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Louis Vitton and Christian Dior were among a number of European luxury goods companies who have been awarded a total of 40 million Euros - approximately £31 million, in a ruling against eBay in a Paris courtroom, for allowing sales of fake copies of the famous brands via the website. The court ruled that the sales were “illicit”. eBay intends to appeal. eBay’s latest attempt to combat on-line fraud has met with complaints from sellers who say that eBay stands to make more money by enforcing a PayPal only method of payment for transactions. Sellers will still be able to accept cash on delivery but the eBay/PayPal conglomerate has now uncapped previous limits and offers full refunds to buyers using PayPal where sellers fail to deliver the goods.

At the last minute the original founder of Palm Beach – America’s International Fine Art and Antiques Fair, David Lester, who sold the business to DMG in 2001, has decided to buy it back at a figure much less than he sold it for because the original consortium deal to purchase it fell through at the last minute when the core group of 20 exhibitors pulled out of the equity share deal, in part for tax reasons but also because of doubts about the management abilities of the retained DMG team. The group of exhibitors including Richard Green, Cohen and Cohen and MacConnal-Mason Gallery, have made a three year commitment to the fair.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph on 1 July 2008, a group of more than 500 eminent British artists including Damien Hirst and the heirs of Ben Nicholson and Dame Elizabeth Frink, have launched a campaign to ensure that stage two of the Artists’ Resale Right will be implemented by the Government. Stage one gave living artists up to four per cent of the resale price from sales through galleries and salerooms since 2006 and has netted £5.2 million. Stage two would provide revenue for their estates for up to 70 years if the Government goes ahead following consultation. Damien Hirst has also announced his plan to bypass art dealers and sell direct from the salerooms.

Best known the Trade as a personal shopper offering an advisory service to buyers for some years at the Olympia Fine Art & Antiques Fairs in London, Tania Buckrell Pos recently made her largest-ever purchase, Monet's largest Waterlilies painting for £40.1 million (including £4.4 million buyer's premium), on the shopping list of an undisclosed client. Current opinion is that she bought it on behalf of a bank.

Departures and arrivals will occur in July at the unique concept collective of BADA members only, Edenbridge Galleries in Kent, owned by furniture dealers Lennox and Susan Cato, when they will be joined by John Robertson of Bourne Gallery, Reigate, Surrey who deals in 19th and 20th century paintings. There will be 2 departures making way for Bourne Gallery – John and Pamela Biggs of J Collins & Son are retiring and military and country house furniture dealer Graham Walpole of Walpoles will also be leaving the gallery. The J. Collins family business will be taken into the third generation of Biggs trading in Bideford, Devon by son Jonathon. WEADA member Jonathan will stage a grand re-opening in the autumn of 2008 following a refurbishment .

The next Swap Shop on the national circuit will be hosted by the Thames Valley Antique Dealers’ Association (TVADA), courtesy of Willie Clegg and Harvey Ferry, at The Country Seat, Huntercombe Manor Barn, Near Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire. All trade welcome to buy, sell or swap. There will be a charge of £10 on the gate which will include a special dealers’ brunch. The trade will be travelling from Cheshire, Northumberland, Sussex and Suffolk and the organisers are praying for good weather.

Artist Lucien Freud who holds the world record for a price paid for a work by a living artist when his 1995 painting Benefits Supervisor Sleeping sold for £17.2 million in 2008, has turned down a knighthood because his estranged brother Sir Clement Freud already has one. The brothers have not spoken for 50 years. Lucien Freud, whose family fled to Britain from Nazi Germany, presented his portrait of the Queen, worth millions of pounds to Her Majesty in 2001, in gratitude to the Royal Family saying he would have ended up “in the ovens” without the aid of the British Royal Family. He was awarded the Order of Merit in 1993.

A female assistant in Ashton House Antiques, Ashburton, Devon was the victim of an alleged violent stabbing attack while at work on 17 June, 2008. The woman’s teenage daughter was in the shop when a man entered and allegedly pushed her to the back of the shop and stabbed her three times. The woman underwent three hours of emergency surgery and is expected to make a full recovery. An antique dealer at The Shambles near to Ashton House Antiques reported ejecting a man who fitted the description of the alleged attacker earlier in the day. The police arrested Nikki Woodford, 33, who appeared before Torbay Magistrates on 20 June 2008 charged with carrying a weapon with intent and being in possession of an offensive weapon.

Following the success of the Luxury Antiques Weekend formula earlier in 2008, Ingrid Nilson has responded to requests from a number of antiques dealers to expand the network of the bespoke weekend events for BADA and LAPADA members. Two new Luxury Antiques Weekends have been announced which will slot in either side of the next Linden Hall event in March 2009. These will be at Kilhey Court, Standish near Wigan in late January and Hellaby Hall, Rotherham in April 2009. For full dates and times of the new events and details of the Autumn Antiques and Fine Art Fair in association with LAPADA at Cheltenham Racecourse, which is being held for the fifth time in November 2008, please see The Antiques Dealers Fairs Limited web site via Trade Index

Anthony Cole, regular exhibitor at the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair, Battersea, is returning to his roots in the West of England. Formerly trading in Petworth, Mr Cole has bought a prominent Grade II listed building on Silver Street, Warminster, Wiltshire and plans to open the shop in July. The large building has been home to Maxfield House Antiques for a number of years. Mr Cole is looking forward to consolidating all his stock in one place and will use all of the spacious lower ground showrooms. Maxfield House Antiques will continue to trade from fairs only following the move. Veteran Warminster dealers, Obelisk Antiques, will close the doors in August 2008 to expand their property developing business. See The Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair web site via Trade Index

An Irish collector has paid £360,000 at Christie’s Saleroom for a walnut desk and chair owned by Charles Dickens. The proceeds from the sale will go to Great Ormond Street Hospital. The writer had been a patron of the hospital and had spoken at the first fund raising dinner for the famous children’s hospital 150 years ago. In another sale, a record £180,000 was paid for an inscribed presentation copy of a first edition of Emma by Jane Austen.

