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Art and antiques news from 2000

In 2000 Bonhams merged with classic car auctioneer Brooks.

Sothebys.com was launched in a $40 million joint venture with Amazon.

Christie's CEO Christopher Davidge left and was replaced by Edward Dolman. News later emerges that the firm had colluded with Sotheby's to fix rates of commission between 1993 and 1999.

Sotheby’s move to settle class action claims

02 October 2000

Sotheby’s board of directors have approved payment of $256m to clients in the civil lawsuit which claimed collusion with Christie’s in setting charges for buyers in 1992 and sellers in 1995.

Chairman points the way ahead for Bloomsbury

02 October 2000

UK: TOMMASO Zanzotto, chairman of Stocklight, which owns the Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books recently acquired Bloomsbury Book Auctions, has vowed to keep the two companies totally separate.

Paris goods burn

02 October 2000

FRANCE: A fire on September 10 at a storage warehouse used by the Hôtel Drouot at Le Blanc Mesnil, 10 miles north-east of Paris, destroyed goods consigned to five different commissaires-priseurs by some 800 clients.

One-hit wonder?

02 October 2000

UK: DEVON dealers J. Collins & Son are well known for their stock of functional period furniture, but looking through their new catalogue of recent acquisitions most would be hard pressed to spot the exact function of the extraordinary piece pictured here.

George II mahogany hall chair

02 October 2000

UK: The first celebrity house sale of the new millennium took place last week near Clifton Hampden in Oxfordshire, where noted aesthete and furnisher to the stars Christopher Gibbs was clearing his Victorian manor house under the auspices of Christie’s.

1920s set of chess pieces from the Allen Hofrichter collection

25 September 2000

UK: WHATEVER the privations of life in the Soviet Union, one could still enjoy a simple game of chess. But because official art is turned to the use of propaganda in every dictatorship, so the more opulent chess sets in post-revolutionary Russia became a metaphor for the struggle between communists and capitalists.

Fine Queen Anne walnut bachelor's chest

25 September 2000

UK: Loyal service brings its rewards, as this fine Queen Anne walnut bachelor’s chest, which sold at Anderson & Garland on Thursday, September 21, attests.

Gavelnet future looks very grim as deal collapses

25 September 2000

US: TANGIBLE Asset Galleries, the Californian art and antiques auctioneers and dealers, have pulled out of the deal to acquire Gavelnet.com, the Internet and interactive TV auction company.

Bailey bounces back with deal

25 September 2000

UK: FOLLOWING the liquidation of Bailey Fairs Ltd, its principal Robert Bailey has announced that he can continue organising his full roster of events as Robert Bailey Fairs Ltd.

Rothschild scoop

25 September 2000

UK: Eighteen months after their £52m sale of works of art from the Austrian branch of the Rothschild dynasty, Christie’s have secured a further collection, this time from the French arm of the famous banking family and estimated to fetch over £15m.

A mid-16th century brass candlestick

18 September 2000

UK: English or Continental? That was the question specialist dealers and collectors were asking themselves of this mid-16th century brass candlestick which turned up at Sotheby’s oak sale at Billingshurst, Sussex on September 12 and 14

Bonhams and Brooks merge

18 September 2000

UK: Bonhams, the 200 year old family-owned British auction house and Brooks, the classic car and automobilia auctioneers, are to merge.

Monster prices

18 September 2000

The combined hammer prices for pre-war B-movie advertising posters at auction houses these days can easily exceed the budgets allocated by the old Hollywood studios to such downmarket films.

Academy ‘will honour auction commitments’

18 September 2000

ACADEMY Auctioneers, London, have vowed to fulfil their commitments to existing clients, despite disputes over the sale of the company.

Morris hands-on at Clarion

18 September 2000

UK: EARLS Court and Olympia Group chief executive Andrew Morris, one of the Morris family who bought the exhibition complex from P&O, is the new managing director of Clarion Events, the group’s event organising company.

Skinner’s launch new gallery to champion contemporary artists

11 September 2000

USA: SKINNER’S auctioneers of Boston have set up a new contemporary art gallery which could do for American artists what Maurice Saatchi has done for Damien Hirst and others.

The Mirabilia Romae... makes a rare appearance

11 September 2000

The William Foyle Library Pt. II sale at Christie’s, London last week revealed a copy of one of the rarest of all blockbooks.

Saatchi gift for museums

11 September 2000

UK: THE Saatchi Gallery is to distribute 39 works of Contemporary Art by British artists among seven regional galleries and museums.

Bailey Fairs Ltd in liquidation ...

11 September 2000

…but Harrogate event will go ahead this month UK: LAST week Bailey Fairs Ltd went into voluntary liquidation but its principal, Robert Bailey, intends to continue organising in a limited capacity.

William and Mary oyster veneered walnut chest

11 September 2000

UK: SUCH was the fine condition of this 3ft 3in (99cm) William and Mary oyster veneered walnut chest when it appeared at Clevedon Salerooms on September 2 that two bidders, one on the phone and one in the room, competed for it well beyond its £5000-7500 estimate.