Art and antiques news from 2007

GOLD reached a 27-year high last Friday thanks to the weakness of the US dollar, fears that it will continue to drop, and soaring oil prices. Other factors may include the pending Diwali Festival in India when it is traditional for people to give gifts of gold.

IT was the first war painting by a Scottish artist to be exhibited in Scotland and was extensively discussed in the Edinburgh and Glasgow newspapers of January 1941.

OCTOBER will see Daniella Luxembourg, a leading art market figure, launch a major selling exhibition of early 20th century German art at Agnew’s.

Asian Art in London celebrates its tenth anniversary from November 1 to 10 and as part of the anniversary celebrations will join with the British Museum to hold a Study Day around the exhibition The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army on November 10. Tickets for the day cost £22 (contact 0207 323 8181).

Dealers make up fair’s management board

DATES for the launch of The Beijing International Chinese Antique Fair have been moved to November 30-December 4 from November 28 to December 2 as initially announced. This is described as an important Government project and, as such, special services for exhibitors and visitors are being arranged.

Top British art dealer Simon Dickinson was arrested by Customs authorities on September 14 in connection with the £17m sale of nine Dutch Old Master paintings to the Liechtenstein Museum.

Shanghai seems all the rage these days. Hot on the heels of the launch of two new international fairs — ShContemporary in early September, and the Shanghai Antiques & Jewellery Fair (October 13-21) — Artcurial are opening premises on Yongjia Lu, in the French Concession district of Shanghai, to stage lectures and exhibitions, as well as hosting an art bookshop — much along the lines of the firm’s Paris HQ at the Hôtel Dassault on the Champs-Elysées.

THE two teams line up following the annual cricket match between the Cotswolds Art & Antiques Dealers Association and the opposition, traditionally termed “The Rest of the World” but consisting largely of Thames Valley association dealers augmented by a contingent from Norfolk

Readers are advised to be wary of cut-price Whitefriars Drunken Bricklayer vases – they may be fakes.

THERE is a temporary Tuesday date change for Sunbury Antiques Market at Kempton Park Racecourse.

Suffolk antique tool auctioneer Tony Murland (10% buyer’s premium) is known for his hyperbolic cataloguing but the description accompanying this nearly 400-year-old horn handled hunting knife was a classic.

AS Bloomsbury Auctions get set for the opening of their new saleroom in New York this month, their turnover for the first six months of 2007 showed a 45 per cent increase on the same period last year.

Bonhams, who have recently taken on a number of staff from Sotheby’s, have announced that Christie’s two most senior motoring directors and one of its motoring consultants will join their car department on November 1.

The Goldsmiths’ Company has announced a proposal to establish a major new centre for jewellery and silversmithing in the heart of Clerkenwell.

AT Bristol Crown Court last week Torquay art dealer Colin Stodgell was jailed for three years for income tax fraud amounting to £750,000 over seven years.

LONDON art dealer Peter Nahum is offering for sale his St James’s business. The Leicester Galleries Ltd, originally founded in 1902 and now with an international reputation for 19th and 20th century British and Eurpean art.

Floating antiques fair comes to fruition

When Wales’ most popular 20th century artist Sir Kyffin Williams passed away last year he bequeathed the furniture from his Anglesey home to the University College of North Wales. Numerous pieces that the University did not require turned up in The Wales and West Country Sale at Bonhams Bath on June 25.

LAPADA are to contribute to the costs of installing the approved antiques road sign to encourage association members to get them in place quickly.