Art and antiques news from 1999

GERMANY: INTERNET art auctioneer Artnet.com which floated on the Frankfurt exchange in May, have denied a claim by magazine Boerse Online that their main shareholders are selling their shares.

UK: DESPITE a catalogue entry which cited this walnut, rosewood and marquetry centre table, 3ft 1in (95cm) wide, as William and Mary and later and an estimate of £2500-3500, it was competed to £43,000 plus 15 per cent premium at Sotheby’s South in Billingshurst on July 20.

UK: A MAN charged with stealing part of the treasured collection of a rugby legend from Sotheby’s faces a retrial after the jury failed to reach a verdict.

UK: PHILLIPS are continuing the restructuring of their regional sales business with the closure of three more auction rooms: Glasgow, Cardiff and Retford will all shut by the end of September and be replaced by offices for dealing with clients.

UK: THE billiard cue as we know it today is a relatively recent addition to the sport: the billiard mace – with a curved and tapered grip and a block tip – was used from the earliest days of the game in the 16th and 17th centuries right up to the turn of the 19th century.

WALTER FEILCHENFELDT, the Swiss picture dealer, has taken over as the president of CINOA, with Henry Neville of Mallett, former BADA chairman, as vice president.

UK: THIS early 18th century flintlock pistol possesses a combination of characteristic features which should leave the curious in no doubt as to its country of origin.

UK: A commercially appealing example of Edwardian sporting art at the Leyburn salerooms of Tennants on July 16, this 2ft 61/2in by 231/2in (77.5 x 60cm) oil on canvas Left in Charge by Phillip Eustace Stretton, signed and dated 1904, had been consigned in untouched and original condition from a Harrogate deceased estate.

UK: MAJOR changes are afoot for 20th century design fairs in London as P&O Events move their fair to June and Caroline Penman puts her show on the market.

US: CHRISTIE'S have decided to place British expertise at the helm in New York with the promotion of their London managing director, Edward Dolman, to managing director of Christie’s in America.

AT LEAST a dozen of the world’s top dealers appear to have lost goods as a result of a series of elaborate and sophisticated swindles carried out by a gang operating out of Northern Italy during the past nine months.

UK: “A piece of the plaid worn by Prince Charles Edward Stuart at the battle of Culloden and left by him at Sir James Mackintosh Moy Hall Chief of the Clan Chatten. Presented by Lady Mackintosh to Sir Thomas Grey.” – so read the handwritten statement which accompanied this tattered tartan fragment, 6in (15cm) square, to Phillips’ sale of textiles in Edinburgh on July 2.

UK: PERFECT for amateur painters of ceramics or the more dedicated collector of Worcester porcelain, is this mahogany cased set of ceramic colours, left, produced by Reeves and Son for Hancock and Son, the Victorian owners of the Royal Worcester factory.

UK: FOLLOWING a meeting with LAPADA last week, Kent trading standards officers have agreed to arrange further discussions in early August between trade representatives and those who actually drafted the Kent Bill.

UK: AT THE first sale in their new Norcote saleroom near Cirencester on July 9, Moore Allen & Innocent sold this distinctive walnut leather-seated early 18th century armchair for £21,000 (plus 10 per cent buyer’s premium).

UK: THE ENORMOUS wheel screw on this simulated oven gives some clue as to the gruesome purpose of the plated contraption which turned up at the Salisbury salerooms of Woolley and Wallis on June 23.

UK: ALMOST all of the 22,000 heritage chattels exempted from tax since 1976 will not qualify again under the new Government rules when they come up for reassessment, Sotheby’s believe.

UK: THIS rather battered French chair that the family dog used to curl up in had buyers leaping off their seats at Christie’s sale on June 23 when it more than doubled hopes, selling at £350,000.

UK: GROWING concern has led to calls for action among dealers in Kent faced with a new law which would make it a criminal offence not to register and keep detailed records when buying and selling secondhand goods in the county.

UK: THE FINAL lot offered by Cumbrian auctioneers Penrith Farmers’ & Kidd on June 30 was this scarce piece of English oak vernacular furniture – a 17th century enclosed chest, 3ft 71/2in (1.1m) wide, with moulded panel doors which open to reveal four plain long drawers.