Auctioneers

THIS mysterious liveried Austin A40 Dinky van made for the Spanish company Omnisport sold for £6400 on the phone to a British collector at Wallis & Wallis in Lewes, East Sussex on June 8.

SOTHEBY’S New York hold the W. Graham Arader sale on June 19, offering 204 lots from the well-known American prints and maps specialist.

Toovey’s have announced an increase in their buyer’s premium to 22.5% plus VAT. They cite rising running costs as the chief cause for the increase, which comes into effect on June 16-19.

WHEN John Harrison set about solving the problem of how to measure longitude, the name Association would have held a special resonance for him.

WHEN a market softens, it is often best to return to first principles – the core values of condition, market freshness and pricing that can be overlooked when an area of collecting really ‘takes off’.

CHRISTIE’S have launched legal action against US Internet entrepreneur Halsey Minor. Minor took Christie’s to court last December, accusing the auction house of fraud and a number of other torts after pictures he consigned to Christie’s dealership Haunch of Venison in May 2008 were not returned “in a timely fashion” when they failed to sell.

In terms of the bottom line, Christie’s latest Hong Kong HK$1.07bn (£83.5m) premium-inclusive Asian series was a far cry from the firm’s record-breaking HK$2.4bn (then £162.2m) extravaganza last year.

THE Norfolk-based auctioneers of fine modern and antique guns, Holt’s, have signed a promotional deal with Land Rover that sees them become ambassadors for the all-terrain vehicles.

A WELL-ORGANISED gang targeted the premises of Cirencester auctioneers Moore Allen & Innocent on May 28, taking antiques with a combined value of between £20,000-40,000.

SUSSEX auctioneer John Nicholson is claiming a significant breakthrough in establishing the existence of artist Pietro Psaier and his links with Andy Warhol.

BONHAMS are moving their musical instrument department from New Bond Street to their Knightsbridge rooms.

There were local, or at least county, connections when this large linocut print, ‘Church and Thunderstorm’ by Edward Bawden (1903-1989) was offered by Essex auctioneers Sworders at their spring Country House sale.

SALISBURY auctioneers Woolley & Wallis have broken their own UK regional record with the sale last week of a Qianlong jade carving of a water buffalo for £3.4m. It establishes a massive new UK landmark for any work of art sold at auction outside London.

CHRISTIE’S Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS) have announced that they will open a new facility at The Singapore Freeport in January 2010, offering a secure tax-free location for the storage and transaction of fine art and antiques.

After more than 40 years, Sotheby’s have scrapped their annual sale at Gleneagles and will now hold biannual sales of Scottish art in London.

Conservative estimates tailored to new realities enabled the New York flagship sales of post-War and contemporary art to set solid selling rates. But, for both major houses, the financial gulf between this year and 2008 was enormous.

THIS pair of Irish George III mahogany and brass-bound peat buckets drew multiple bidders at Mellors & Kirk's two-day auction in Nottingham on April 30-May 1.

SEVERE belt-tightening is the order of the day at Sotheby’s as the company ride out the downturn and position themselves to take strong advantage as the market recovers.

HE had received only a basic education and spoke only Dutch, but Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) is today recognised as the greatest of the pioneering microscopists of the 17th century.

A HOARD of James I gold unites, found in the wall of an Oxfordshire cellar 30 years ago, is expected to sell for £50,000 at London specialist auctioneers Morton & Eden on June 9-10.