Christie’s Hanham Court sale is to be held at Christie’s South Kensington on Wednesday, 14 April 2010. Immersed in the world of antiques from a young age, Isabel and Julian Bannerman first met in Edinburgh in 1982 and have been collecting together ever since.

The sale will consist of approximately 300 lots with estimates ranging from £300 to £30,000; and is expected to realize in the region of £400,000. Funds from the sale will be used to further focus the Bannerman’s efforts on developing the award-winning public garden at Hanham Court, as Julian states “It is time for surprises in the garden at Hanham – next we hope will come all the things that we have been aching to get on with”.

Items offered for sale range from textiles to lighting, furniture, works of art, pictures and garden statuary. Highlights from the sale include a Batty Langley inspired ‘Gothick’ side table, after the model belonging to David Vicary at Kilvert’s Parsonage, Chippenham (estimate: £4,000-6,000); a terracotta bust of Caesar inherited from Vita Sackville-West (estimate: £500-800); a rusticated oak obelisk by I & J Bannerman Ltd (estimate: £5,000-8,000) and an exclusive set of stunning contemporary photographic prints by Isabel Bannerman (estimates from £2,000).

ISA will host a Conference April 30-May 3 with Museum tours and seminars by noted authorities in the fields of Fine Art, Antiques and Residential Contents and Gems & Jewelry

(Toronto, Canada) The International Society of Appraisers will celebrate its thirtieth birthday with an in depth three pronged Conference in Toronto on April 30-May 3. The Conference, entitled “Assets 2010”, will consist of programs in Fine Arts, Antiques and Residential Contents and Gems & Jewelry. Conference coordinator Kathryn Minard, ISA, CAPP, and conference co-chairs Irene Szylinger and Catherine Williams and Jim Poag, Gems and Jewelry program coordinator have arranged a lineup of credentialed powerhouse presenters for each session, a pair of dynamic keynote speakers, Robert Ramsay and David Ben, and scheduled tours of such important venues as the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Gardiner Museum of Ceramics, the Bata Shoe Museum, the Textile Museum of Canada, Corona Jewelry Company, the Stephen Bulger Gallery and a tour of a private residence featuring Jamieson Tribal Art.

According to Minard one of the main points of emphasis for this Conference is affordability and flexibility. ISA has arranged very generous rates for participants at the host hotel, the Park Hyatt Toronto in downtown Ontario. It is close to convenient public transportation and is surrounded by a wide variety of eating establishments for all tastes and budgets.

While the Conference will have three distinct sections, participants will be encouraged to pick and choose among sessions to accommodate the cross-over interests of many attendees.

The Fine Art program will feature sessions on the art market, contemporary photography, Inuit art, authentication, insurance appraisals, cross border appraisals and report writing. Presenters will include Nicholas Metivier, owner Nicholas Metivier Gallery; Chris Varley private art dealer, Christopher Varley Fine Art; Patterson Sims, freelance curator, writer and lecturer; Robert Heffel, auctioneer, Heffel Fine Art; Doina Popescu, Curator, The Black Star Photography Collection, Ryerson University; Pat Feheley, Associate Professor, School of Image Arts, Ryerson University; Vivian Ebersman and Ann-Louise Seago of AXA Art Insurance headquartered in New York; Peter Paul Biro, Art Access & Research Limited; Marie-Claude Corbeil from the Canadian Conservation Institute; Cathy Peters, ISA, CAPP and Cross Border Appraisal presenters Leon Castner, ISA, CAPP, Kathryn Minard, ISA, CAPP, Norman Hurst, ISA, CAPP, and Sonia Lismer from the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board.

The Antiques and Residential Contents program will feature sessions on hallmarks, quilts, Victorian, style and design, paperweights, insurance appraisals, appraising pop culture, cross border appraisals and report writing. Presenters include some of the same presenters in the Fine Art program plus Bill Whetstone and Danusia Nikelwicz of the Hallmark Research Institute; Brian Musselewhite, Assistant Curator of the Royal Ontario Museum; Judy Lyons, ISA, AM, CPPAG of the American Quilters Association, and Lee Dunbar, a collection management specialist with Leila Dunbar Appraisals and Consulting.

