Mar 15, 2021
It’s tough time to be a politician wherever you are, what with the pandemic, increasingly polarised views and the perils of social media. Two recent and not altogether unconnected events remind me that political legacies can defy early reputations. As Churchill’s personal brandy glass and monogrammed slippers sold for a combined premium-inclusive £60,000 at auction the other day, the almost mythical status of our greatest ever wartime leader was set against the rather less generous views of Chips Channon, celebrated diarist of the 1920s and ’30s, whose journals have been republished in unredacted form for the first time.
Channon, a brilliant writer of sometimes dubious views – he thought Hitler marvellous and Churchill the most dangerous man in Europe – was an unparalleled observer of his times in terms of wit yet was almost invariably wrong about public figures, events and how everything would turn out. His career as an MP was certainly overshadowed by his writing, and a good thing too.
How different was the experience of the nation’s first prime minister, Robert Walpole, from the frenetic lives of 20th century incumbents of that role. Walpole, who took office exactly 300 years ago on April 3, enjoyed an uninterrupted term in office of over 20 years – still the longest ministry of any PM. He is generally seen as one of the best political leaders we have ever had and navigated a careful course of moderation and tolerance to establish political and social stability. How different from the bearpit Commons that was to follow.
Mar 8, 2021
I never thought I’d see the day when serious money was bid for… well, nothing really! But in a way that is exactly what we have been seeing over the past few weeks with something called NFT and now with a Tweet.
Pulling value out of thin air really started when the digital space became sophisticated enough to mimic (to a degree) the real world. Most obviously, Bitcoin led the way here, and we now see single units changing hands for astronomical sums. But Bitcoin isn’t linked to any tangible asset, it’s really just an idea, or rather a common agreement that the idea has real value and creates a means of trading value. What happens when confidence wains? Does the house of cards come tumbling down?
NFT (Non Fungible Tokens) allow artists to sell a work of art in the digital space by issuing single units of digital code from hundreds of thousands that, placed together, make up the digital artwork. Controlled through blockchain – and so supposedly protected from fraud – it allows ordinary members of the public to invest modestly in extraordinary artworks at the highest level, while bringing the artist a large amount of money and a small commission on the resale of each NFT.
Again, though, to me what the buyer owns is little more than an idea.
Now we have news of the sale of the first Tweet ever posted by Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter. It’s 15 years old and reads: “just setting up my twttr.” No doubt it’s an historic post, and bidding has reached $600,000 for the NFT of its unique digital signature.
I’m sure it’s all very exciting but I can’t help feeling more comfortable with bids for a solid bit of oak or maybe a decent daub in a nice frame.
Mar 1, 2021
One of the auction phenomena of recent years has been the market for whisky. Really, there are two markets: one focuses on rare survivors of long dried up distilleries and bottled single malts that have so far escaped the corkscrew; the other is the rather more manufactured line in limited edition releases created specifically to entice collectors.
So popular has whisky become as a collectable that it even has its own stock exchange. Understandably, what started in Scotland circa 1495 (with a bit of push from an earlier Irish concoction) later gave the island of Islay the enviable status of the highest value of exports per head of population of anywhere in the world. In recent years the worshipful dram has attracted the attention of other nations. You can now buy whisky made in England, Wales, Australia and even Japan – arguably the most esteemed producer east of Speyside.
Just like the sale of diamonds, whisky auctions are ‘occasions’. One of the more memorable has just taken place, attracting more than 1500 bidders and amassing a hammer total of £6.7 million for a single collection of 3,900 bottles.
Dallas Dhu 1921 Private Cask 64-year-old, an historic malt from one of the ‘lost distilleries’, was a much sought after highlight, but stealing the limelight was a single bottle of the Macallan 1926 Fine and Rare, bottled 60 years ago and one of only 14 such bottles surviving from the 40 ever produced. The price? A cool £1 million.
Feb 22, 2021
The announcement of an interesting auction linked to the band Radiohead reminds me that what is known as provenance is a vital part of the world in which we live and work. Essentially, it is the recorded history of an artwork or object.
Why is it important? Because it is vital that anyone consigning something to auction has the right to do so. In other words, they must either be the owner or ‘title-holder’ themselves, or have authority from the person or body that is to put it up for sale.
