As the BBC celebrates its centenary, it’s time to salute Arthur Negus

Oct 11, 2022

The BBC becomes an antique on October 18 as it celebrates its 100th birthday. TV has proved a wonderful format for antiques programmes thanks to the magical mix of culture, cash and treasure hunt.

Everyone dreams of having a hidden fortune in the attic. Remember Del Boy and Rodney, from Only Fools And Horses, and the great Harrison watch that brought them millions at Sotheby’s?

This mixture of hope and fascination has made the Antiques Roadshow one of the great BBC success stories of the past half century. But it is not alone in pulling in the viewers and making stars of antiques dealers and auction house specialists.

Some of you will remember the first TV star from the antiques world, a rather unlikely celeb in the form of the late Arthur Negus, who wooed the public with his knowledge of furniture in the late 1960s on Going for a Song. Negus had been an auction house specialist but attracted a cult following thanks to his popular scholarship and a smooth and calm delivery that was the vocal equivalent of a rich patina.

He also made us curious and showed how a thirst for knowledge could widen our aesthetic appreciation and understanding of history, as well as arm us better when in search of a bargain. He took that knowledge onto the Antiques Roadshow when it first launched in 1979, setting the tone and format for the next few decades

Many other experts have proven to be TV friendly down the years, helping to create healthy audience figures for the Beeb and its rivals, as well as entertaining and educating the public more widely on the greatest commercial game of them all. It is indisputable that his enthusiasm and the programmes that followed helped bring the populace en masse into the saleroom and bidding online in a way they did not do before.

So as the BBC celebrates 100, let’s salute Arthur Negus for what he started.

CAREER THOUGHTS

Sep 13, 2022

Students have headed back to college, pupils to schools, but there are also a lot of new graduates and school leavers looking to their careers now. Should they consider becoming auctioneers?

Having started at the bottom and worked my up, I have no regrets. I still think the best way in is the traditional one: starting as a porter at one of the larger auction houses, graduating to cataloguing and developing specialist knowledge in your chosen field while studying for a fine arts valuation qualification. There aren’t many courses left around the country, but they are worth doing if this game is for you.

A lot of the auction business has already gone online and I have no doubt that more will in future. However, I also believe that there will always be brick-and-mortar salerooms for people to visit, view and handle the goods first, particularly at the top end of the market where prices run into the millions. We sell via both channels.

Greeting buyers and browsers face to face in the saleroom means we have the best of both worlds: the chance to deal with people and things. I suspect that has more appeal to most people than cutting out the live human element of the transactional process.

If the past couple of years have taught me anything, it is that the young are very resourceful, tackling the challenges of the pandemic in inspirational ways by harnessing the internet and social media. That tells me that many of them also have the talent to develop the next generation of the international art and antiques market as fresh ideas and ways of selling emerge in tandem with collecting fields.

Auctioneering as a career still holds a lot of promise and the chances of setting up your own business and working for yourself in the long term are greater than in most other industries. It’s something you might want to have a think about.

Collecting prints – or anything else, in fact, when it comes to keeping records

Aug 15, 2022

Keeping a detailed record of what you purchase, whatever it is, is essential, not just to prove when and where you bought it, but also to show that it really does legally belong to you.

The other reason is that the more detailed a record you have of what you own, the more attractive it will be to others if you ever decide to sell it, and so the more valuable it can become.

So what sort of information should you get hold of and keep?

Where and when you bought it, the receipt itself, especially if it has a lot of detail about the item on it, and whether it has appeared anywhere in a book or catalogue. If you have any information as to its history of ownership (provenance) all the better. Even better, include photographs of it among the paperwork. So if you bought it online at auction, it is a good idea to take a screengrab of the piece on the auctioneer’s website along with the lot details.

Keeping detailed records is just as important for items of value that you inherit or acquire as gifts. So if you have access to that information, all the better. And it can also be handy when it comes to insuring your property. Remember, individual items over a certain value will need to be listed separately for cover.

All of this has become much more important in recent years as the art, antiques and vintage market has become a global phenomenon. Anyone hoping to import rare and valuable items at customs now has to have much better paperwork proving legality and ownership than ever before, so developing good habits when it comes to what is known as due diligence is what it’s all about.

Collecting prints: what should you buy?

Jul 11, 2022

How do you decide what to collect? Some collectors will follow a specific artist or school of art. Others will look for subject matter or simply be led by decorative appeal. Those who collect seriously for investment purposes tend to play it safe, looking for the best, most typical works by artists, which are more likely to hold their value when times get tough.

One of the most dramatic success stories in recent years has been the Grosvenor School of Art, whose leading names experimented with the linocut process in the early 1930s. Influenced by Vorticism and Art Deco, these highly graphic designs used dynamic forms and patterns to create a sense of movement and focus. Look at the works of the two leading names in this school, Sybil Andrews and Cyril Power, and you can see how they harnessed graphic design and colour to convey the power of modernism with their images of the Underground, the Motor Age and even hunting. At the very top end, single prints have made close to £100,000.

Variables affecting price among Grosvenor School prints include colour combinations, the strength of the imprint, subject matter and – as with other prints – condition.

Works should preferably be signed, dated and numbered. Evidence that the print has been produced by a well-known printer or studio can also add to its allure.

It is sensible to ensure, when setting a budget for buying, that allowance is made for mounting and framing, if necessary, as well as insurance. If buying at auction, in particular, collectors may also have to add the Artist’s Resale Right levy to the hammer price and auctioneer’s charges.

Apart from the obvious attractions of a great subject, fine composition, attractive mix of colours and limited edition, what else should you look for when buying a print?

