Archive for February, 2007
Buyer’s Premium-Deception Justified?
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007February 27,2007
(Following is a letter I sent to the publisher of the Maine Antiques Digest and Steve Proffitt who writes a monthly column titled “Auction Law and Ethics”. He raised several issues that I felt needed to be rebutted. See if you agree.)
Mr. Proffitt,
I follow your articles with great interest, as you reach […]
Auction Industry: Why Should It Be Regulated
Saturday, February 24th, 2007February 23, 2007
My juices are flowing with a quotation of a dealer, Gordon VeneKlasen in Carol Vogel’s Inside Art column in today’s New York Times. The column dealt with the fact that Christie’s just purchased a contemporary art gallery. They now join Sotheby’s (who recently purchased Noortman Gallery) as auctioneers owning private galleries. It […]
Auction Industry Growth Report: Dealers Loss
Tuesday, February 20th, 2007February 18, 2007
I just read in the Antiques and Arts Weekly newspaper that the National Auctioneers Association (NAA) reported that the art and antiques sector of the auction industry experienced significant growth of over 9% in 2006 over 2005. When was the last year dealers as a group reported any, let alone significant growth […]
Where Are The Buyers
Tuesday, February 20th, 2007February 13, 2007
Try the Internet. Every since the advent of eBay, the growth of the Internet for trading art and antiques has been nothing short of phenomenal. Practically every dealer, auctioneer, and show organizer has developed a site with the expectation that they will find a new and successful means to connect with clients. […]
Dealers Should Listen To This Threat
Tuesday, February 20th, 2007February 11, 2007
Amy Cappellazzo, who is in charge of contemporary art at Christie’s, crowed in a recent interview, “We’re the big-box retailer putting the mom-and-pops out of business. (The New Yorker Magazine-TEMPTATIONS OF THE FAIR Miami virtue and vice, by PETER SCHJELDAHL, Issue of 2006-12-25 and posted 2006-12-18)This is a statement about an area of […]
Bargain Time For Antiques-NY Times article 2/8/07
Tuesday, February 20th, 2007February 8, 2007
Dealers in the antiques business got a reality check in today’s New York Times. On the front page of the House & Home section (where decorators and their clients grope over what is trendy) the antiques trade was embarrassed by its sorry state. The measures used by the writer to describe the dire […]
An Avocation as a Vocation
Tuesday, February 6th, 2007There are very few jobs that one could think of as being hobbies and hobbies one could only imagine as a job. I feel in a very enviable position because that is what makes this industry very special to me.Â
Having an interest in the decorative and fine arts is formed by emotion. The emotion of the work’s creator […]
Sotheby’s-Christie’s, 2002: Collusion or unfair advantage?
Saturday, February 3rd, 2007(SOME THOUGHTS I HAD BACK IN 2002. THIS WEEK CHRISTIE’S JUST MATCHED SOTHEBY’S RECENT BUYER’S PREMIUM INCREASE)
When all the trials and tribulations of the Sotheby’s-Christie’s affair are sorted out and dissipate, one key element of the entanglement should emerge. How could they be allowed to operate in a manner that would be the […]
Divvying Up the Decorative Arts Pie
Friday, February 2nd, 2007It’s time for me to stop belly aching about the auctions for a moment and reflect upon what I think is the most significant trend in the decorative arts market in the last 5-10 years.
The dominance of the decorative arts from the second half of the 20th and even 21st Century in the last […]