Organisations

FOR a summer boost to their Somerset showground fixture, DMG Antiques Fairs are introducing outside pitches to the Shepton Mallet Antiques & Collectors Fair to be held over the weekend of July 9 to 11.

AN Antiques Trade Gazette investigation has raised serious questions over how eBay police their site, questions that remain unanswered after weeks, despite eBay being given ample opportunity to address these concerns.

IF the hallmark of the perfect evening is the correct blend of food, wine, company and entertainment, now is the time to book tickets for the the RICS Grand Summer Dinner, scheduled for June 30.

ONLINE auction giant eBay have announced a record 59 per cent increase in turnover for the first quarter of 2004.

THE British Numismatic Trade Association have just issued a notice to their members about a new European Union import tax. As from March 1 an ad valorem duty has been imposed on any United States Mint modern products imported into the European Union under the following codes – 71189000 and 71181010.

SIX lots from Bonhams' (17.5/10% buyer's premium) March 22-24 sale at The Old Rectory, Banningham will be making their way back whence they came, National Trust curators having identified them (Bonhams had only spotted one) as having been bought by the Rev. Hall & Son at the 1951 contents sale of Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk. The house now belongs to the Trust which rescued it from demolition.

THE organisers of the Newark International Antiques and Collectors’ Fair are to give a 50 per cent price break to dealers who do not currently stand at the giant fair.

LONDON’S art world leaders have come up with an initiative for extending the peak selling period that is London in June.

FURNITURE historian Bill Cotton and the Cotswold Antique Dealers Association (CADA) are among those participating in Chairs 2004, the first international chairmakers’ symposium. The new event will be held at the National Arboretum at Westonbirt, Tetbury from May 1-3.

CHEFFINS of Cambridge have joined the Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers, swelling the association’s ranks of auction firm members to 34, including many of the biggest names in the business.

VENDORS wishing to protect their interests when an auction house becomes insolvent should use firms where at least one of the partners or directors is a member of the RICS.

THE architect of the newly built British Library is to donate 600 art works collected over 50 years to the nation. Professor Sir Colin St John Wilson will hand over the gift to Pallant House Gallery in Chichester via the National Art Collections Fund (Art Fund), the UK’s leading independent art charity.

THE British Antique Dealers’ Association believe campaigners are wrong to call for only independent registered experts to be allowed to date ivory objects. The move would drive trade underground they say.

More than half of those of who responded to the latest LAPADA survey have reported a decrease in turnover in 2003. The annual survey sent out in December by the UK’s largest antiques dealer’s association, was this year completed by 158 members – 25 per cent of the association’s membership. Last year, it was 151 members, or 22 per cent, which indicates that the association has lost a net of 54 members – eight per cent – over the past year.

LAPADA have named their new chief executive as Sarah Harvey, a former auctioneer at both Phillips and Sotheby’s. She will take up her post on March 29.

Funded by the Friends of the British Museum, the Caryatid Fund and the National Art Collections Fund, the British Museum has acquired an extremely rare Roman fluorspar cup from the 1st century AD. The total cost of the antiquity, bought from a leading London dealer, was £150,000.

The Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers have announced a new subscription structure in the hope of broadening their membership to include smaller firms of valuers.

EBAY, the great survivors of the dot-com boom and bust, have again posted a record set of results to complete a remarkable year in which the company reaped revenues of over $2bn. There were 41 million people who have bid, bought or listed on eBay over the past 12 months.

FAR from mourning the demise of the January LAPADA fair, which ran for 13 years at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre, the trade seem to have embraced its successor, The National Fine Art and Antiques Fair, which will be launched at this favoured venue from January 28 to February 1.

Measures would not restrict art trade: BRITAIN may soon enjoy one of the most enlightened schemes for keeping key works of art in the country, thanks to the Goodison Review, which has just been published.