its upper estimate, at Bamfords in Derby this month.
Porcelain galore in Chelsea fair
11 March 2019Porcelain from five private collections features in a special exhibition on the stand of Jupiter Antiques at this month’s Chelsea Antiques Fair.
5 Questions: Patrick Macintosh
11 March 2019Patrick Macintosh deals in English country house antiques from the 17th-20th centuries with an emphasis on quirky furniture. He is based in Sherborne, Dorset, and exhibits at the Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in Battersea with fellow dealer Richard Nadin.
Photo fair clicks up new London venue
11 March 2019The London Photograph Fair, on March 17, has a new venue at the Hellenic Centre in Marylebone for this edition.
Modern British art – female artists coming to the fore
11 March 2019A wave of fresh interest in female artists is sweeping the UK, forcing museums and galleries to rethink their displays and purchasing policies – and driving demand at dealerships and auction houses in the process.
The web shop window - Twentieth Century Posters
11 March 2019Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.
Bath fair toast to 30 years
11 March 2019Exhibitors at Bath Decorative Antiques Fair toasted 30 years as the event opened last week.
How a museum or gallery show can boost demand
11 March 2019Waterhouse & Dodd’s Jamie Anderson attributes a recent flurry of interest in the works of Dorothy Mead (1928-75) to her inclusion in the Tate Britain’s 'All Too Human' show last year.