News

Gilding’s, Market Harborough, March 8, Buyer’s premium: 12.5 per centTHE decision by Leicestershire auctioneers Gilding’s to cut back their fine sales from six a year to quarterly events is perhaps a sign of the times, but the 510 lots offered in March appeared to signal that the shires are weathering the depression.

AS Easter approaches life is picking up apace on the provincial fairs scene.

“YOU have to wait until June at the earliest to assess just how Maastricht went,” said one veteran of the world’s top fair. Other exhibitors maintain you do not really know just how successful Maastricht was until a year after its close.

The former collection of Dmitri Snegaroff (1885-1959) was the focus of attention at the Modern and Contemporary art sale at ArtCurial (20.93% buyer’s premium) on February 22-23.

2005 looks set to be a bumper year for single-owner sales organised by the London rooms.

YEAR-END results for Sotheby’s show a $100m-plus turnaround in profitability for 2004. It’s a figure that many will take as a sign that the formerly ailing auction house has finally shaken off the spectre of scandal and debt.

After over 50 years as arms and armour auctioneers in the centre of Birmingham – and an association with the city of close to one and half centuries – Weller & Dufty are to close.