Fair organiser Sue Ede has added another day to the Giant Flea Market and Collectors’ Fair at the Bath and West Showground, Shepton Mallet, Somerset. Dates for the event are now Saturday 12 – Sunday 13 July, 2008. See Fairs Calendar via Home Page for news of other events organised by Sue Ede of Cooper Event Fairs and SP Fairs in 2008.

At the BADA AGM on 10 July 2008 Elaine Dean retires after 25 years as Secretary-General of the British Antique Dealers' Association. Mark Dodgson, her current deputy who joined the association 18 years ago takes over as Secretary-General. Elaine will continue to work with the BADA in a part-time capacity as Fairs Liaison Director.

Amendments and late news of antiques fairs throughout UK can be found in our Roundabout feature on the Trade Index page. For full details of forthcoming events click onto the 2008 Antiques Fairs Calendar via our Home page.

Innocent antiques dealers are unable to deal and denied access to stock held in London safe deposit vaults following simultaneous raids by police on three branches of the Park Lane Safe Deposit company in Mayfair, Edgware and Hampstead. Each large and small unit in the vaults is being drilled open in an operation that police believe may reveal clues to every layer of serious crime in UK. Dealers fear fragile antiques will be damaged in the process.

Collector turned trader, Kent-based 57 year-old Michael Elliott who dealt at leading grassroots antiques and collectors' fairs, has been convicted of dealing in endangered species and sentenced to a total of two years in prison, suspended for two years. From his home, police recovered 58 sperm whale teeth, 18 illegal elephant tusks and around 200 carved hippopotamus ivory figures valued at £50,000. He pleaded guilty to seven charges under the Control of Trade in Endangered Species Regulations and HM Customs offences. He disclaimed ownership of the ivory tusks and that charge was left on file. Elliott now faces prosecution in America where he is suspected of organising whale teeth and ivory smuggling from UK.

National business sales consultants recently offered "Antiques centres, multi-dealer sites in the North of England, £410,000 annual turnover" at an asking price of £99,500.........Ex-Worcester museum curator and television antique porcelain expert, Henry Sandon was awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for services to broadcasting, the ceramics industry and charity in the Queen's birthday honours list.......London antique clock dealer Sebastian White is to marry Jane Birley, daughter of the late founder of Annabel's nightclub, Mark Birley, and his wife, Lady Annabel Goldsmith.

Antique jewellery specialist and colourful television personality Ian Towning who regularly appears on ITV's "Dickinson's Real Deal", fought off three 18-25 year-old armed robbers who smashed counters and showcases at his Bourbon-Hanby Arcade shop in Chelsea, London on 9 June 2008. Stock valued at around £100,000 was stolen. Two off-duty policemen driving past as the four-man gang fled the premises, gave chase across south London. Fellow police officers intercepted the robbers' car in Brixton. The driver was arrested. Three other men escaped.
"I was hit repeated on the head with a hammer and what I believe was a gun was pushed in my stomach. The raid was captured on our CCTV security cameras. It is not a pretty picture and not the sort of television I enjoy appearing on," said Ian, who was discharged from hospital the same day. He was back at Bourbon-Hanby Arcade the following morning.

As part of ongoing innovations at Antiquesnews, Gail McLeod has taken over as publisher and editor, having joined the newspaper in 2007, the year that this on-line independent newspaper for the antiques trade celebrated its tenth year of publication.
Tony Keniston, founder editor and publisher of Antiquesnews until earlier this year, continues to co-ordinate National Antiques Day and will continue to contribute to Antiquesnews in addition to a number of international antiques publications.

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR ANTIQUESNEWS IS:
Gail McLeod
Editor
PO Box 3369
Chippenham
Wiltshire SN15 9DU
Telephone +44 (0)1225 742240
mail@antiquesnews.co.uk

See ROUNDBOUT for more information.

Following the two fairs in the United Arab Emirates for which ex-NEC Birmingham organiser Fran Foster acted as fairs director, the organisers Turret Middle East Ltd have announced that the second annual Abu Dhabi International Fine Art and Antiques Fair, due to take place 21 - 24 November 2008 at the National Exhibition Centre, Abu Dhabi, UAE is to be postponed pending release of more details of a planned Government sponsored Arts Festival due to take place in 2009.

We regret to announce the death of Michael Telfer Smollett on 30 May at his home in Marrakech. Mr Telfer Smollett dealer in Tribal Art and Moorish furniture, owned a shop in Portobello Road, London, for many years. A thanksgiving service to celebrate his life will be announced by the family at a date to be announced.

Following organiser Caroline Penman's offer of a free gift of Chelsea Antiques Fair to anyone who wanted to take it over, no one came forward! Unable to let it disappear, and following requests from former exhibitors who had asked her to return to the London scene with affordable, good quality fairs, she will re-launch the fair as a twice a year, five day event in 2009. Dates are March 25-29 (coinciding with the BADA Fair) and September 23 – 27, 2009.
Keeping up the pace, she also announces the return of former West London Fair, now to be called the Kensington Fine Art and Antiques Fair which will run from 8 -11 January 2009 bringing the total events for the Penman Fairs Calendar to 10 for 2009. For full details see Penman Fairs' website via our Trade Index

Almost 30 years ago to the day after the standfitters walked out prior to the opening in 1978 of the Grosvenor House Antiques Fair in sympathy with chambermaids on strike at the London hotel venue, entrepreneur, impresario and exhibition organiser, Evan Steadman died on 30 May 2008. UK's leading antiques fair established in 1934 did not resurface for four years. Then in 1983 Evan Steadman was appointed to revive it, which he did with great success for the next decade which many still regard as Grosvenor House Antiques Fair's most glorious years.

With the news that Senator Barak Obama is to be the Deomocratic nominee for the American Presidency, partners Lloyd Chapman and Channing Mercer at Joseph Konrad Inc in Atlanta have told this newspaper "We certainly cannot speak for all the US antique dealers but those of us who have survived the last few years are given a beacon of hope for better days to come by Senator Obama's nomination for President. Those who think the country has been run well under the Bush administration will pull the lever for McCain, sometimes called McBush or McSame in the American press. We personally look forward to change - a stable economy and better exchange rate which will allow us to return to buying from our trusted sources in England."
Comments are invited from other antique dealers in the USA.

