UK

The United Kingdom accounts for more than one fifth of the global art market sales and is the second biggest art market after the US.

Through auctioneers, dealers, fairs and markets - and a burgeoning online sector - buyers, collectors and sellers of art and antiques can easily access a vibrant network of intermediaries and events around the country. The UK's museums also house a wealth of impressive collections

1647AR05E.jpg

Cock of the north crows at £5400

07 July 2004

AN impressive sight at 24in (61cm) high on its hardwood base, this Japanese Meiji period bronze cockerel provided the clear highlight of the quarterly antiques and fine art sale conducted by ELR (15% buyer’s premium) at the Sheffield Saleroom on June 11.

1647AR05G.jpg

Ronson Bartender serves up £1350

07 July 2004

PROBABLY the best-known and the most coveted of the novelty table lighters made by the Ronson Lighter Co. is the 1936 patent Touch-Tip Bartender.

Beady-eyed collectors

07 July 2004

I HAVE been asked to alert readers to the annual Beadwork and Bead Fair – and why not? There are many more arcane items which have societies devoted to them and beads obviously have staying power for the fair has been going for 15 years.

1647AR04E.jpg

Toys reflect attitudes over 20th century – and sell well in 21st

07 July 2004

TOYS from before the First World War up to the 1970s met with an enthusiastic reception at Wallis & Wallis' (15% buyer's premium) specialist sale on June 14, few more so than a c.1912 Lehmann tinplate toy which raised something of an ethical question.

1647AR05H.jpg

Preview

07 July 2004

PICTURED right is a 2ft 1in (64cm) Jacobean amputation saw made by Robert Hobbs that is appearing at a sale at the Cedars Hotel in Stowmarket, Suffolk on July 30.

1647AR05B.jpg

For King and Constitution – and the pursuit of a rare beaker

07 July 2004

PROVING the highlight of the commemoratives offered by Special Auction Services (15% buyer’s premium) in the wake of the Leslie Crowther collection of pot lids and Prattware on June 7 was this George III King and Constitution earthenware beaker.

Pimms and practicality

07 July 2004

WHAT local organiser Cliff Woods of London Antiques Fairs terms his Antiques Shopping Weekend will be held on July 16 and 17 at the Royal Star & Garter Home for disabled ex-servicemen on Richmond Hill, Richmond, Surrey.

Gladwell branch out after 250 years at top of their tree

07 July 2004

WHILE much of the art dealing world struggles to keep its galleries open, one City-based family firm is actually expanding to two London showcases.

Graduate selling exhibition is no casual affair

07 July 2004

FOLLOWING last year’s inaugural, successful summer show of graduate student’s work, The Metal Gallery at 90 Mount Street, London W1 have declared this an annual event and this year’s selling exhibition, The Graduate 2004, will run from July 21 to September 11.

1647DD01A.jpg

For pleasure and profit, Snape is the trade’s ideal working holiday

07 July 2004

FOR years now, the annual Snape Maltings Antiques and Fine Art Fair has been an institution in the fairs world. Sited in a large tented pavilion behind the Maltings in the beautiful Suffolk countryside, it is certainly a contender for the most attractive setting of any fair anywhere. But it has been going for 37 years and no event lasts that long on looks alone.

1647DD02B.jpg

Dealers’ fair verdict: they decide they’ll belong to Glasgow

07 July 2004

AT its fifth annual staging from June 18 to 20, Antiques For Everyone – Glasgow reinforced its reputation as Scotland’s premier antiques event and, although it did not break the current pattern of very patchy fairs business, it is telling that already almost all the 116 exhibitors have rebooked for next year.

1647AB01A.jpg

Biggles takes off but gets a bumpy ride

07 July 2004

BIGGLES had a big day planned at Dominic Winter’s Swindon salerooms on June 24, with just over 100 lots on offer, mostly from one collection.

1647DD01D.jpg

Palace life for the print pioneers

07 July 2004

THE considerable coverage given to Asia Week in London, on these pages and in the national press, rather neglected one gallery which was bringing the art of the Orient to London long before the Asia week promotion was thought of.

Missing Hodges

06 July 2004

THE National Maritime Museum are asking for help in tracking down two missing paintings by William Hodges. The works The Effects of Peace and The Consequences of War were last seen at a European Museum sale at Christie’s in 1813.

1647DD02CC.jpg

£10,500 on table – but furniture is still cheaper than six months ago

06 July 2004

SPEAKING after a combined-operation sale at Edinburgh on June 10-11 which offered jewellery, silver and furniture, Bonhams’ (17.5/10% buyer's premium) specialist Bruce Anderson said: “Ultimately trade buying underpins a sale so if the trade is finding business tricky this affects us.

Top London fairs boost battle for vase

06 July 2004

WITH London hosting Asia week, Olympia and Grosvenor House in June, there was always going to be a trade battle for a Chinese vase which proved the sleeper of Charterhouse's (15% buyer's premium) 870-lot May 21 auction.

1647NE02C.jpg

Trade alert for double country house theft

06 July 2004

CONTINUING the recent spate of sophisticated country house thefts, valuable antiques were stolen from two homes in the south east of England in the space of a week last month.

1647LS03C.jpg

Never forget Fabergé

06 July 2004

COMBINE the perennial appeal of the Fabergé name with the current demand for all things Russian and it has been no surprise to see soaring prices for pieces by this famous firm in recent seasons.

After the honeymoon, head to the auction

06 July 2004

THE Antiques Trade Gazette has learnt that Brightwells Fine Art are planning to launch a scheme where newly-married couples can use wedding gifts from their guests to bid at auction.

1647NE02A.jpg

Lottery fund waved at rare Sickert fan

06 July 2004

THE Fan Museum in Greenwich, the world’s only museum entirely dedicated to the history of fans and the craft of fan-making, have acquired an important fan painted around 1889 by Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942).

News

Categories