Features

I grew up with Christie’s South Kensington. In late 1975, when I joined the fledgling four-year-old Antiques Trade Gazette, CSK was in its first year of existence.

The UK and European Union now face an uncertain future, with cross-border controls a key concern for exporters and importers as politicians debate memberships of the single market and customs union. What does this mean for the art market and its insurance needs?

“There are insurers in the market who purport to be specialists but who have little, if any, experience in settling difficult claims, such as those involving depreciation as a result of damage. Their premiums are very competitive, but brokers have no knowledge of how claims will be settled.

The business of trading in art and antiques is fraught with risks. With the added complexity of Brexit looming, ATG outlines the insurance steps buyers and sellers can take...

For previous generations of artist jewellers, from René Lalique to Andrew Grima, retail sales and private commissions were everything. Typically it was only much later in the collecting lifecycle, after a period of posthumous reassessment and rediscovery, that their work appeared at auction with any great regularity.

Ahead of the autumn sale of a star lot, Phillips' watch expert Aurel Bacs tells ATG why the time is right for the firm to expand its US watch business

Dendritic agate – a pale chalcedony with treelike inclusions caused by traces of iron or manganese – is a relatively lowly stone but was a favourite of Russian jewellers in particular. Carl Fabergé used it in many pieces in a country where it is considered a stone of longevity, good health and prosperity.

A selection of stand-out jewellery lots from regional auctions.

The collection of Tiffany jewels offered by Christie’s New York (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on June 20 was the finest at auction in recent memory.

Bonhams’ (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale in Knightsbridge on June 14 included a group of pieces attributed to the British Arts & Crafts jeweller and designer Dorrie Nossiter (1893-1977).

Stealing all the headlines at Sotheby’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) Fine Jewels sale in London on June 7 was the £540,000, 26ct ’tenner’ diamond, bought by the vendor at a boot fair in the 1980s. However, among the 370 lots were items with more illustrious provenances.

Tiaras have enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent years, particularly in Russia and the Baltic States where jeans and a diamond fascinator are de rigueur at informal high-society events.

Indian design was a prolific influence in Carlo Giuliano’s style. Already seen at the 1851 Great Exhibition, interest in technicolour jewellery from the sub-continent rose to new levels when Victoria became Empress of India in 1876.

This medieval gold posy ring with a Lombardic inscription is a type that was common in England and France in the 13th and early 14th centuries. After around 1350, Gothic script became popular.

Ancient pottery is the most abundant and diverse collecting field to have survived from antiquity. As the first synthetic material created by humans, it spans the entire ancient world, encompassing a wide variety of styles, shapes and colours. From functional household objects to highly prized ceremonial pieces, pottery appeals to both entry level collectors and seasoned buyers. Here ATG puts ancient pottery in the spotlight with a selection of highlights coming up at auctions, fairs and galleries in London this summer.

ATG previews a couple of upcoming lots at London auctions.

The antiquities trade’s packed summer schedule got off to a bright start at Sotheby’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) in London. The ancient art sale was the second to be held since the auction house reopened its London unit in 2016. Over the last two decades, Sotheby’s had sold ancient art through its New York saleroom only.

Catalogued as ‘after the antique’, this marble figure of Aphrodite was the unexpected star of Chiswick Auctions’ June 14 sale of antiquities and tribal art in London.

‘How Western Art Collectors are Helping to Fund Isis’ (Guardian), ‘Broken System Allows Isis to Profit from Looted Antiquities’ (New York Times), ‘How Antiquities are Funding Terrorism’ (Financial Times). In 2015, news of looting and the destruction of ancient sites in the Middle East by the fanatical Islamic terrorists Isis began to gain worldwide attention.

Mixing ancient and new is all the rage. The contemporary art boom has drawn new faces into the antiquities market, changing the way the trade think and display ancient art.