The future of Palm Beach Fair is to be assured for the next five years under a deal where DMG and a consortium of 20 UK dealers, led by the London Art Dealer Richard Green, will share equity with dealers committing to the Fair over the next five years. The International Fine Art Dealers Association which includes representatives of Richard Green, Mallet, Noortman, Dickinson, Peter Finer and MacConnal-Mason Gallery have arranged for Florida-based David Lester to represent them as Executive Director. Mr Lester founded the Palm Beach Fair 12 years ago, eventually selling on to DMG.

Following on from BADA member Christopher Alderson’s move to larger premises at 61 Long Street, Tetbury late last year, Ian Butlin, formerly trading at Ark Angel in Long Street, has decided the time is right for him to open his own shop in Tetbury. Mr Butlin’s confidence stems from his belief that a sale will usually follow if you buy the right piece, and his decorative antiques are keenly sought by buyers both in the UK and USA. The new shop will be called Fifty-One Long Street and will open at the end of July 2008.
Christopher Alderson is currently hosting his exhibition “Easy on the Eye” as part of the BADA 90 Years of Excellence anniversary exhibitions. Mr Alderson’s timing of the exhibition provides him with wide exposure as an alternative to his usual Olympia outing.

We regret to announce the death of former Cotswolds antique dealer Roger Warner who has died at the age of 95. He ran his shop in High Street, Burford, Oxfordshire, for 50 years having opened it in 1936. He dealt in a wide range of antiques including country furniture, needlework, dolls’ houses, metal ware and medieval objects. He made regular appearances on Going for a Song, the BBC TV antiques programme in the 1960s. The Mayor of Burford instructed that the flag of the Tolsey Museum in Burford should be flown at half mast on the day after his death.

After four years of exile during the redevelopment by Southwark Council, Bermondsey traders are being encouraged to return outside with an incentive of half price stands during June, July and August, 2008. A council spokesperson said that their aspiration was for Bermondsey Square to “once again become London’s premier market.” The chairperson of Bermondsey Antiques Market Traders Association, Joan Bygrave, said that half of the 200 stalls had already moved back into the Square and there were plans for the remaining stalls to be in place for June.

From 2 June, 2008, Christie’s will match the increased premiums recently announced by Sotheby’s.
Sotheby's announced increases in their Buyer's Premium from 1 June 2008. Buyers will now have to pay 25% + 17.5% VAT on the hammer price for all lots under £25,000. This is an increase on the previous level of £10,000. There are similar price hikes on higher priced lots. 20% + 17.5% VAT on the next £475,000, previously £240,000 and 12% + 17.5% on each pound over £500,000, up from £250,000. The buyers most affected by these increases are those at the middle price range of art and antiques.
At the same time Sotheby's Institute of Art announced two day courses at the summer Olympia International Fine Art & Antiques Fair "providing an opportunity to build participants' knowledge in arts and antiques though direct access to some of the best dealers and galleries in the world" for £350 a day. It is unlikely the course will emphasise the advantages of buying from a dealer rather than in the saleroom where the price can only go one way - up - plus the addition of the 25% + VAT buyers' premium.

The former Great Grooms Antiques Centre premises in Dorking, Surrey will see the arrival of the Talbot House Antiques Centre in July 2008. The centre is relocating from Ripley, Surrey, where the business was called Talbot Walk Antiques Centre, following the expiry of their existing lease which had been acquired by Merchant Inns PLC for redevelopment. Graham Jones, manager at Talbot Walk since it opened in 1999, said he regretted the marginalising of so many antiques centres forcing some to close down. He confirmed that while many of the existing dealers would move the 20 miles to the new location, the management of Talbot House Antique Centre “would welcome enquiries from London dealers who may, or who already have, become displaced, as well as dealers from the Surrey area.”

Following the departure at the end of May 2008 from Dorking, owner of Great Grooms Antiques Centre, James Podger, has exciting plans for the remaining centre in Hungerford. Mr Podger plans a transitional change which will see the centre, which currently hosts 100 dealers, consolidate to move upmarket. Events designed to attract a wider market of buyers for antiques and art with a ticket price in excess of £100,000 will be staged and advertised on the new Great Grooms web site to be launched at the end of July 2008.

When one member of a family from Powys, Wales, consigned to a skip a small drop leaf table with signature brass fittings, it was fortunate that another member of the same family rescued the piece. The table which was identified by auctioneers in Shrewsbury as a piece by Edward William Godwyn, the 19th century architect-designer and the hammer fell at £40,000.

The indispensable Guide to the Antique Shops of Britain has been published for the 35th time this month, May 2008. The publishers, The Antique Collectors’ Club, took six months out of the publishing schedule to consider producing an on-line version of the tome, used by both trade and private buyers. An on-line version of the Guide would accommodate updates of the constant changes occurring in the current volatile market. Although they do not discount an on-line version in the future, the hard copy will continue to be published. Antique dealers across the UK will be relieved to note that this 2008/2009 edition of the Guide which lists free of charge all antique shops in the country, has as many pages as the previous edition. For more information see Antique Collecting web site via Trade Index.

The 30 specialist shops at the London Silver Vaults, Chancery Lane, London, WC2, that make up one of the worlds largest retail collection of fine antique and modern silver, jewellery, vintage watches and clocks, are to host an exhibition of wine-related antique silver objects from June to September 2008. In spite of the current gloomy outlook this seems to be an area of antique and period silver which is constantly in demand from international buyers and wealthy wine connoisseurs.

QXL.co.uk the online auction site acquired for £946 million in 2007 by South African media firm Naspers and rebranded Tradus, is to close its UK operation at 12 pm on 30 May 2008. Bidding officially ended on 9 May.
Founded in 1997, by journalist Tim Jackson, the company went on to buy rival German site Ricardo in 2000, surviving the burst of the dotcom bubble in 2001. Having styled itself the business as the site that isn’t eBay, the UK market for eBay proved too much of a challenge for the company. Trading will continue in Eastern Europe under several brand names.

The publication date for Headlines changed from Monday to Wednesday from week beginning 19 May 2008 in line with innovations at Antiquesnews. Subscribers and readers are invited to contact this newspaper with news copy and comments. Further exciting innovations will continue to take place during 2008.

