Print Edition

The latest Interiors sale at Cheffins (24.5% buyer’s premium) in Cambridge included one of the rarest of all the Britains lead soldier sets.

Lacking the glitter of a former rock star owner, this Fender Stratocaster sold on the traditional antiques virtues of quality, age and condition.

Approved by parliament on December 30, 2020, the long-awaited trade accord between the EU and the UK is an unwieldly 1300 pages long.

Butchoff Antiques sells fine quality English and Continental furniture, mirrors and objects from its 3000 sq ft Kensington Church Street showroom and increasingly online.

MADAM – I am intrigued by the ongoing debate surrounding Christie’s interpretation of the current Covid-19 restrictions in relation to the viewing of auction lots – in particular the Apter- Fredericks sale of January 26 (front page, ATG No 2481).

MADAM – Recent events (Brexit, the removal of the exemption for antique ivory, Covid) have all highlighted the need for a clear single ‘Antiques Trade’ voice to speak to Government and the wider world.

Despite having no maker’s mark, the design and quality of this c.1930 oak reclining book table armchair, below, proclaimed Ambrose Heal.

MADAM – Martin Levy’s letter (ATG No 2480) brought back happy memories of my time as a porter at Phillips Oxford in the early 80s.

Dunhill Aquarium table lighters painted by Margaret Bennett and husband Alan in the 1950s-60s remain popular among collectors in these non-smoking days.

This watercolour and pencil drawing from 1833 which became the star lot at a recent sale at Nusser (25% buyer’s premium) in Munich had an imperial connection.

MADAM – Your article ‘A great connoisseur of art‘ (News, ATG No 2479) recording the death of the impressive American dealer/collector Richard Feigen, and the obituary in the same edition (right), while rightly lauding the range of his connoisseurship from early Italian art through to Contemporary artists, didn’t mention his passion, and exceptional eye, for British artists such as Richard Wilson, JMW Turner, David Wilkie, RP Bonington and Samuel Palmer.

Bumper selection of lots offered in Gloucestershire auction house Dominic Winter provides wide-ranging array

MADAM – We are concerned about the imminent imposition of restrictions to limit the trade of ivory works of art within the European Union (front page, ATG No 2480).

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including the British Antique Dealers’ Association's election of council members

One of the attractions of the March 24-26 sale at Siebers in Stuttgart is a collection of 18 paintings by 19th century Polish artists who primarily belonged to the Munich school. The works were the property of a family of textile merchants, who moved from south Germany to Lodz, south west of Warsaw, in the 1930s.

MADAM – With nearly 30 years in the horological trade, I am a member of several specialist bodies and have occasionally considered joining BADA or LAPADA.

Rated a museum-quality piece, this rare c.1902 spirit-fired Märklin fire engine led the field at toys specialist Wallis & Wallis (24% buyer’s premium).

Brexit, CITES, new ivory act on the way… it can be hard for the UK art and antiques trade to keep up with the many regulations. However, the good news is that much of CITES has not changed fundamentally, as this update from expert Kim McDonald of The Taxidermy Law Company reveals

In June 1925, only six months before his death, the Swiss painter Felix Vallotton and his wife visited the Périgord for the first time, which he declared to be “the most beautiful countryside on earth”.

In a sale that yielded quality and surprises in most sections, the major talking points at Stride & Son (18% buyer’s premium) were provided by two pieces of furniture. Emerging from the same house and given here-to-sell estimates, both achieved five-figure results.