Thursday, April 29, 2010

Doll Dressed By Princess Victoria For Sale At Bonhams



Queen Victoria loved dolls. When she was a "lonesome little girl she had 132 to play with". (NYtimes archive). Bonham's, Knightsbridge have this doll, dressed by her eldest daughter for auction (est. £800-1200) as part of their May 26th Doll and Teddy Bear sale . It was sold in 1868 to raise funds for impoverished Germans in the city (Artdaily.org).

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The Future For Antique Shops?


In a quest to keep up with technology and improve market size, antique shops are going online. The Antique Atrium is a unique online-only business in London (from The Telegraph); but increasingly Hospice shops around New Zealand are setting up on Trademe to get more bang for their buck (article from the Southland Times).

Monday, April 26, 2010

Diary of A Dress Detective


Kerry Taylor has a specialist antique vintage fashion and textile auction house in Dulwich, which is getting some phenomenal prices of late (including a £24,000 Chanel dress). Read this article about her from the Telegraph.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Friday House Tour







A 1960s home retaining its original character in Seattle, thanks to Apartment Therapy. See rest of tour here.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Silver Doing Well At Auction


The latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) quarterly survey of the arts and antiques market, reports that silver is doing well...Guardian article here.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Valuable Surprise For Hospice In Donation Box


This cased Waltham Eight Day 'Deck Watch' donated to the Ellerslie Hospice was a nice surprise for the charity. It sold on Trade Me for $1,400. East & Bays article here.

Monday, April 19, 2010

George Washington Book Return Request


Librarians in at a New York library have found that George Washington has not returned some books taken out in 1789. Story from the BBC.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Seuffert Rarity Star Of Auction


This Burton Cabinet by Anton Seuffert in 1870, is the star piece of Dunbar Sloane's latest antique auction to be held in Auckland next week. It is one of four known secretaires made by this technically brilliant cabinet maker. One was presented to Hooker at Kew Gardens in 1867; 'The Hooker Cabinet' is now in Te Papa along with the more elaborately decorated 'Watt Cabinet'. The Auckland Museum has the other, presented to Bishop Selwyn on permanent display. Estimates for one of these would be in the hundreds of thousands. The Dunbar catalgoue is now available online.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Collection of Weird and Wonderful Taxidermy Up For Auction



A large collection of taxidermy is up for auction in Dorset. Featuring 250 animals, many real and some imagined, the sale is said to be the collection of an eccentric 19th-century professor and explorer. Read article from The Daily Mail here.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Auctioneer Fined £1000 In The Egg Cabinet Case


Following on from this story (mentioned last week), Jim Railton has been fined in his unknowingly illegal attempt to sell an Edwardian collectors cabinet of eggs...article from Antiques Trade Gazette.

Friday, April 9, 2010

House Tour Friday











See the rest at Apartment Therapy here.

Thursday, April 1, 2010