Often this can be very hard to prove; how many of us have purchase receipts for family heirlooms that great aunt Violet passed on when she died twenty years ago? Perhaps you have a photo from years gone by that includes the object in question, showing it to have been in her possession.
In the case of Radiohead, up for auction is an A2 sketchpad left behind in a barn at a fruit farm in Oxfordshire in 1993, when the band was working on their seminal album The Bends, which was released two years later.
The consignor turns out to be the man who had been sent in to clear out the barn after they left, having lent them instruments and a PA sound system earlier.
Vitally, as he told Sky News: “I was informed that anything remaining in the room was not required by the band and should be thrown away or kept by me if I so wished. I kept the sketchpad and discarded the carpeting.”
Feb 15, 2021
One of the delights of researching lots that we will be selling at auction is when they turn up a previously unknown or long-forgotten connection. Sometimes, the bare bones of the story are known, but teasing out the details makes it all the more fun.
In recent years we have been fortunate enough to offer a number of superb works by Helen Allingham, a Victorian and Edwardian artist whose wonderful cottage scenes have remained as popular and valuable as ever, even as the general trend for Victorian art has been static or downward when it comes to popularity and price.
One of the reasons that Allingham has proved such a feature here is that she lived and died in the area.
Having married William Allingham, the Irish poet and Editor of Fraser’s Magazine, in 1874, she gave up her career as an illustrator and turned her hand, instead, to watercolours. Seven years later they moved from Chelsea to Witley. Inspired by the surrounding countryside, along with its cottages and farmhouses, she never looked back. She died in Haslemere in 1926.
The first woman admitted as a full member of the Royal Watercolour Society, Allingham was occasionally subjected to the criticism that her compositions were overly sentimental. Sentimental, yes; overly sentimental? Not in my view. Anyway, she had the last laugh, as the market now shows.
However, my favourite discovery about her was that while working as an illustrator, she caught the eye of a struggling young artist who took inspiration from her work. His name? Vincent Van Gogh.
Feb 8, 2021
As Corporal Jones used to say in Dad’s Army: “Don’t panic!”
Yes, we are going through tough times and the challenges people face are not to be dismissed lightly, if at all. I’m sure we all know people who have suffered in one way or another and we should spare a moment to think about them on a regular basis.
It’s also important to remain positive, though, as this is the best way of helping other people. One of the most important things to remember is that it is when times are at their most challenging that we tend to be the most creative, especially when it comes to problem solving.
I have been noticing this recently in the wonderful world of art and antiques, where auctioneers and dealers alike face mounting issues not just from cross-border trade with the European Union, but also from fast encroaching new legislation that seems aimed at restricting most things we do.
Stepping into the breach have been a series of new technology companies who, having spotted a gap in the market, have been developing systems to help art market professionals communicate better with potential customers so that they get what they want, as well as smoothing the path towards compliance.
We all came into what is, after all, the original recycling business so that we could make a reasonable to good living handling beautiful objects. The more mature among us may be more traditional in our approach, but we should welcome the new, like this, if it helps us stay on track and spend more time doing what we love rather than tackling seemingly insurmountable problems. Bring on the tech!
Feb 1, 2021
Up until the pandemic, many school leavers embarked on what has become known as a Gap Year, prior to going on to university, during which they travelled to broaden the mind, experience other cultures and generally have a good time.
I’m in favour of this idea. When it works well, the 19-year-old who returns tends to be a bit more mature, understanding and appreciative of home, parents and the world around them than the 18-year-old who departed. That can only be a good thing when they are expected to knuckle down to academia once more. Pity those who have to go straight from school to uni on that score.
A rather magnificent pair of pietra dura columns in our January 28 sale reminded me that the Gap Year is no new phenomenon. From around 1660 to the 1840s, we knew it then as the Grand Tour.
A rather more exclusive arrangement available only to the offspring of the truly wealthy, usually when they came of age at 21, could last several years.