Antiquesnews welcomes a new subscriber, a charming country house hotel ideally placed near Newark, Nottinghamshire. The hotel is equipped to welcome weary antique dealers with Wifi internet access and desks in every room and an interesting and sympathetically priced wine list in the award winning restaurant. See Roundabout for more information and Trade Index for Langar Hall web site

Millers Antiques will host a Spring Open Weekend at their premises at Netherbrook House, Christchurch Road, Ringwood, Hampshire on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th June, 2008, from 10am – 5pm. There will be a 20% discount offered on all stock during the event. Both trade and retail customers will be welcome. For more information see Millers of Ringwood web site via Trade Index.

Following a recent important acquisition from a private collection, Petworth dealer Richard Gardner's selling exhibition of Satsuma together with other related items from the Mejii period, which ended on Saturday 17 May, 2008, proved to be a success both in visitor numbers to the shop and in sales from the exhibition. Both collectors and academic institute buyers made up the throng and an important acquisition was made by the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archeology in Oxford. The event was designed to be a tribute to George Ashdown Audsley and James, Lord Bowes. For more information about the collection see our feature article on Page 5. This proactive dealer produces a quarterly Newsletter describing new acquisitions available on request. For more information see Richard Gardner's web site via our Trade Index.

The appointment of Boris Johnson as the newly elected Mayor of London is to be welcomed by the capital's antiques trade. He is in favour of historic buildings and expresses strong support for small traders threatened by big business interests. As a resident of Islington, north London, home of Camden Passage, the capital's original antiques village, and taking a new look at the traffic congestion zone in Kensington and Chelsea, another antiques district, the Trade have good reason to feel optimistic following the election of Boris Johnson. In particular, the Camden Passage Traders Association who are currently celebrating a victory in the first round of their battle to save The Mall Antiques Centre from redevelopment. See Camden Passage Antiques Centre web site via Trade Index.

Changing the date and marketing of the spring Goodwood Fine Antiques Fair held at Goodwood House near Chichester, West Sussex , this year brought new customers and additional exhibitors to this well established bi-annual venue. The number of categories of quality antiques also increased to the benefit of many buyers and sellers who were well pleased with their outing. The autumn Goodwood Fine Antiques Fair returns from 21-23 November 2008. For further details contact organisers, Pantheon Fair, telephone 0131 556 6728 or see information in our Roundabout feature on the Trade Index page.

The latest fixture on the National Swap Shop Circuit organised by The West of England Antique Dealers Association at Exeter Airport Antiques Complex courtesy of McBains Brothers Antiques, got off to a flying start on Wednesday 7 May, 2008. There was a queue of vehicles waiting outside before the opening time at 10 am. The numbers were up by 25% on the last WEADA Swap Shop in October 2007. Many items of stock moved around the various stands with money changing hands as well as swaps being agreed upon . Willie Clegg, organiser of the Thames Valley Antique Dealers Association was in attendance and reported brisk activity at the TVADA Trading Post which had taken place the previous week and confirmed that there were plans for similar events in the future. Confirmation that Antique Dealers Associations are working hard to achieve success for their members. Future Swap Shops include TVADA, July and CADA, Cotswolds Antiques Dealers Association in September, which includes their popular cricket match. Dates and a further fixture for Suffolk in October to be confirmed soon. For more information contact WEADA on 01749 860686.

We regret to announce the death of Gervase Thorpe, 40, following a fall from a bridge while on holiday in Catania, Sicily. Mr Thorpe traded from the St Mawes area of Cornwall and was the eldest son of one of Britains leading judges, Sir Mathew Thorpe, a Lord Justice of Appeal,

Collectors across Europe unwittingly bought pots believing the work to be that of renowned potters Bernard Leach and Lucie Rie. In fact the pots were bogus works produced by a former public school art teacher from Dorset who had fooled top auctioneers across the UK. Jeremy Broadway, who has a masters degree in ceramics had made the fake antique pots in his shed and stamped them with his own version of the potters’ seals. Ben Williams, head of contemporary ceramics at Bonhams alerted other salerooms in the UK after discovering that three bowls for sale at £17,000, were fakes. Unfortunately a sale of 2 fake Leach vases and a Rie pot which sold for £8,900 at Bonhams, had been undetected. Mr Williams said “It is a bit embarrassing really. I could have ignored it but it was a mistake I made that needed to be sorted out.” Police spent months tracking down and recovering the fakes sold between 2003 - 2006.

Sold to an antiques dealer in 1848 before entering a private collection, an ornate oak display cabinet with gilt mouldings designed by the novelist, politician and art critic William Beckford, has been purchased by the Beckford Museum in Bath with the help of a £25,000 grant from the Art Fund, the UK’s leading independent art charity. A campaign was mounted to raise the rest of £64,000 total amount needed to return the piece to its original home at Beckford Tower, which William Beckford commissioned in 1825 to house his collection of art and rare books.

Antiquesnews welcomes Newark Antiques Warehouse, founded in 1985 and home to 40 furniture dealers, a large number of collectors cabinets and the areas largest antiques warehouse. Owner Nick Mellors has announced that the Warehouse opening hours are now tailored to work with the nearby DMG Fairs Newark dates – see Trade Index for Newark Antique Warehouse web site for full information.

Nobody confused the first Esher Hall Antiques & Fine Art Fair at Sandown Park, Surrey, in the London suburbs with the regular grassroots event held at the racecourse there for many years. This initial traditional antiques fair was notable for the sale of traditional furniture. Organiser Ingrid Nilson of The Antique Dealers Fair Ltd was pleased with this initial event with 35 exhibitors and plans to make it an annual event. "Whilst not all the exhibitors had a wonderful fair," she says, "Everyone agreed that the venue was in the right place and shows great potential with the majority wishing to return in 2009." See Antique Dealers Fairs Limited web site via Trade Index

In response to requests from the 70 strong membership, including BADA and LAPADA members, The West of England Antique Dealers’ Association, WEADA, formed in March 2007, has announced the dates for its first members’ antiques fair which will run from Friday 24 October to Sunday 26 October 2008 with a Preview Evening, by invitation only, on Thursday 23 October. The event is to be called The West of England Antique Dealers’ Fair and the venue will be Taunton School. Cooper Events Limited, who organise the established Powderham Castle Antiques Fair and Westonbirt School Antiques Fair, in the West of England, will organise the event. All enquiries to 01749 860686.

