Dealers

AFTER a closure of some 18 months to sort out some little problems with the lease, Mayfair's Shapero Gallery, which specialises in antique prints, photographs, maps and watercolours, reopens this week at 24 Bruton Street, W1 with a show called simply Cities.

LONG a convert to selling shows, Kent rug dealer Desmond North holds another of his regular marquee sales in the grounds of his home, The Orchard, Hale Street, East Peckham, near Tonbridge, on the weekend of October 5 and 6. But even in specialised worlds the market has to be pursued and Mr North, who says he is baffled by what new homeowners use for decoration and furnishings in their ever-more valuable properties, is aiming at this area.

A host of other events have been programmed to attract the international buyers expected in France for the Paris Biennale (September 20-29). These range from auctions – Christie’s sale of sculptures by Alberto Giacometti on September 28, or Prunier’s Haute Epoque sale in Louviers on September 22 – through small, specialist fairs (devoted to Asian Art, Decorative Arts and Tribal Art) – to gallery shows.

LONDON antique dealer Robert Hirschhorn lives in his showroom and it is the interior of his Camberwell Georgian town house which exemplifies his look, which he terms “Smart Country”.

Dutch designer and architect Anne Paul Brinkman is a well known name in interior decorating circles. He opened his first Antiek Curiosa shop in 1972 at the tender age of 15 and over the next 30 years established himself as the creator of what he terms Gesamtkunstwerke – total interiors combining architecture, antique and modern works of art with a sympathy for the original surroundings.

DEALERS across the country need to beware of a new campaign to con the trade into paying unnecessary fees for registering under the Data Protection Act.

A second hand bookshop in Glasgow and two dealers are locked in a legal dispute over the ownership of a lost cache of William Blake watercolours, valued at over £1m.

THIRD time lucky for the annual Antiques For Everyone – Scotland fair, held at Glasgow’s Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre from August 23 to 25.

LONDON: THE Greenwich Development Agency has just published a new guide in a bid to boost the trade in antiques and collectables in the south east London borough.

This muscular terracotta modellino of a moor, Il Moro, 2ft 75/8in high (80.5cm), attributed to Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), wrested the top slot from a powerfully modelled pair of 16th century bronzes in Sotheby’s (19.5/10% buyer’s premium) 174-lot European Sculpture and Works of Art 900-1900 auction on July 9.

ALTHOUGH since its inception 16 years ago the August Antiques For Everyone fair at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre has been overtaken in terms of business by its spring and autumn counterparts, this summer’s staging from August 8 to 11 proved the most lively NEC fair for some time.

CREDIT card fraud is steeply on the increase, but dealers are finding that it is them and not the banks who are taking all the risk.

The Antiquarian Book Dealers Association have sent out a warning to dealers to be alert to a credit card scam that has already claimed more than $100,000 worth of items from the trade.

DEALERS and salvage experts are being reminded that they must adhere to strict new rules over the installation of antique fireplaces. The Guild of Fireplace Installers have sent out reminders that, under new legislation introduced on April 1, all fireplace installations, antique or reproduction, whether intended for solid fuel, oil or gas, must be fitted by a “competent person under the Buildings Regulation Act 2000”.

The UK trade have their man at the helm of CINOA, the international federation of antique dealers associations, for the first time in 13 years. Henry Neville, chairman of Mallett, was elected president at the annual general assembly in Dublin at the end of June.

LONDON: NOTTING Hill specialists in 20th century and contemporary design Themes and Variations hold an exhibition of Italian furniture and glass design at their gallery at 231 Westbourne Grove, London W11 from September 27 to October 19.

Searching for the perfect piece of passementerie or some furnishing fabric to add the finishing touch to an interior? It’s worth checking out Sotheby’s two-day sale from H.W. Keil Antiques which takes place in Cheltenham next week on July 15 and 16.

THE famous Colnaghi Library is to remain with the well-known Bond Street gallery following successful negotiations by Colnaghi’s new owner Konrad Bernheimer.

PIMLICO dealer Alexander von Moltke has formed a partnership with the Manhattan interior designers Robert Marinelli and Michael Reeves who operate as RMMR.

Partridge Fine Arts plc have announced further plans to reach out to overseas markets following improved but still difficult trading during the first six months of their financial year.