The Gems & Jewelry adds Carole Tanenbaum, a costume jewelry expert; Dave Sawatzky from Korite International, the maker of Ammolite jewelry from Calgary; Ravi Poddar, a representative from Ontario based Byrex Gems; John Borzak, author of the Rolex Report and Paul Cassarino, ISA, CASPP, presenter of the report writing workshop.

The Conference itself is very reasonably priced beginning at $575 for ISA members with Super Saver early registration which ends January 31. Rates are slightly higher after that. Special rates are available for single day events and for spouses/guests. The tours and events are also very reasonably priced. To register online go to http://www.assets2010.org.

Site of the course is the Park Hyatt Toronto, 4 Avenue Road, Toronto, Ontario M5R 2E8 Canada, (416) 925-1234. A group discount rate is available through ISA for accommodations at the hotel. Hotel registration is available online at the above address. For more information contact the International Society of Appraisers, 737 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 2100, Chicago IL 60611, phone (312) 981-6778, fax (312) 981-6787, email isa@isa-appraisers.org, website www.isa-appraisers.org

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Dr Starkey is amongst a host of prominent public figures supporting the campaign, launched by The Art Fund charity, to raise the £3.3m needed by 17 April to save this awe-inspiring find of Anglo-Saxon treasure for Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent.

The Art Fund’s new Director, Dr Stephen Deuchar, kick-started the public appeal by announcing an initial Art Fund grant of £300,000 and by unveiling the official donation website www.artfund.org/hoard.

Birmingham City Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council announced that they are each giving £100,000 towards the campaign, bringing the sum already raised already to £500,000.

Dr David Starkey said: “Archaeological finds don’t come any bigger than this. The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest and most valuable collection of Anglo-Saxon gold ever; it’s the most important find for over half a century, and, in terms of the history of Middle England, the most important ever. But break it up or move it and its meaning is lost. It must stay here, together and intact, to be studied and displayed here in the West Midlands, the foundation of whose history it will now become.”

Dr Stephen Deuchar said: “This is the most significant and beautiful treasure find from any era that has ever been unearthed in England. We are thrilled to be leading the public campaign and making an initial grant of £300,000 towards the £3.3million total. For years to come the treasure will be a source of awe and inspiration for all to experience – and we – along with the rest of the nation – are very much looking forward to discovering its story.”

The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Minister for Culture and Tourism said:

“I would like to pay tribute to The Art Fund and its partners – Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, Lichfield and Tamworth councils – for ensuring the public fundraising campaign to save the Staffordshire Hoard has got off to such a flying start. Although there is a long way to go towards raising the target of £3.3m, I know how much the Hoard has captured the imaginations of local people, and so I am confident we’ll make it. The Hoard is incredibly significant to the understanding of our Saxon heritage and it is only right that it should be kept and displayed here in the West Midlands for future generations to enjoy.”

Over the next 13 weeks events and activities will be taking place throughout the West Midlands to raise funds to keep the Staffordshire Hoard in the region. All donations should be given via the official campaign website www.artfund.org/hoard

Bonhams London jewellery department has had their most successful year ever. The recent sale, The Art of Jewels: Fine Jewellery and Iconic Gems, proved the enduring attraction of rare and beautiful jewelled items, despite the economic downturn. The sale achieved £2.2 million and was dominated by private buyers (71%) seeking the perfect Christmas gift or simply collecting objects of outstanding beauty.

The top lot was a natural pearl necklace which once belonged to Lady Houston, the renowned philanthropist and benefactor, which achieved a remarkable £311,200 against an estimate of £30,000 – 50,000. The impressive double-row necklace with graduated pearls was made up of large natural pearls of outstanding quality between 5.8-12.8mm.

