Art finance

Financial arrangements regarding the buying and selling of art have their roots in old-school pawnbrokers. Practices have greatly developed over the years and now encompass art loans and guarantees underwritten by auctioneers or third parties.


Mobile credit card terminals may be a ‘godsend’ for trade

09 July 2001

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.

The road from Bath to Olympia busy after May sale’s success

06 July 2001

LIKE many other provincial auctioneers, the Bath operation of the Phillips empire – now the centre for collection points at Cardiff, Bristol and Sherborne, profited from the major fairs in June when their 332-lot sale on May 21 saw a take-up of 83 per cent and a predominance of trade buyers buying to sell on in London.

Ashmolean Greek grant

28 June 2001

UK: IT HAS just been announced exclusively to the Antiques Trade Gazette that the Heberden Coin Room at the Ashmolean Museum, which holds one of the most comprehensive collections of coins and medals in the world, has received a very substantial grant to update and rewrite the history of Greek coins from their invention (c.630BC) to Alexander the Great (d.323BC).

Silver vesta case goes above par

27 June 2001

UK: PRICES for standard silver remain subdued but the 330 lots of plate and silver offered here did include nine four-figure bids and enjoyed an 86 per cent take-up and a total of £96,600.

Studies show impact of supply and demand

21 June 2001

IT APPEARS that simple economics may be catching up with eBay sellers, at least in the antiques and collectibles sector. Everyone knows the law of supply and demand: if supply is low and demand high, prices go up. If supply is high and demand doesn’t increase accordingly, prices go down.

Overseas sales now dominate says annual BADA survey

04 June 2001

SALES to overseas buyers now account for 63 per cent of business among members of the British Antique Dealers Association, according to BADA’s latest survey for 1999/2000.

Foot and Mouth - click here for the latest news

14 May 2001

Last updated 12 June 2001

Coin coup for the Fitzwilliam

23 April 2001

UK: THE Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is celebrating a £425,000 Lottery windfall that has helped it acquire a stunning coin collection.

In the Celtic limelight...

17 April 2001

Sotheby’s find a warm welcome in Wales with record bid and active museum interest UK: THE strong, and occasionally extraordinary, demand for Celtic art, both Scottish and Irish, has been a feature of the art market for years and has warranted specialist picture sales devoted to those country’s painters.

Trends show up in ceramics auctions

09 April 2001

The growth of the Internet, and the reluctance of the biggest auctioneers to deal with low-value goods, has helped provincial auctioneers win more business.

EBay test case over bid to drive up prices online

02 April 2001

THREE men have been charged with joining together to drive up prices for items they were selling on Internet auctions on EBay. The charges include one linked to a sale in which a Dutch user bid $135,000 for a fake Richard Diebenkorn painting.

Trade braces itself for third month of Foot and Mouth

02 April 2001

UK: Dealers and auctioneers in the worst affected areas have told the Antiques Trade Gazette of their struggle as the trade braces itself for a third month of business blighted by the Foot and Mouth epidemic.

Sotheby’s first to show pain of fines

19 March 2001

Christie’s report record sales as rivals lose market share

Objects of desire: American dogs...

12 March 2001

US: THERE may be plenty of people talking about economic downturn in the US but, for the moment at least, American dog lovers retain a healthy enthusiasm for their particular corner of the picture market.

Technology effect on precious metal prices

07 March 2001

DRAMATIC swings in the prices of precious metals over the past week have seen platinum rise by 13p per gram while silver has fallen by 9p an ounce.

In a climate of fear, the rich men’s staples sell

26 February 2001

US: FEARS of an economic downturn seem to have almost as much effect in the United States as any downturn itself, and there was much talk of recession in the run-up to this year’s Palm Beach International Art and Antiques Fair, the Florida phenomenon which organiser David Lester has taken to the premier league in just five years.

Recession proof?

19 February 2001

US: RECENT jitters about the health of the US economy have had a noticeably negative effect on several sectors of the international auction market. The US wine market, however, seems to be relatively untouched as yet.

British & Irish Sales 2000

12 February 2001

THERE are yet two major Sotheby’s sales of last December to report – the Travel & Map sale of December 14 and the English Literature & History sale of December 19 – but as there are no 2001 Sotheby’s sales scheduled until May, there is no fear of an overlap, and these sales aside, the three brief reports that appear below bring my wider coverage of the old year’s book sales to a close.

Present values from sales of the distant past

12 February 2001

UK: FOR the record, a final mention of the busy pre-Christmas sales...

Two eye-openers boost Surrey total

05 February 2001

UK: THERE was a time when any antique eyebath brought a gleam to the eyes of auctioneers, but one might have thought those days had passed. Not so, if the reaction to an example offered in the Dorking Halls sale is anything to go by.

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