Dec 17, 2018
Few possessions tell you more about the owner than a watch, and few watches tell you more about their wearer than a Rolex.
For a man, a watch is generally the one piece of acceptable jewellery whose appearance on the wrist says more about his status, wealth, masculinity and attitude than anything else. A Rolex is the closest most will ever get to owning the trophy boys’ toys of a Ferrari or top-of-the-range boat.
Women covet Rolex watches for just the same status reasons – all this on top of all that precision engineering. Among the top watch brands – Patek Philippe, Breguet, Cartier, Rolex, Bulgari, Longines, Omega… – something about Rolex stands out as the mark of ultimate luxury and achievement.
Because the company understands the power of brand so well, it has also mastered the long-term management and development of Rolex in as precise a manner as the scientific engineering of the watches themselves.
Limited editions are a potential attraction, as well as models with special associations. Can anyone think of any more desirable watch than Hollywood film star Paul Newman’s personal 1968 Rolex Daytona? A $17.75 million price tag for it in October 2017 shows that not many could.
A recent example in Fernhurst was the 1982 stainless steel Gentleman’s Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master we sold for £12,000, complete with the all-important original box and paperwork.
No wonder Rolex watches are seen as such a handy investment vehicle.
Dec 10, 2018
Our latest Antiquarian Books sale provided an excellent illustration of why proper research is essential for the best outcome in any saleroom.
An inscribed presentation copy of [Charles Dodgson] Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, from 1877 carried an inscription that read: “Mr & Mrs Dyer from the Author, Sep. 27/[18]77.”
The question was: who were the Dyers?
While the fact that this was a signed copy clearly added value and its inscription made it even more attractive, the burning question was: were the Dyers merely a casual acquaintance or significant figures in the author’s life? The answer, I’m delighted to say, proved to be the latter.
Our investigations revealed that the Dyers were the couple with whom Caroll took lodgings at 7 Lushington Road, Eastbourne, for his summer holidays. Remaining with them for July to October, 1877, his stay proved to be the first of many there that he undertook for the rest of his life.
Although nominally a vacation, the period provided him with the peace and quiet he needed to work, including on his new theory of voting used to develop a system of proportional representation, which still influences parliament today.
The estimate was £500-800, but this additional nugget of information led to a battle between a bidder on the phone from the USA and another in the room, with the hammer falling at £1100.
As I said, it pays to do your homework.
Dec 3, 2018
As we gear up for our latest set of busy sales in the run-up to Christmas, we are also getting to that time of year when – assuming there is time to stop and grab a breath – I like to take a moment to reflect a little on the past 12 months.
Looking at the auction industry today for fine art and chattels, it’s remarkable how far we have come in the past 20 years. From being a leading light of the local area and a little further afield, we now have a global reach when it comes to bidders, and an international reach when it comes to securing consignments, in great part thanks to the internet.
There’s simply no getting away from the importance of the Web and live online bidding, but what also strikes me is that when it comes to developing specialist knowledge for identifying objects and carrying out cataloguing and valuations, the old ways remain the best.
Speak to many of the managing directors of auction houses today, and they will say the same. Ask them how they started and, for the most part, you will find that they began as teenagers humping round furniture as humble porters before stepping on the first rung of the ladder as a junior cataloguer.
There is no substitute for handling things as they pass through – that’s the bit you simply can’t learn from a computer screen, even today.
Nov 26, 2018
OK, I’ve held off as long as I can but it’s less than a month away now, so as Advent begins on Saturday, I think it’s reasonable to mention the C word. Christmas, as we now know it, is largely the invention of Charles Dickens, thanks to his magnificent 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, which many credit with reviving interest in the declining traditions of the holiday at the time.
Just as Prince Albert introduced the German tradition of the Christmas Tree, and Coca Cola can take responsibility for the modern image of Father Christmas, so Dickens’ creation coincided with other innovations that become traditions themselves, perhaps none more so than the Christmas card.
Although the first known Yuletide greetings card dates back to the reign of James I, the Victorian tradition began in the same year that A Christmas Carol was written and published. Commissioned by the inventor Sir Henry Cole and Illustrated by John Calcott Horsley, the world’s first commercially produced card depicts a family celebration at the centre, with scenes of charity giving to each side. These were not cheap throwaways. At a shilling each, they were considered expensive and so only a few of the 1000 printed sold.
Needless to say, it is an example of this that holds the world auction record for a Christmas card, with one selling for £20,000 as long ago as 2001.
Nov 19, 2018
Ron English is an American contemporary artist, who is famous for exploring brand imagery and advertising. His website, Popaganda, currently promotes recent shows titled Universal Grin and Delusionville. He certainly looks cutting edge, is clearly successful and seems to know what he is doing.
However, if reports are to be believed, he may be about to make a significant and costly mistake.
In the wake of the media frenzy surrounding Banksy’s shredding of his celebrated work Girl With A Balloon at Sotheby’s, English has spent $730,000 on another Banksy – this time a mural – and has vowed to destroy it by painting it over with whitewash.
English is reported to have bought the piece at auction as a protest against the commercial exploitation of street art. However, he also says that after he has altered it he intends to sell it for $1m. This seems confused thinking at the very least.
