Show-stoppers
Fair Review
Recommendations

Show-stoppers
In traditional fashion London's auction season wound down for summer with a bout of Old Master drawings sales, the highlight of which was Andrea del Sarto's Study of the head of St Joseph, once owned by Giorgio Vasari it became the third most expensive Old Master drawing ever sold at auction when it sold for GBP5.8m.

The plethora of fairs and sales that took place in the capital during the hectic two months from mid-May to mid-July once again highlighted the demand for the very best. Included in the Recommendations pages of our last Newsletter was a magnificent pietra dura table and a superb carved mahogany commode; both were fresh to the market and with impeccable provenance, the table sold for GBP1.8m against an estimate of GBP300-500,000 and the commode sold for GBP700,000 against an estimate of GBP250-400,000.

Recommendations
Looking away from the museum quality show-stoppers, the present market is offering some remarkable opportunities for buyers. The main furniture sales taking place in London and the provinces over the last month have seen some very interesting prices. Please take a look at our Recommendations pages that show a wide variety of pieces that we have come across recently which we think represent particularly good value.

Fair Review
The Olympia Fine Art and Antiques Fair was heralded as a great success by some and another tough year by others. It's hardly surprising that those dealers offering interesting objects at sensible prices displayed on contemporary looking stands were the ones doing business.

In terms of quality The Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair was even better than last year, in terms of business it is still too early to tell. Ironically though it was those dealers who sold next to nothing last year that did well this time round. If that tells us one thing it's that there doesn't seem to be a great deal of rhyme or reason to the business at the moment.

What was noticeable was the definite increase in the number of Americans viewing the fairs. Our American clients are no doubt watching closely as the dollar slowly strengthens. It may well make our trips to the US more expensive, but any opportunity to entice American buyers back to these shores is always welcome!

If there is anything amongst our Recommendations pages that takes your fancy please get in touch.

Best wishes,

Tim Corfield and Daniel Morris