The sale price can be accounted for by both the quality of the necklace, but also the significance of their erstwhile owner, Lady Houston, who donated a considerable amount of her personal fortune in support of British aviation which would eventually lead to the design of the Spitfire, an integral part of our national defence during WW2.

Other highlights included a brilliant-cut diamond, 5.01cts, D colour, loupe clean clarity, which sold for £180,000. Another diamond, a fancy intense yellow radiant-cut diamond, 9.12cts, internally flawless, sold for £120,000.

A rare art deco black lacquer and diamond bangle, by Cartier, sold for £96,000 from an estimate of £20,000 – 25,000.

Jean Ghika, Director of UK and Europe at Bonhams Jewellery department commented: “These excellent sale results are a fitting conclusion to an exceptional year in which Bonhams has achieved the position of pre-eminence in the UK jewellery auction market for 2009. The strong prices achieved demonstrate just how buoyant the market is for natural pearls and period jewels that are fresh to the market. 71% of our buyers were private customers and our most valuable lots were bought by private individuals”.

Bonhams raised an exceptional total of £666,468 at yesterday’s Fine British & European Glass & Paperweights Sale. With 86.35% of lots sold by value, this sale generated widespread interest from collectors and enthusiasts and included an array of British, Venetian and Dutch glass alongside a magnificent collection of paperweights.

The highlight of the sale was the Chris Crabtree collection of English Glass, amassed over four decades and widely-considered to be one of the finest collections of 18th Century glass in private hands, featuring a number of high value lots. All but one of the pieces in this 30-strong collection sold, contributing to the impressive sale total.

From this prominent collection, The Beilby Thompson Goblet, an important Beilby polychrome enamelled and gilt opaque-twist goblet, sold for £38,400 (estimated £20,000-30,000). Painted with the arms of Beilby Thompson, this splendid circa 1765 goblet attracted widespread interest from a number of bidders.

Also from the Crabtree Collection, was The Sedbergh Goblet: a Beilby enamelled opaque-twist goblet, circa 1760-65, reached a phenomenal £18,600, against a pre-sale estimate of £8,000-12,000. Meanwhile, a Beilby enamelled opaque-twist wine glass from the Horsley Service, circa 1765, sold for £18,000 (estimated £12,000 – 18,000).

Rarely does a Musical Instrument Auction provide so much choice for the collector and the musician. There is hardly any part of any orchestra not represented in the Bonhams Auction on 15 December when some 400 lots will be offered.

The entertainment opportunities for Baroque –to- Rock melody, rhythm, ceremony and cacophony are variously represented by string, wind, reed and timpani, instruments all under one Festive Season roof!

Eight various and popular concertinas from English makers will provide music for the jigs, including a notable example by Charles Jeffries.

Something a little more contemplative will be provided by the collection of 78 rpm records listening to Fritz Kreisler playing Tambourin by Kreisler, to be enjoyed while sharpening up technical knowledge from the library including a 1931 First Edition of the Hill Guarneri book. A chance to dwell on the performances of a previous Maestro is provided by lot 18, posters and ephemera relating to Segovia performances in the Wigmore Hall in 1935.

Just in case it is all becoming a little too peaceful lot 21 the rare Weimar Bass Trumpet circa 1900 will enliven proceedings. This trumpet has seen much use by its previous owner resulting in accompanying enthusiastic letters from Henry Wood in the nineteen thirties, having been played in the Titanic memorial concert of 1912. Various additional Saxophones, Cornopeans, 1887 Jubilee Cornets, baritone Oboes, Flutes, Bassoons and Clarinets complete a notable wind section.

A chance to consider the lucky escape of all violinists is offered with lot 44, the 1900 interpretation of the 17thcentury original, a multitude of intersecting curves resembling a well baked pie, very tasty but would have exploded under a Paganini Caprice!

Some peaceful guitar music is available on a variety of antique and modern acoustics with examples from the Ramirez studio, London guitars by Panormo of the early nineteenth century and one by Hermanos Godvinez 1976 used in Covent Garden performances of Othello with Placido Domingo in the title role. A short trip to Woodstock or Glastonbury and you might have heard the late fifties Fender Stratocaster, cool at 8,000 – 12,000 pounds.

