In a recent article entitled ‘How to Lose a Legacy’ in the New York Times, Ellen Lupton studies our preoccupation with keeping and passing on family heirlooms to future generations and suggests that (more…)
Despite the credit crunch and a downturn in the antique furniture market, there is still plenty of business being done. Everyone likes to think that they are getting a bargain, and buying antiques is no exception.
In a depressed market, where 50% off the price of antiques compares very favourably with a 20-30% downturn in the housing market, investors should certainly be buying plenty of antique furniture. A good reduction in the price means that everyone benefits. At auction, fewer bidders means less competition, with less people taking part and more competitive prices as a result. However, when attending the (more…)
Judith Miller, antiques aficionado, writing in the Daily Telegraph recently waxed lyrical about the collection sale. To her, a lifetime of collecting and collectibles of one individual, or generations of a particular family, make the perfect auction. Whatever the reason for the sale, whether death, taxes or just to raise some money, a collection sale held in the house where antique furniture, art and artefacts were once housed, known as ‘house sales’ in the trade, she recalls as being some of the most atmospheric.
Often, she says, it is the cult of celebrity that can draw people in, and quotes iconic examples such as Yves Saint Laurent and Rudolph Nureyev where both had high profile lives and were known for their exquisite taste. The Yves Saint Laurent collection sale fetched £330 million. However, for her the most famous collection sale was (more…)
The wealth of antiques and artefacts in India is all set to come under serious scrutiny. The Telegraph in Calcutta reported recently that the government will attempt to enforce documentation of its country’s antiquities to prevent valuable and irreplaceable items being sold abroad. The National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities is to work with universities and research institutions to create a national register of any artefact or antique in the public and private domain. (more…)
Antique selling and collecting as a popular hobby only began relatively recently. In the middle of the 19th century gentlemen of leisure would build up collections of books, manuscripts, prints, maps, coins and interesting artefacts that would be kept in cabinets and brought out to show to friends on social occasions. Antiques as collectibles only came into being during the second part of the century when research began to be conducted on antiquities. (more…)
At a recent auction held in Manchester, New Hampshire in the US, prices for antique furniture were all over the place and unpredictable. Three hours into the auction, Maine antiques dealer Bill Schwind commented: (more…)
According to the Daily Telegraph, the credit crunch has had little effect on the popularity of antiques even with the demise of one of the trade’s most prominent fairs, Grosvenor House, last year. Art and antiques dealerships are expanding their business despite the credit crunch and antiques entrepreneurs like Caroline Penman and Sue Ede are increasing their portfolios of fairs held at grand venues in London. (more…)
When 110 items from the ‘lost inheritance’ of the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, the sister-in-law of Tsar Alexander III came under the hammer at Sotheby’s recently, despite a downturn in the market, items sold in some cases fetching ten times their lowest estimates.
The sale entitled: Romanov Heirlooms: The Lost Inheritance of the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna sold every lot for a total of £5.83m. It was not only the intrinsic value of the pieces but the romance of the link to the Romanovs that had the salesroom buzzing and cranked up the prices (more…)
With the journey from London St Pancras to Paris Nord taking two hours 22 minutes, the mini break to Paris can now be reduced to the weekend break or even a day’s shopping trip if anyone feels fit enough. However, if planning to go for the day, time must not be wasted and those interested in antiques might fancy a little shopping.
French flea markets offer the British Francophile a rare (more…)
When watching the Antiques Roadshow we always tend to assume that the experts who wax so lyrically about contestants’ antiques have been born with antique silver spoons in their mouths, or that they have been brought up in the antiques trade like John Bly whose family business has been going in Tring for over 100 years. In fact, John Bly’s grandfather established their family business in the centre of Tring in 1891 although there exists a letterhead suggesting (more…)