This rite of passage tended to take as its theme the rounding off a gentleman’s education by steeping him the classical, neo-classical and Renaissance wonders of Europe, especially in Greece and Italy. I’m quite sure that when these young bucks managed to slip away from their attendant chaperones, they also indulged in more lively activities, but the mementoes they brought home with them in the form of statues, architectural pieces, paintings and objects went on to form some of our nation’s best-known collections. Without them, our tradition of collecting art and antiques would not be what it is today.
Jan 25, 2021
Lockdown continues to confuse: what are the guidelines for auctions at the moment?
Premises must remain closed to the public but online-only auctions, website sales, ‘click and collect’ and deliveries can still be undertaken. Auction houses and valuers can also offer professional services.
The Society of Fine Art Auctioneers (SOFAA) has received confirmation from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) that art and antiques businesses can continue to trade through the latest alert level 5 national lockdown in England which was announced on January 4.
SOFAA chairman Helen Carless said: “DCMS confirmed auction houses must physically close to visitors but they can offer online-only auctions as they have been able to during both of the previous lockdowns.
“They can also continue to offer probate and other valuations.”
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy also confirmed to trade paper Antiques Trade Gazette that “tradespeople that have to go to other houses to work can continue as long as they operate in a Covid-secure way”.
Many UK auction houses are adopting a ‘business as usual’ approach and are continuing to conduct sales and accept consignments into auctions to be staged in February and March.
So there you have it: while we cannot welcome you through the doors of our Fernhurst salerooms as we would like, if you want to get something valued, or want to sell it, or want to bid on something, all of this is permitted now under the conditions set out above.
I hope that helps!
Jan 18, 2021
Comic Cuts, Victor, Valiant, Eagle, The Beano, The Dandy, Whizzer & Chips – these are just some of the weekly comics that entertained youngsters from the 1930s onwards in Britain. Across the Pond in the United States, Action Comics led the way with its first superhero, Superman, in 1938. Copies of the first issue have changed hands at auction for hundreds of thousands of dollars, culminating first in a $1.5 million price in 2010, then a $2.16 million bid in 2011 for a copy owned by the actor Nicolas Cage, and then a $3.21 million bid in 2014. Key to those top prices was the pristine condition of the comics.
This month we have had two more reminders about what an astonishing market this is.
Comic store owner Billy Giles, who died in 2019, had bought a first issue of Batman – published in 1940 – for £2,200 in 1982. Now the all-but mint condition copy has sold at auction for £1.6 million.
Hard to beat? Yes, but Tintin, that great invention by the Belgian author and illustrator Georges Remi, known as Hergé, did just that in the same week.
OK, we’re not actually dealing with like for like here; the Tintin illustration was a framed original gouache, ink and watercolour painting produced for the story The Blue Lotus, the character’s fifth adventure. Nevertheless, in all essentials it relates closely to the Batman comic, especially as it was meant to serve as the cover picture for the story, but was rejected. The price? €3.2m or £2.8m.
So Batman may have more superpowers, but Tintin packs the greater punch.
Jan 11, 2021
Catch them early – that’s what they say. Well, one auctioneer has taken this to heart more than anyone else that I have heard of before as he handed the gavel to his three-year-old daughter.
Jasmyne Sitter took to the rostrum on January 2 in Michigan to close the bidding on an artwork after being lifted up there by her father Jordan, Prinicipal Auctioneer for Park West Gallery.
“Sold” she cried out, clearly delighted with her starring role.
OK, it may have just been a bit of fun, but I’m willing to bet that this moment will prove to be an enduring memory for young Jasmyne and thrilling enough to sow the seeds of curiosity in her father’s choice of career. In another 20 to 25 years, we may well see her conducting the entire auction, and that makes me think of who else might be running the world we love by then.
In other words, what makes a good auctioneer?
Assuming traditional live auctions will continue to take place by then – and I think they will regardless of how much timed online auctions come to dominate – it is certain that any auctioneer worth their salt will still have to be a bit of a showman (or woman). It is not just the art and antiques themselves that attract keen bidding, it is also the sense of occasion and the ability of the Master of Ceremonies (for that is what an auctioneer is) to generate the atmosphere and enthusiasm, to be able to read a crowd and, in keeping proceedings lively and competitive, not to lose sight of bids as they come in.
Jasmyne has plenty of promise; I’m almost certain she’ll be among them.