A rare collection of Baroque Violins will be offered, the property of a musician collector, some eight violins contemporary with Mozart with commensurate short necks and thin short bass bars, made and played with serenity before the dramas and excitement of the nineteenth century repertoire and technique. Each one is in Baroque playing condition and offered around 1,000 pounds each, a chance to equip a period orchestra not to be missed.

The noisy finale is provided with a little Pomp and Circumstance on the Birmingham Timpani by Windsor circa 1910 a well preserved pair veterans no doubt of many Nimrods and Enigmas.

An early collection of ’silver religious ornaments’ from the Ashkenazi Plymouth Hebrew Congregation’s synagogue built in 1762, the oldest in the English-speaking world, sold at Bonhams on 25th November for £175,000.

This earliest and rarest set of 14 lots of silver prayer instruments was estimated to sell for £100,000, but instead took a staggering 175,000. These included the earliest known set of English Jewish ritual instruments ever to come up for auction.

Nicholas Shaw, Head of Silver at Bonhams in London said: “There were some staggering prices in the sale. As the new Head of Silver at Bonhams, and this my first sale, it was a particular pleasure. A Jewish community was present in Plymouth by the mid 18th century, and were known to have been meeting regularly for services by 1745. The members were immigrants, primarily from the German lands and the Netherlands.”

A superb provincial Torah shield made in Exeter c 1765 by Jason Holt and William Pearse went for £21,000. This Torah shield seems to be the earliest example from the West Country and its design has not been noted previously. A number of these rare items were made by Exeter silversmiths.

The world-famous Hoffmeister Collection was assembled over the last 40 years by two German brothers who have a passion for this rare 18th-century porcelain. Considered one of the finest collections of Meissen in the world, for the past ten years it has been on view at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg, one of Europe’s leading museums of applied arts. Bonhams will sell the collection in three sales, the first this year in November and two subsequent sales next year.

The Hoffmeister Collection is a survey of the decoration of Meissen porcelain during the first 50 years of the manufactory’s existence, when Meissen dominated the taste for porcelain across Europe. It illustrates the quality and variety of the oldest porcelain manufactory in Europe. The collection includes the largest and most important group of 18th-century Meissen armorial porcelain anywhere in the world. The provenance of many pieces is equally distinguished, with examples formerly owned by some of the greatest collectors of the last 150 years, such as Maurice de Rothschild, Ludwig von Darmstaedter and Erich von Goldschmidt-Rothschild.

Sebastian Kuhn, European Ceramics Senior Specialist at Bonhams, says: “It would no longer be possible to assemble such a broad-ranging collection of this quality and condition; and some of the pieces are of such rarity that comparable examples are unlikely ever to appear again on the market.”

Featured in the collection are items made for kings, tsars and popes:

Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland

The founder and owner of the Meissen factory was also its biggest customer. He suffered from the ‘maladie de porcelaine’, and assembled a vast collection of Chinese and Japanese porcelain, as well as, from 1710, Meissen from his own factory. He is famously said to have traded a real regiment of Saxon soldiers for a set of Chinese vases with the king of Prussia. Augustus conceived a magnificent “porcelain palace” to house his collection on the bank of the Elbe river in Dresden. The Hoffmeister collection includes numerous pieces marked with inventory numbers from this palace, which can be traced to the surviving inventories of the 18th century.

Friedrich August, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland

Augustus the Strong’s son also ordered considerable quantities of porcelain from Meissen. The Hoffmeister collection includes an example from the ‘Yellow Hunting Service’, made for the Japanese Palace in Dresden in 1734. The service was still in use in the 1770s – an inventory of the time records “During a dinner in honour of His Majesty, the King of Prussia, held on 2nd September 1777, one of the 39 plates was broken.”

