Europe

BRAFA’s new Expo base hailed as a success as Belgian fair returns to face-to-face business

A round up of recent international moves and appointments

Fabrizio Moretti recently opened an Old Masters gallery, Moretti Fine Art, on Duke Street, St James’s, London.

Thieves hit TEFAF Maastricht last week, entering the venue and smashing a jewellery case on the stand of London’s Symbolic & Chase.

Almost two thousand years ago, a wealthy Roman woman would have kept her jewellery or trinkets in a cylindrical box, a so-called Pyxis. They were originally plain vessels, often made of pottery.

After the difficult years of the pandemic, the organisers of the Bamberger Antiquitätenwochen are hoping that this year’s event will mark a return to some form of normality.

Ketterer’s (25/20% buyer’s premium) recent evening sale in Munich got off to a perfect start.

A big surprise was in store for the owner of a Chinese lacquer plate consigned to Hermann Historica (25% buyer’s premium) in Grasbrunn, just outside Munich.

A string of high prices way over estimates emerged at a recent Asian art sale held by Nagel (24.5% buyer’s premium) in Stuttgart.

A US collector went way over the odds to secure a 15th century southern Indian bronze that took top honours at the Asian art sale at Lempertz (26% buyer’s premium) in Cologne.

The TEFAF Maastricht fair opened with a raft of high-value sales last week.

Asian art ‘circus’ moves to French capital for dealer shows and auctions in early June

A Picasso drawing found in a cupboard has been sold at a French auction house for €158,000 (£135,000) or €192,759 including buyer’s premium.

The Chaworth Roll, a 14th century genealogy of the kings of England that includes the second-earliest recorded road map of the country, is on offer at TEFAF Maastricht this week.

This Italian maiolica plate painted with a profile portrait of man and an inscribed scrolling ribbon comes from Deruta and dates from the early 16th century.

The world record for a car sold at auction was broken last month when a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé was hammered down for €135m (£112m) on May 5.