Antiquesnesws welcomes Villa Magala Hotel – set in a leafy street with plenty of parking but minutes from Bath city centre, Villa Magdala Hotel offers special arrangements for antique dealers in need of a retreat – see feature in Roundabout and Villa Magdala Hotel’s web site via Trade Index.

In a set of CDs to be released in May 2008, the infamous London gangster twin brothers, the Kray twins, Ronnie and Reggie revealed in a formerly unreleased taped interview in 1989 with Robin McGibbon, how they toured rural England looking for antiques whenever they could get away from London. The tapes tell of their love of cycling down country lanes and touring antique shops and “snapping up bargains”. Ronnie, who died in prison in 1995, said “We bought clocks and ornaments and lots of other things.” He revealed that they never committed any crimes while enjoying their country antiques hunt on their bicycles.

The Italian fashion house Etro, has purchased Agnew's Bond Street gallery in London for a sum believed to be in the region of £24 million.
The current gallery noted for its trade in Old Masters, built by Sir William Agnew in 1877, will close on 18 July 2008. New gallery premises more suited to 21st century British and contemporary art are being sought in the same locality.

A celebrated violinist, Philippe Quint was distraught when he left his Stradivarius violin, c 1723, worth £2 million in a taxi in New York in April 2008. To his great joy the honest cabbie Mohammed Khalil found the cherished instrument the following morning and reunited it with its owner who dropped to his knees and shed tears of joy.

A Christmas card sent by Anne Frank, the Jewish diarist, to her friend Sammie Ledermann in 1937, has been found in an antiques shop near Amsterdam. The card was found by a teacher who was gathering material on Anne Frank to mark Liberation Day, the May 5 anniversary of the end of German occupation, when he came across the card in a box of 10 greetings cards on a visit to the antiques shop owned by his father. Maatje Mostard, of the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam said it was the second such card the museum had seen and added "We know it's an original." Anne Frank’s diary is the most widely read book relating to the Holocaust.

RICS, The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors' first Arts and Antiques survey has reported buoyancy at the mid to upper end of the antiques and art sales market. The volatility of the financial markets appears to be encouraging consumers to switch to alternative investment opportunities. Christopher Ewbank of the Institute said “The arts and antiques market remains a viable investment option during this period of financial uncertainty. Many investors are using their disposable incomes to buy in at the high end with the hope that value will continue to stay firm while stocks and bonds ebb and flow.”

An insurance company has offered a £10,000 reward for the return of an antique violin which was valued at £180,000 on the same day that it was left on a train by its owner. The Italian instrument was made by the master craftsman Matteo Groffriller in Venice in 1698 and had been in the safe keeping of the Napier family since shortly after World War II until the hapless Mr Napier got off the train and left it on the luggage rack.

A reminder to readers that the new address for ANTIQUESNEWS is

PO BOX 3369
CHIPPENHAM
WILTS
SN15 9DU

Email address is mail@antiquesnews.co.uk

Telephone 01225 742240 - International +44(0)1225 742240

eBay is pulling out of "live auctions," where members join in real-world auction-house bidding, in the latest in a series of moves to restructure its online auctions business, the company said on Tuesday.
The online auction leaders said it plans to shut down the eBay Live Auctions business as of December 31, 2008.
In a posting on one of the company's user discussion boards, a company executive said "maintaining and improving this platform falls outside our immediate focus, and will, therefore, be retired at the end of the year."
The move will affect several hundred eBay sellers who list their items directly using the Live Auctions format, said Jim Ambach, vice president in charge of eBay's Seller Experience.

According to the London "Evening Standard" , Martin Miller, co-founder of "Miller's Antiques Price Guides in 1980 and Miller's Academy, the lecture and social club he founded two years ago in the capital, hopes to move into larger premises to accommodate the quoted 750 membership. The present Academy premises is on offer at an asking price of £2.75 million.

Normally housed at the London Transport Museum, a rare art deco tube train with a period wooden interior attracted collectors' attention to the suburbs where, for just one day, it was scheduled to run between Ealing Common and Uxbridge. Built in 1938 it was in public service for over 50 years. However, on this occasion tickets were £26 each.

A fine example of a once derided school of art, The Victorian Pre-Raphaelite painting "The Sleep of Arthur in Avalon" by Edward Burne-Jones, now on loan to the Tate Britain from a museum in Puerto Rico, could have been bought in the 1960s for £1000 when it was offered to the directors of the Gallery at that time who turned down the chance. The painting which measures 21 feet by 10ft is now worth many millions and considered to be the late great masterpiece of the artist who died in 1898.

Clarion Events has announced that their new fixture FORM is to close after 2 Spring events at Olympia. Re-branded in 2007 from the Fine Art, Design and Antiques Fair to FORM with the brave intention of not being an antiques fair at all but an event to showcase cutting edge with style and design, it still compared unfavourably with the very successful Summer and November Olympia events, without a clear distinction between contemporary or antique disciplines. Exhibitor numbers fell in 2008 to 80 from 110 in 2007. Freya Simms, show director, confirmed that Clarion is talking to other event organisers with a view to another company running the event in the future.

Following his series for BBC Radio Four "The Modern Home"�, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is to join BBC Homes and Antiques Magazine as a regular columnist and has chosen the enticing topic of "The Death of Minimalism" for his first outing in the July issue. May the antiques trade to hold its collective breath?

The model for a painting bequeathed to the Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum by Gloucestershire antiques dealer Ron Somerfield, was surprised to hear 60 years later that the painting had become the favourite of visitors to the gallery. Local artist Frank Cadogan Cowper, one of the last of the Pre-Raphaelites, had approached the then 16 year old Boots Chemist counter assistant, Valerie Tarantolo, to sit for him. At the time she scorned the painting as not glamorous enough, and Cowper jokingly called it “The Ugly Duckling”. Valerie had wondered over the years what had happened to the painting until her sister saw it recently on the gallery web site. She said “Now I am older, I can see it with new eyes, when I was 16 I did not appreciate its beauty”.