Condition can be very important. Try to avoid prints that have been folded, cropped beyond their margins, scratched, torn, scuffed and creased. Does the colour look faded? How white is the paper?

It’s also much safer to go for works that are signed, dated and numbered. Evidence that a well-known printer or studio has produced the print can also help.

More on this next time.

What you need to know when buying prints

May 22, 2022

Before you start buying prints though, there are one or two things you need to know to avoid mistakes.

There are all sorts of prints: linocuts, woodcuts, etchings, monotypes, mezzotints… the list goes on and on. What are they and what does it all mean? The answer, in brief, is technique. Some are older than others as, naturally, techniques have developed over the years, each helping the artist to create atmosphere, tone, clarity and character. Techniques can also determine how many impressions can be made because the printing plate or matrix will wear down to the point where rendering a clear print is no longer possible. This is important because rarity is a key factor in value. I tend to stick to editions limited to 200 or fewer.

My advice is to stick to signed and numbered limited editions, and to avoid laser prints.

Prints signed AP (Artist’s Proof) are additions to the limited edition, often to check for quality, but tend to be less desirable than numbered impressions.

Prints are not necessarily numbered in the order in which they are printed. It can simply be the order in which the artist picks them up to sign. Nonetheless some people like to collect low numbers, others will focus on strong clear impressions, while others prefer softer impressions with the paper showing through a little.

I’ll be sharing more thoughts about prints next time.

One way of acquiring a works by a master

May 9, 2022

I suspect that most people would like to have a statement piece of art on their wall; a painting by a well-known artist that becomes a talking point and the envy of their friends. For most, prices today mean that whether you like John Constable or Damien Hirst, that ambition is likely to remain just a dream.

However, you might be surprised at just how affordable prints by leading artists can be. And if it’s wallpower you’re after, opting for a limited edition print of an impressive size may well be the way to go. Prints are also a great way of dipping your toe in the market, because you can buy something really decent without getting your fingers burnt financially. David Hockney is an example of an artist whose prints, in general, make nowhere near the sums his major works can command, and so are accessible to a wide audience.

Some artists, like Victor Pasmore, who spent as much care on producing first class prints from one of the best print shops around, can be worth targeting more for these works than for original paintings.

I’ll be sharing more thoughts about prints in next week’s blog.

There’s still nothing like the live auction experience to get you hooked

May 2, 2022

You would have thought after all these years of antiques TV shows that just about everybody would be at ease with auctions, but we still get a few shy ones coming through the doors in Fernhurst. They’re clearly interested in the whole process or they wouldn’t be there. If you’re one of them, have no fear, we don’t bite and I’d be amazed if you couldn’t find anything to spark your interest.

My advice to anyone who hasn’t yet got to grips with auctions but would like to find out more is to come to a viewing before the sale. That way you can wander around and look at everything that’s on offer in a relaxed fashion. At viewings you will find lot numbers attached to each piece on display, and they correspond with the numbers in the catalogues, which are also around the saleroom so you can check out the description and estimate. Staff are on hand to answer any questions or help you get a better look at anything – you’ll find that’s true at any decent auction house.

And if you want to see a great bit of traditional auction drama, come along to the early part of one of our general auctions when the saleroom manager takes bids in the back viewing room rather than from the rostrum. You will find all the bidders standing together among the pieces being sold. There’s nothing quite like it to get you hooked.

The unique influence of Her Majesty the Queen on the field of collecting

Apr 25, 2022

April 21 was Her Majesty The Queen’s 96th birthday. She is now by far this nation’s longest serving monarch and it was no surprise to me that a few years ago newspaper reports discussed her suitability as a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize thanks to the unparalleled role she has played in promoting world peace and general harmony through The Commonwealth.

The Queen is also unique when it comes to the art, antiques and auction market because of her role in influencing so many different fields of collecting.

Whether it is the various issues of stamps and coins, jubilee and Royal Wedding wares, or the occasional more personal item, such as letters, signed photographs and gifts, nothing appeals to bidders more than a direct Royal connection, with anything associated with Her Majesty at the forefront of desirable items.

Perhaps the most personal items that have come up for sale in recent years are the clothes and toys that were offered in September 2017 from the estate of former royal nurse Clara Knight, who looked after the Queen and Princess Margaret when they were babies and toddlers. Dolls, Mickey and Minnie Mouse figures, dresses and other clothing recaptured a moment from a more innocent time before the abdication, when the then Princess Elizabeth had no idea that one day she would take the throne. Fate played its hand and we are now in the closing years of the second great Elizabethan age.

The timeless appeal of clocks

Apr 18, 2022

A client who came in the other day was sporting one of those colourful Apple watches we keep hearing about, so I asked him to show me what all the fuss was about. I know the aim these days is to make ever-smaller computers, but if you suffer from fat finger syndrome then this is your average nightmare.

That’s why it will always be a traditional wristwatch for me or, better still, an elegant mantel or table clock.

The glorious range of clocks that you can still buy at auction continues to support one of the strongest established collecting fields. And it’s no surprise that while other disciplines wax and wane in popularity, clocks have never lost their allure.

Just think about it: from longcase to skeleton, these are not just works of art, they are also engineering miracles, offering all qualities that collectors look for. Makers such as Tompion, Quare and Graham from the Golden Age of English clock making in the late 17th century can still cause bidding frenzies, their supreme craftsmanship apparent at every level. Lesser masters also create a stir, and there’s still so much to choose from. The icing on the cake? Speak it softly, but under Treasury rules clocks are deemed wasting assets because of their moving parts… and so are not liable for Capital Gains Tax.

How much is yours worth?