News

AFTER Grosvenor House, a number of leading dealers’ next major fair is at Basel – Cultura, which will be held from October 13 to 21 at Hall 3 of Messe Basel where some 85 exhibitors from Europe and the US will stand.

UK: A hand-held electronic device which will allow antiques dealers to accept credit and debit cards at fairs and markets has just been launched by Barclaycard Merchant Services. The mobile point-of-sale terminal, which is about twice the size of a mobile phone, will allow dealers to accept card payments in locations where this would have been impossible previously due to a lack of a landline and power supply.

USA: A Philadelphia mahogany Chippendale games table, that represented the discovery of a lifetime for a small Massachusetts auction house, was bought by New York City firm Israel Sack Inc. for a massive $1.2m ($1.32m including the 10 per cent buyer’s premium) on June 4.

Foot and Mouth continues to ravage the businesses of Cumbria, but local private buyers and dealers had the capital to make a sizeable contribution to this monthly sale on the county’s west coast at Mitchells, Cockermouth.

UK: STANDING out from all the three-figure bids at this 412-lot dispersal at D.M Nesbit & Company on June 13, the £1000-plus results again underlined the trade’s willingness to fork out only on what dealers believe will sell quickly.

Garden statuary is now an accepted part of the antiques market, but what about plants and trees? Auctioneers are prepared to sell anything that can remotely be classified as collectable these days, but there is a genuine case for admitting bonsai trees – works of art organic and antique – to the salerooms.

The Foot and Mouth crisis put an end to the intended group selling of Imperial weights and measures belonging to the British Trading Standards Association. The weights have now been sold over a number of general antiques sales at the Burton-on-Trent rooms of Richard Winterton (10% buyer’s premium) the latest of which was held on May 23.