We regret to announce the death of Mary Newcombe painter, on 29 March, 2008, aged 86. Trained by Clifford Ellis who founded the Bath Academy of Art based at Corsham Court, Wiltshire, Mary Newcombe was an artist of seriousness and charm. Her work was shown by the prestigious Crane Kalman Gallery in London and her work appeared at the Tate Gallery and The Arts Council of Wales.

We regret to announce the death of Marc Friedman of Trademarc, aged 43. A well known dealer in boxes from Portobello and Bermondsey Markets, he was also a presenter on the Channel Four television programme Natural Born Dealers. Mr Friedman died unexpectedly while on a trip to China in March. He leaves a wife Pip and three daughters, Chloe, Hannah and Lola.

The Polish embassy in London has disclosed that a 17th century masterpiece was stopped from going under the hammer at an auction house in London after it was revealed that the artwork had been looted by the Nazis. Pieter de Grebber's painting, titled "Study Of A Reading Man", belonged to Abe Gutnajer, an antiques dealer murdered in Warsaw in 1942 by the Nazis, who confiscated his property. Gutnajer came from a well-known Warsaw family who, since the 1890s, had traded in antiques. In 1915, he began selling paintings, including works by Dutch and Flemish artists of the 17th to 19th centuries. The only member of the family to survive was his son, Ludwik, who moved to America, where his wife and two children still live.

The National Gallery has revealed that one of its paintings “Cupid Complaining to Venus” by Lucas Cranach the Elder, c 1525, once belonged to Hitler. The connection was discovered during research into Hitler’s art collection from a photograph of the dictator’s private gallery. The National Gallery is now seeking to establish how and when Hitler acquired the painting “in the light of concerns that some works of art may have been improperly acquired during 1933-45”.

Following on from an earlier report about the new Department of Trade approved tourism candelabra motif sign for antiques and art premises, a spokesperson from LAPADA has confirmed that members will be eligible to have the planning application fee charged by their local council reimbursed by LAPADA. Acquiring and attaching the sign can be a costly business and LAPADA would like to help members around the country to get these signs in place as soon as possible.

Applications to enlist in a Tourist Directory / Tourism Guide from a company in Lucerne, Switzerland, have been received by antique dealers in the UK in recent weeks. Readers are advised to carefully inspect the small print regarding subscription costs at the bottom of the page.

We regret to announce the death of print maker Trevor Allen, 69. A maker of striking and vivid prints, Allen had several one-man exhibitions in London and Europe and a number of group exhibitions including "Three Decades of Artists from the London Art Schools" at the Royal Academy. Examples of Allen’s work can be found in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Victoria & Albert Museum in London has chosen designs from its collection to sell as mobile telephone wallpaper. Among the illustrated artefacts are paintings by Van Gogh and Botticelli. Each is priced at £1.99. A selection of video clips of the V&A's fashion collection are also on offer.

Willie Clegg and Harvey Ferry of The Country Seat in Huntercombe near Henley, Oxfordshire, are congratulating themselves after becoming the very first antique shop in the UK to hang one of the coveted candelabra motif national road signs, approved by the Department of Trade for art and antiques premises. See The Country Seat website via Trade Index.

The sunshine seen in recent years over the annual BADA Antiques & Fine Art Fair turned a bit cloudier this spring. Inside the marquee at Duke of Yorks Square nearby Sloane Square, sold sales still shone for some exhibitors. BADA members from from the provinces generally seemed to do better than Londoners. An old hand, making his final appearance at this venue had his least exciting outing in many years. A newcomer to the show had the most profitable week of his life. An optimum sized top quality world class fair organised by the UK's oldest trade association, celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, looks set for a successful decade towards its century.

Camden Passage traders along with local council representatives and other parties concerned by the proposed closure of The Mall Antiques Centre at the Angel, Islington, north London, met the landlords at a meeting on 10 March 2008. CPTA chairman, Mike Weedon reports "a frank discussion" between all parties, very worthwhile prior to a planning application going before the local council the following month.

A strong Australian connection with a single piece of 18th century furniture provoked an authoritative article in "World of Antiques & Art" on the remarkable history of The Percival Compton Chairs. Written by Cotswolds dealer Michael Harding-Hill, a leading expert on antique English Windsor chairs, this is one of the numerous articles in the latest issue of this magazine of art, design and collecting with an international readership published at Bondi Junction, New South Wales, Australia. For further details of the "World of Antiques & Art" click onto "Publications " in our Trade Index or the magazine's logo at the foot of our Home page. The article appears in the February-August 2008 issue.

In a £10 million cash deal Momart, the UK-based fine art removal and storage company has been acquired by Falkland Islands Holdings (FIH) which was founded in 1851 as an agricultural and general trading company and is now quoted on the London stock market.

Celebrating its 90th anniversary this year the British Antique Dealers' Association has published a guide to its members' selling exhibitions titled "90 Years of Excellence". Taking place in members' galleries and showrooms at various times and places throughout 2008, each is listed with full details of opening times and contact details. For a copy of the booklet telephone 020 7589 4128 (international +44 20 7589 4128).

The second edition, completely updated for 2008 of "A Buyers' Guide to the West of England Antique Dealers' Association" lists over 70 members together with sponsors other West Country services, fairs and publications. This fully illustrated 56 page launched at the 19th annual Bath Decorative & Antiques Fair offers a comprehensive guide to WEADA members throughout the area stretching from Cornwall to Gloucestershire. For a complimentary copy telephone 01749 860 686 (international +44 749 860 686)

We regret to report the death of Alec Wildenstein, 67, who was a member of one of the world’s most powerful art-dealing dynasties

Demise of dining rooms sees increase in demand for antique dining tables.
Open-plan living in the home is now based around the kitchen so inevitably demand has increased for large dining tables – these have become the focal point of what has now become the family room.
Circular and extending tables are in strong demand. You can still put modern chairs around a 19th century table. A modest investment of around £1000 can buy a solid wood 19th century large table to provide the centrepiece of a sparkling new kitchen.

Shall we see a return to sanity for this section of the brown furniture market?