Whatever his motives, what English has failed to take into account, as far as I can see, is that while he may have a large following, he is not Banksy. When Banksy shredded his own work, art market experts believe he added to its value by creating a new work as a result, Love is in the Bin. English overpainting a Banksy with whitewash is not the same thing at all, so the $1m is probably a pipedream – not to mention the $730,000 he has just paid out.
Nov 12, 2018
The sale, earlier this month, of the late Professor Stephen Hawking’s wheelchair is the perfect example of how auction values are often all about an item’s associations or symbolism rather than any specific intrinsic value.
At just under £300,000 including buyer’s premium, the specially kitted out motorised wheelchair may be a rare piece of machinery in itself, but it is the genius who sat in it that makes it unique.
Other Hawking items, including his Albert Einstein Award, also made huge sums, but without the man himself they are just so many pieces of wood, glass, metal and plastic… aren’t they?
Clearly not. The war memorials we all stood in front of on November 11 to honour the sacrifices of the Fallen on the centenary of the end of WWI are emblems of those who are no longer there, but we felt their presence strongly as the bugler played the Last Post. They provide a material focus to our interest and attention.
Just so museum exhibits, tokens of affection, mementoes, religious relics and, indeed, the personal effects of historic figures like Professor Hawking. As tangible reminders, they help concentrate the mind on the spirit and character of those with whom they are associated. And it is our continuing fascination with these individuals that means we never tire of attempting to connect with them via these objects – and that’s what gives them their value.
Nov 6, 2018
How healthy is the future of the antiques and auctions market looking? Some seem to think that the young have no interest in antiques or the traditional auction process and that our days are numbered. Not so. As far as I can see, the evidence points to the reverse.
Look at all of the websites and apps set up to recycle second-hand clothing and fashion items. I know teenagers who have effectively set themselves up as dealers as they market this gear, while others are already well versed in the online auction process as they chase the rarities and bargains.
Think, too, of all the new antiques dealers out there. They may be purveyors of retro furniture and design, 1970s jewellery and suchlike; they may be selling out of pop-up shops in trendy markets like Spitalfields; and it may not have occurred to them at all that they have anything to do with our wonderful world. But you know what? They are no different in their passions, approach and ambitions from all of the other antiques dealers over the years; they simply specialise in something different.
And that’s they key: as time passes, so antiques change as well. Few may seek out Victorian sideboards now, but they compete fiercely for their replacements: early and mid 20th century artist-craftsman pieces and post-war Scandinavian design.
So, yes, I am confident that our ever-evolving industry will prosper.
Oct 29, 2018
If you want to find out more about how the art and antiques market works these days, you can sign up to innumerable email newsletters giving you the inside information on the latest trends.
That’s fine if all you are interested in is Contemporary and Modern art sales in London and New York that make millions, or what’s happening with blockchain and bitcoin and how they may help change the way the market works.
Try looking for news on the sort of art, antiques and collectables that interest you, me and most of the rest of the world, however, and your eyes will ache from too much screen time as you search in vain. Ok, top-end prices may make better headlines, but it astonishes me how the media tends to ignore 95 per cent of what is changing hands day to day.
Let’s face it, if you are interested in collecting and want to know about any given field, you need to know the ins and outs, what to look for, what to avoid and what factors affect values. That’s where collecting clubs come into their own. So next time the idea of chasing the rarest piece of Clarice Cliff strikes you, forget the trendy newsletters and head for the collectors’ club website and immerse yourself in knowledge.
Oct 22, 2018
Have you ever wondered what it must be like to stand (or sit) at the rostrum and shout out the lots? How much of a skill is it to tease bids from those ranged before you or, come to that, from the phone or internet?
Having done this for decades, I suppose it comes as second nature these days, although creating the same atmosphere to excite those viewing remotely on screen has proved to be an altogether different challenge over the past few years, and you need to be on top of your game if you are not to let down your consignors.
In a way, an auctioneer on the rostrum is rather like a conductor leading an orchestra through a concert. The mood changes with the music; at some points you need to create a loud noise, waving your arms about to the crashing cymbals of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture, while at others you need to slow the room down to a more sedate waltz as you try to get those paddles waving.
The really skilful auctioneer is the one who can almost reach out and tickle bidders as a conductor might gently wave his baton at the strings section just below him, squeezing those last few bids to ensure a picture or piece of porcelain realises its maximum potential.
There is both an art and a craft to this most unusual of skills.
Oct 15, 2018
Still on the Banksy theme, a number of other extraordinary factors have emerged after the shredding incident at Sotheby’s. Firstly, footage of the drama unfolding released on Banksy’s own website shows that he must have had several representatives in the room as the film is taken from various positions at the same time.
Bizarrely, to my mind, some art experts argue that the ‘performance art’ episode now attached to the piece has possibly doubled its value, despite the fact that it is now largely cut into strips, which frankly doesn’t say much about why some people treasure art.
Perhaps even more bizarrely, it now turns out that at least one other owner of a Banksy work has taken a Stanley knife to it in an attempt to replicate the stunt and thereby double the value of the piece… only to discover that it is one thing for Banksy to do this, quite another for them to give it a go. In their case the five-figure work is now worthless.
As I have advised before, values are subjective and can prove unpredictable, especially under circumstances like these. In normal times, around half a dozen factors help determine prices at auction, but when the extraordinary happens all bets are off.
Meanwhile Frieze, the art fair conglomerate on show in London that normally expects to dominate the headlines at this time of year has had to play second fiddle to this affair – not something it has experienced before.
