News

FAIRS are among the most contentious, gossip-ridden and difficult-to-read aspects of the whole antiques business. But while organisers’ rivalry can often verge on the psychotic, there is one thing they all agree about, and that is the status of The European Fine Art Fair at Maastricht.

THE relative strength of Old Master paintings in comparison to other sectors of the market has been noted at a number of recent auctions, but this new-found strength, it seems, is not just restricted to top-end sales in London and New York.

The second Detling fair of the year (February 23-24) indicates that the trade is not being put off by the Kent Act.

Top seller at a brisk day’s bidding at the Cheltenham sale held by Mallams (15% premium) on January 31 was a pair of classical style gilt metal and lapis lazuli urns and covers, one shown right.

FOOTBALL programmes were the mainstay of this mixed book, card and ephemera sale for Acorn Auctions in Trafford Park, but though one job lot of two dozen Manchester United programmes of 1960s-80s vintage did sell for £620, a similar number of single sheet programmes of 1945-46, valued at up to £2000, failed to sell, and for once it was Manchester City who came out on top.

UK: LAPADA have announced the appointment of John Newgas from June 1 as chief executive to succeed Malcolm Hord.

Echoes of the Kent County Council Bill can be discerned in changes announced to the VAT secondhand margin scheme (notice 718). Dealers who use a system called Global Accounting to calculate VAT on profit margins will have to keep a record of the names and addresses of sellers on purchase invoices – a main requirement of the Kent Bill – when the changes come into force on July 31 this year.