Twenty-seven artefacts, including a neolithic flint axe and medieval jug stolen from Fishbourne Roman Palace near Chichester, West Sussex, were found dumped in a supermarket trolley outside a local branch of Tesco.

George Galloway, the left-wing Respect MP for Bethnal Green & Bow in London, has a weekly slot on a 24 hour English language television news channel set up by the Iranian government. It is a current affairs programme called "The Real Deal" - not to be confused with David Dickinson's show on ITV1.

Readers are invited to email their views for publication on current Headlines on these pages to mail@antiquesnews.co.uk

Competition from charity shops could adversely threaten members of the British antiques trde in the same way as antiquarian book dealers have suffered in recent years. Oxfam claims to be the second largest retailer of secondhand books in Europe including 100 specialist shops. The charity is now promoting a "Valued at Oxfam" service to sell antiques endorsed in internet and press advertising by Dorchester-on-Thames dealer and BBC-TV's "Cash in the Attic" valuer, Jonty Hearnden. A full page advertisement appears in the "Sunday Telegraph" magazine "Stella", full rate card cost £17,000 - charities half price. Added to the charities' reduced council tax and voluntary labour, it is no wonder some dealers feel this venture may effect their livelihoods.

A highly important 18th century bookcase, with impeccable provenance, made by Gillows of Lancaster returns to the city and display in its oldest townhouse, the Judges' Lodging House Museum, from Easter 2008. It was originally delivered to the widow of a wealthy local merchant, Mrs Mary Hutton Rawlinson in July 1772 at a cost of £21. Lancashire County Council Museum Service's campaign raised over £300,000 to return this bookcase to its home city of Lancaster 235 years later, purchased from London antiques dealer, Apter-Fredericks.

84 year-old George Greenhalgh of Bolton, Lancashire, has escaped going to prison although he made at least £850,000 over 18 years from selling fake artefacts crafted by his son, Shaun, in the family home which he sold to galleries and the Trade. He said he had found or inherited the objects.

Founded in 1925, "Apollo", the international magazine for collectors, has taken a major step forward with an updated website on the internet. Easy and quick to navigate, it has a huge content including not only the entire editorial content of current issues but a searchable archive back to January 2006. Also it has a useful directory covering aspects of the collecting spectrum from publications to consultants and valuers. You can click onto the "Apollo" website via our trade index.

Although only 34% of members participated in the 2007 LAPADA annual survey, this snapshot of the Association of Art & Antiques Dealers' membership suggests "a steady market" throughout the last 12 months. 40% of the respondents reported turnover about the same compared with 2006. 48% expect it to be about the same this year. America remains the major overseas market.

Scottish clock dealer, Ian Burton of Auchterarder, Perthshire, specialises in decorative and interesting timepieces priced from £1,000 to £10,000. A selection of typical stock can be viewed on his website via our Trade Index.

Top searches in 2007 via Tias, America's largest online antique and collectable mall, were cookie jars with teapots and milk glasses not far behind.

According to the Antique Collectors' Club, their 2008 ACC Antique Furniture Price Index is fractionally up at 0.5% "bringing hope that the corner has finally been turned." The Index does not reflect volume, which is still low. The Index, based on retail prices from shop, fair, market and auction records, has been calculated annually by John Andrews since 1969. Then it stood at 100. After falling steadily from a peak of 3575 in 2001, it stabilised at 2966 in 2006 and moved slightly upwards at the end
of 2007 to 2982, up one half of one percent. The quite separate ACC Victorian and Edwardian furniture, started in 1973, fell very slightly from 1283 to 1254, a change of 2%.
A full analysis appears in the February issue of "Antique Collecting" magazine whose website may be viewed via our Trade Index.

Christie's and Sotheby's have introduced a buyer's premium that can amount to 30% including VAT on all items up to a hammer price of £10,000, writes Richard Marchant, chairman of the British Antique Dealers' Association, in a recent members' newsletter. "There is approximately 42% between the net proceeds vendors receive at auction and the total sum paid by the buyers," he writes. "Do not forget that the law does not give the public full consumer protection or normal rights of redress when they buy at auction. Take every possible opportunity to point out to customers the benefits of buying and selling through a dealer in contrast to using the salerooms."

Columnist Tony Keniston agrees with John Fiske, editor-in-chief of our associate publication in America, the New England Antiques Journal, that antiques are green and the future of the trade is assured if we can all promote this commonsense approach to sales. Read Tony Keniston's Independent View by clicking onto Page 1 from the icon on the left of this page or from our Home Page.

Well-known in the UK antiques trade, especially in the West Country, Gail McLeod has joined this newspaper whilst continuing her work with the West of England Antique Dealers' Association (WEADA) and the annual Bath Decorative & Antiques Fair. This is one of numerous innovations at "Antiquesnews" planned for 2008. See "Roundabout" on our Trade Index Page for more details and further news as it happens.

Do-it-yourself store B&Q's design manager Fionnuala Johnston, predicts bold retro patterns, inspired by designs from the 1950s and 1960s, and world culture are set to be big inspirations for home-makers in 2008. Also minimalism is dead! Self-assembled antiques are not yet on the market!

Critics of the Ministry of Defence say that the lives of British armed forces in Afghanistan and Iraq war zones are being put at risk by spending taxpayers' money on "frivolous projects" including hundreds of thousands of pounds buying contemporary art. In the last financial year , civil servants spent almost £53,000 simply on maintaining the Defence department's art collection.

One of London's oldest antiques centres, Antiquarius, Chelsea, is to be reduced in size by half in 2008 as property owners redevelop the King's Road frontage. Scores of dealers who have received notice to quit will be seeking alternative accommodation. More Chelsea news in our Roundabout feature on the Trade Index page.

In November 1997 the first issue was published of "Antiques & Art Independent", the independent newspaper of the British antiques trade. This on-line edition followed shortly afterwards with the aim of promoting the British antiques trade around the world.
Although the hard-copy issue ceased publication at the end of 2001, "Antiques & Art Independent" continues as the title of this weekly on-line newspaper through www.antiquesnews.co.uk and the websites of our associated antiques media in America, Australia and throughout Continental Europe.

