Art and antiques news from 2009

OXFAM remain defiant in the face of criticism from the antiquarian book trade who say the charity is threatening their livelihoods.

A DETAILED examination of Laura Knight's 1915 oil Carnaval by Christie's specialist Tom Rooth revealed the edge of not one but two stretched canvases.

ON September 17, eBay delivered a petition to the European parliament demanding a law change to stop luxury brands controlling where their goods are sold.

A THOMAS Tompion table clock was among the items stolen in a raid on a Cumbrian stately home on Saturday, September 19.

THE new auction season kicked off in earnest in New York with one of the strongest market sectors – Asian works of art.

BONHAMS have set up a new department devoted to sales of photography joining Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bloomsbury Auctions in mounting specialist stand-alone sales in London in this field.

WHEN a large house in Cheshire was decommissioned by the army after World War Two, it was sold to a family along with its contents. Included in the sale price was this watercolour, pen and ink image of King Olaf by the Danish illustrator Kay Rasmus Nielsen (1886-1957) which was thought at the time to be a print.

A long-running complaint brought against the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts by the owner of a work twice denied by their authentication board has been granted class action status.

IT all seemed done and dusted as the galleries were cleared and the landlords put To Let signs in the front window. But now it appears there may be life in the Partridge name yet, as an unnamed consortium announced last week that it had acquired the brand.

IN a fresh attempt to help the fight against the illicit art trade, the international police organisation Interpol has made its database of stolen art available to access online.

THE first tangible evidence of the new Dreweatt-Bloomsbury alliance will be the two-day preview at Bloomsbury's rooms in Maddox Street for Puritan Values, Designers and Makers 1850-1950, the 400-lot auction of the Anthony Geering collection.

FOLLOWING the recent online vote by ATG readers and by readers of BBC Homes and Antiques magazine, the logo shown here has emerged as the favourite amongst trade and public and has been officially adopted by the UK Antiques are Green campaign.

THE Gloucester Antique Centre has appointed a new general manager.

Specialist auctioneer Andrew Hilton describes the Bear's Grease Manufacturer as 'the Holy Grail of pot lids'.

POLICE in Scotland are investigating the theft of valuable jewellery after a sales representative from a London dealership was set upon by four men in an Oxfam bookshop in Perth.

Leading regional auctioneers Dreweatts have formed a strategic alliance with London antiquarian book specialists Bloomsbury Auctions.

KNUTSFORD, Cheshire auctioneers Frank Marshall sold this remarkable pair of Chelsea Blue Triangle period sauceboats c.1745-49 for a house record £41,000 on September 8.

THE removal men descended on New Bond Street last week to begin the task of clearing out the stock at Partridge. By the morning of Friday, September 4, the biggest object left in the window was a large roll of bubblewrap being used to pack up the antiques for loading onto several lorries parked along the street.

BRINGING bidding from different parts of the world to Mallams latest sale in Oxford, this Chinese jade censer went spectacularly over its £2000-3000 estimate on August 26.

WELL-known Americana dealer Leigh Keno has established a “full-service” auction business in Manhattan.