Greek, Roman, Egyptian & Other Antiquities
The antiquities market comprises artefacts and works of art made by ancient civilisations including statues, coins, jewellery and arms and armour.
Provenance is one of the most important considerations when trading in this sector as there is a long history of looting from archaeological sites.
Export law hits museum
14 February 2006A LOOPHOLE in the export law has forced the British Museum to pay almost £100,000 more than the original auction price for the most expensive British coin ever sold. The museum believes the case highlights the need for Britain’s laws on exporting art to be reconsidered.
Etruscan rattles to a £36,000 tune
06 May 2005Bonhams Bond StreetCLASSICAL sculpture also dominated Bonhams wide-ranging mixed-owner sale on April 21. Led by the Hever nymph and satyr, discussed on page 13, Roman marbles accounted for eight of the ten highest prices.
Ancient faces benefit from new buyers
06 May 2005Christie’s King StreetFaces from the Ancient WorldPATCHY interest for the small Greek and Roman bronzes and other academic material held down the selling rate at Christie’s single owner sale to less than three-quarters by volume. But outside of these entries, buyers paid a premium for the best quality provenanced works.
Lepsius the long running…
21 February 2005Carl Richard Lepsius led a well prepared Prussian expedition to Egypt in 1842-45 and as well as surveying the monuments, sent back some 15,000 antiquities to Berlin.
Hubert is king of the Peaceable Kingdom
03 November 2004THE current fashionable status of antiquities and the charm of animal subject matter proved an irresistible combination for collectors last week when Christie’s offered the late Leo Mildenberg’s collection of ancient animals. The two-day dispersal of the German-born collector’s Noah’s ark, in London on October 26 and 27, totalled just over £3m.
Market-fresh and with its own Pegasus
14 October 2004THERE was another vast sale (2180 lots) in Osnabruck held by F.R. Kuenker (15% buyer’s premium) on September 27-28. It was the classical collection of Professor Dr Hagen Tronnier that had clearly been formed over a very long time and there were many pieces which had not been available for general study for ages. This factor resulted in some higher than expected prices.
Classical warriors to set off on a world conquest
22 September 2004LEADING New York antiquities dealers Royal-Athena Galleries hold two concurrent selling exhibitions from October 1 to 30 at their galleries at 153 East 57th Street.
Antiquities fair emerges from Cultura ashes: New Swiss fair attracts top specialists
16 September 2004SWITZERLAND hosts a new international fair later this year with the launch of The Basel Ancient Art Fair from November 12 to 17 at the historic Wenkenhof, just outside the city of Basel.
Etruscan funerals and Roman triumphs
21 July 2004SECOND generation Mayfair antiquities dealership Charles Ede Ltd, issue four catalogues a year devoted to different areas of their speciality, and they have just published their illustrated volume listing the Etruscan and Roman Antiquities currently available at their showroom at 20 Brook Street.
Speculation surrounding antiquities sale at Bonhams
20 July 2004ENORMOUS pre-sale speculation surrounded the 25-lot single-owner antiquities sale that came under the hammer at Bonhams Bond Street (19.5/10% buyer’s premium) on July 14, not least because the vendor was strongly rumoured in the trade to be the world’s most prolific collector, Sheikh Saud of Qatar.
Pygmy mosaics prove popular hunting ground
13 July 2004SHEER decorative exuberance helped this Roman mosaic panel, c.2nd century AD, right, sell to an American private collector for $260,000 (£141,305), almost triple the upper estimate at Sotheby’s New York (20/12% buyer's premium) sale of June 9.
Time for this marvel of the ancient world to strut its stuff once more
28 June 2004THIS technical marvel of the ancient world, pictured right, known as a Roman glass diatretum or cage cup, was cut out of a single blank of glass to form two layers. The solid inner cup is linked to its outer cage only by a series of delicate struts.
Wace cross shaft fails
15 June 2004THE controversial ‘Anglo Saxon’ cross shaft, once hailed as a major discovery by London dealer Rupert Wace, but now blighted by academic opinion, failed to attract a bid when offered by Sotheby’s New York on June 9 with a $30,000-50,000 estimate.
Playing the Games and winning
10 June 2004AN auction of the most comprehensive collection of the ancient coins of Olympia in the year that Athens hosts the modern Olympic Games is likely to meet with very considerable success.
…and the loser is: Emperor Maxentius
10 June 2004THE Numismatica Ars Classica (15% buyer’s premium plus local sales tax) sale in Zurich on May 12 was no less wonderful than most of its predecessors. We have become used to prices which draw gasps from this house.
Fiesta time as Brussels opens its doors to colleagues and clients
10 June 2004BRUSSELS have two similar events this month, both of which are festivals rather than fairs, with specialist dealers mounting concurrent selling exhibitions, promoted jointly, and also inviting overseas specialists in the same discipline to show as guests in the Brussels galleries.
The strange case of the carved cross…
09 June 2004ONE of the most unusual disputes concerning an item sold at auction comes full circle on Wednesday, with the object being put up for sale once more.
Paying rich tribute to pharaohs... the Mayfair menagerie
03 June 2004MAYFAIR antiquities dealer Rupert Wace is mounting possibly the most captivating June selling exhibition when, as one of the participants of the first London Sculpture Week, he presents Pharaoh’s Creatures: Animals from Ancient Egypt, at 14 Old Bond Street, London W1.
There are bargains even at the best sales…
27 May 2004MORTON and Eden continue to make great strides considering how short a time they have existed. On April 22 they held their first sale abroad – in Milan in collaboration with Sotheby’s. Indeed, that firm is descended from the now closed Sotheby’s coin department.
Fragments of the Ancients
19 May 2004Illustrated right is part of a group of fragmentary Greek and Coptic papyri, dating from the 4th-9th century AD and comprising mainly Coptic accounts, lists of names, literary fragments and two Greek biblical extracts, together with three narrow linen bandages inscribed in ink in late hieratic with spells from the Book of the Dead, c.3rd-1st century BC – offered as a single lot in a Christie’s antiquities sale, of April 27.
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