Art and antiques news from 2015

The upheaval at venerable Mayfair and Manhattan dealership Mallett continued at the end of 2015 with the departure of two senior executives.

The New York branch of Mallett and the company’s former director in the Big Apple, Henry Neville, are embroiled in the case brought by US authorities against Robert A Olins, the disgraced former chief executive of a technology company.

Sotheby’s have announced that Mario Tavella, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Europe and European head of single-owner collections, will become président directeur général of Sotheby’s France.

The market for traditional antiques ended 2015 on a high with a series of spectacular individual prices posted in London and New York in mid-December.

Phillips set a new high for Martinware with the sale of this 14in (36cm) high bird jar modelled as Benjamin Disraeli for a double-estimate $190,000 (£126,670).

The Antiques Trade Gazette has hired a new reporter as the 45-year-old title continues its evolution online and in print. Frances Allitt, a fine art underwriter and magazine columnist, starts on January 11.

As an introductory offer to their new saleroom near Poole, Cottees will be reducing both their seller’s commission and buyer’s premium to 10% (plus VAT) for the first three months of 2016.

Three men have been sentenced to jail for their parts in a spree of antiques thefts perpetrated in January 2014 across the south of England.

The British Antique Dealers’ Association is p09nning to mount a campaign with other business bodies to halt a government plan to require all businesses, regardless of size, to file tax returns on a quarterly, digital basis rather than annually.

ATG Media, parent of the Antiques Trade Gazette, and Mail Boxes Etc have joined forces to provide a new delivery service for buyers on thesaleroom.com.

Among the works drawing interest at the latest round of Old Master and British Paintings sales in London was Joseph Wright of Derby’s (1734-97) ‘A grotto in the gulf of Salerno...’.

The art and antiques trade is mourning the loss of prints dealer Justin Skrebowski, who was murdered in what appears to have been a random knife attack in Abingdon.

An antiques shop owner in Kent has removed a blackamoor sign from outside her shop after social media users claimed it was offensive.

The owner of the Bourne Mill Antiques Centre, devastated by fire last month, is hopeful the lower part of the building can reopen later this month.

Topping Bonhams Knightsbridge’s marathon nine-hour sale of items from Hooton Pagnell Hall in South Yorkshire was this 20½in x 2ft 5in (52 x 76cm) watercolour and gouache work by Paul Sandby (1730-1809).

A 1940s Rolex wristwatch whose RAF owner was murdered by the SS after the Great Escape has sold for £165,000 in Buckinghamshire.

An antique narwhal tusk that faced destruction following a dispute over paperwork has been returned to its owner after a judge ruled its confiscation by customs had been “unreasonable”.

International Antiques and Collectors Fairs (IACF) have announced a change of venue and format for their Newbury event.

The latest Russian art sales in London posted the weakest results in over a decade as a drop-off in both demand and supply brought a further downturn in the market.

Paul César Helleu (1859-1927) is best known for his Belle Epoque portraits of beautiful society women.