News

Baroness Rawlings of Burnham Westgate has accepted the invitation of the British Antique Dealers’ Association to become their new president. She will replace Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville who has filled the role since 1995.

Government report reveals impact of levy... and the cost The introduction of Droit de Suite in the UK could result in the loss of up to ten art dealing jobs for every artist who would benefit from the tax.

The Conservatives have vowed to fight Droit de Suite in their election manifesto. “Conservatives believe the Artist’s Resale Right will be highly detrimental to the British art market, and will benefit competitors outside the EU,” the manifesto reads.

IT was a matter of success breeding success for Oxfordshire auctioneers Holloway’s in March. Late last year they sold an 18th century ivory bust, possibly of Handel, for £29,000, and when the owner of a tiny medieval ivory panel read of it in ATG No 1671, January 8, he decided to offer it in the Banbury rooms.

EXPECT around 3000 original works from 45 UK dealers at the 10th annual Chelsea Art Fair, organised by Caroline Penman and held from April 21 to 24 at Chelsea Old Town Hall in London’s King’s Road SW3.

PICK up the Modern British reference books and you might just find a small mention of Edgar Hubert: born in Billingshurst, West Sussex in 1906; trained at the Slade; an exhibitor with the London Group from 1931 to 1947; died in obscurity (actually it was in Scafold, West Sussex) in 1985.

Expertise rewarded, a surprise (and happy) ending and just a touch of regret... the story of an unassuming set of four late 19th/early 20th century chairs, one shown right, offered by Greenslade Taylor Hunt (15% buyer’s premium) at Taunton on March 15, was the very stuff of auctioneering romance.