Colourful pottery of the Art Deco period is attracting increased interest from newcomers to the antiques world. The recently published comprehensive guide, "Art Deco Ceramics" reviewed on page 3, provides an invaluable handbook for new collectors.

The best UK multi-day fairs calendar for 2008 can be found in our pages. Click onto the Fairs Calendar icon on our Home Page. We wish all our readers around the world a happy and prosperous new year.

Note: If using AOL and the 2008 dates or the latest news items do not appear on your computer, view via Internet Explorer.

Antique dealers, along with all other UK businesses who accept large cash payments (approx £9000) had to apply for registration under new money laundering regulations before 15 December 2008. Full details at www.hmrc.gov.uk/mlr

The tenth annual National Antiques Day as usual, aimed to introduce newcomers to the world of antiques and encourage the purchase of antiques from dealers. Individual dealers, fair organisers and trade associations throughout UK had the opportunity to participate. National Antiques Day was co-ordinated by this on-line newspaper.
The 11th annual National Antiques Day will be on Friday 28 November 2008. For more details click onto the page 2 icon on the left of this page or National Antiques Day on our Home Page.

We regret to report the death of Richard Hislop (83), founder of the "Art Sales Index", who passed away peacefully after a long illness borne with courage, humour and great dignity.

David Dickinson's television antiques show, "Dickinson's Real Deals" is set to continue throughout 2008. He and his cast of colourful antiques dealers including Clive Attrell, Mike Melody and Ian Towning have been signed up for two more series to be screened during 2008 and beyond.

See our latest antiques book reviews on page 3
Click Page 3 icon on the left of this page.

We regret to report the death of antiques dealer Jim Franses (79) who traded as Franfam Ltd at fairs throughout UK and, with his wife, Stephanie, from shops in the Cotswolds at Moreton-in-Marsh and latterly at Grantown-on-Spey where he was an active member of the Highland Antique Dealers' Association.

What's hot in collectables? According to Judith Miller currently topping the list are vintage wrist watches and handbags. Her "Collectables Price Guide 2008" is just published and reviewed on page 3.

The current hyped culture shows in London this year are China's Terracotta Army (just 20 soldiers) at the British Museum and Tutankhamun (not personally in attendance) at the 02 Millenium Dome, a venue as cursed as the golden Pharoah's tomb. Unprecedented admission charges - £12 at the BM and £15 Monday to Thursday, £20 Friday to Sunday at the Dome are on offer, both plus £1.75 booking fee, optional £25 catalogues and inevitable queues. Doyen London Evening Standard art critic Brian Sewell says the Tutankhamun show is "less a formal exhibition than an entertainment ...the most unpleasant "cultural" experience of my life".
We say, buy an antique for the price of visiting these lacklustre experiences. A far better festive present for yourself and others.

Revised local town planning rules may help to preserve the character of west London antiques districts. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea proposes a new category in planning procedures that will require a "change of use" application by large national companies taking over premises previously occupied by a sole trader. Amongst the antiques trade properties this could cover are premises in Kensington Church Street and Portobello Road in the Notting Hill district. Whilst assisting dealers renting shops this may not be so pleasing for those who own their premises and wish to sell.

Antiques dealers at the Saint-Ouen flea market in Paris are protesting against attempts to impose "exorbitant rent rises" by their landlord, the Duke of Westminster, the third-richest man in Britain, who bought the Serpette and Paul-Bert sections of the 120 year old market in 2005. The stallholders predict that the Duke would meet his Waterloo if he tried to "speculate" with their livelihood.

Following UK Environmental Secretary, Hilary Benn's, announcement that the Government wishes to phase out all traditional light bulbs by 2011, antiques and art dealers along with museum curators, in particular, are anxious to hear how to protect furnishings and paintings from the fading caused by the ultra-violet low energy bulbs.

Readers travelling abroad are reminded to advise their credit card companies of proposed travel and take helpline telephone numbers with them. Stricter fraud protection on overseas use can cause "an unusual pattern of transactions", such as buying antiques, to block use of cards with consequent embarrassment.`

London art dealer Peter Nahum is selling his entire business, The Leicester Galleries Ltd., complete with its well established name, 10 year lease on premises in Ryder Street, St. James's, 5,000 copyrighted images, website, library of reference books, client datebase and entire current stock. There is no asking price. Offers are invited through an agent. Peter Nahum and his wife say they have decided to sell The Leicester Galleries to pursue other interests.

In the same way that charity shops have hit the second-hand and antiquarian book trade, antiques dealers are finding increasing unfair competition from charity outlets offering antiques. At Broadway, Worcestershire, renowned for its antiques showrooms, a hospice shop is said to be thriving on its proximity to some of the best-known antiques showrooms and galleries in the Cotswolds.

A record retail price for an antique Irish coffee pot of £95,000, follows extensive research into the engravings believed to be by Nathan Murray, on a rare example by Richard Williams, 1765, offered by London dealers J.H.Bourbon-Smith Ltd.

Tony Keniston's Independent View on the latest events in the antiques trade appears on page two.

Click on to the Page 1 icon on the left of this page to read an Independent View by Tony Keniston.

As more and more antiques dealers in Britain are accepting euro notes in payment for goods, the European Central Bank advises counterfeit currency is on the increase. Dealers should make two basic checks. First feel the euro note. The paper is pure cotton and has a unique feel with the ECB initials slightly raised., Secondly, tilt the note in your hand and check the hologram, and on 5, 10 and 20 euro notes make sure that the iridescent strip changes colour as do the numerals on banknotes of higher denominations.

The history of Camden Passage, Islington, north London, London's original antiques village, as seen through the eyes of John Payton, the man whose foresight and enthusiasm created much of the the success that this landmark has become with its regular Wednesday and Saturday markets, centres, shops and showrooms appears on page 7.

Antiques publications are thriving around the world. The latest issue of The World of Antiques & Art, published in Australia, is the first edited by Elspeth Moncrieff. Published twice a year, Tthis is one of the world's finest collectors' magazines.
In America, the New England Antiques Journal has successfully introduced a great new format and increased its circulation in recent months. Both of our associate publications mentioned above can be viewed via our Home Page at www.antiquesnews.co.uk