King Frederick the Great of Prussia

The Prussian king loved porcelain, and when Prussian forces invaded Saxony during the Seven Years War and Meissen was occupied, he took vast quantities of porcelain for himself and his officers. He even took up residence at Meissen and was personally involved in designing several services for himself and his favourites. The collection includes several examples from services made for Frederick for his royal palaces in Berlin and Potsdam, some of which he later gave to his generals.

Europe’s Leading Royals

Reflecting the great importance and value attached to Meissen porcelain in the 18th century, there are also samples of services belonging to the Electress of Hanover, Sophie von der Pfalz (1630-1714) (Mother of King George I); King Louis XV of France (1710-1774) and Maria Leszczynska (1703-1768); Empress Elizabeth of Russia (1709-1761); Clemens August of Bavaria, Elector of Cologne (1700-1761); King Christian VI of Denmark (1699-1746); Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden (1688-1741); Friedrich August II., Elector of Saxony and (as Augustus III) King of Poland and Lithuania (1696-1763); Pope Benedict XIV (1675-1758); Don Carlos de Borbón, King of the Two Sicilies (1716-1788) and Maria Amalia Christiana of Saxony (1724-1760)

The Collection features many items with the arms of Venetian nobility – porcelain that would have graced many of the palaces on The Grand Canal. Other pieces were made for German, French and British nobility, including the future Duke and Duchess of Leinster and probably for Joseph Smith, English Consul in Venice in the mid 18th century, also a famous art collector and dealer.

Each buyer will receive a copy of the lavish three-volume book on the collection by Dieter Hoffmeister.

Enquiries on 0870 0273622

www.bonhams.com/hoffmeister

A collection of important Renaissance medals formed by leading New York dealer-collector Lawrence R. Stack will be sold by specialist auctioneers Morton & Eden in London on December 9 2009. The medals will be sold without reserve and are expected to raise a total of around £2 million.

The sale represents the most important offering of 15th and 16th century medals from Italy, France, Germany and the Low Countries to come onto the market since before the Second World War, when the Rosenheim and Oppenheimer collections were sold by Sotheby’s and Christie’s in 1923 and 1936 respectively.

The collection was assembled by Mr. Stack, who saw an opportunity to buy into a market which had been somewhat overlooked by collectors. As with other significant collections assembled by Mr. Stack, including, for instance, an important collection of early English coins sold by Sotheby’s in 1999, the medals were owned as a partnership. With Mr. Stack’s recent departure from the firm which bears his family name, the partnership profile changed and it was decided that the only equitable manner of dividing the collection was to offer it for sale at public auction. Mr. Stack himself continues to be a devotee of Renaissance art and art history and intends to remain an active collector in this field.

The decision to sell was not taken lightly and the medals are being offered for sale without reserve to encourage new buyers into the field. The entire collection of 350 pieces is estimated to fetch in the region of £2 million.

Highlights include:

• A gold medal of Mary Tudor by Jacopo da Trezzo formerly in the Rothschild and Gaines collections and one of only two known. The medal was made in 1554, the year of her marriage to the future Philip II of Spain and was recently on display at the National Gallery, London, as part of the exhibition “Renaissance Faces”. When it last appeared for auction, in the Gaines collection sold by Morton & Eden in 2005 it realised £243,200, a record price for a medal and it is now being estimated at £200-300,000.

• Four exceptional bronze medals by Pisanello who is generally credited as the inventor of the modern medal in the late 1430s. They depict Leonello d’Este, Marquess of Ferrara, Vittorino da Feltre, the humanist, Alfonso V, King of Aragon and Sicily and Don Inigo d’Avalos, Grand Chamberlain to Alfonso V. Estimates range from £50,000 to £100,000.

• A bronze medal of the humanist philosopher Giovanni Pico della Miradola attributed to Niccolo Spinelli, called Fiorentino, circa 1485, thought to be the finest known. This medal was sold by Sotheby’s in Zurich in 1974, when it realised CHF 65,000, at the time a world record price for a medal. It is now estimated at £80-120,000.

• Hans Reinhart’s masterpiece, the silver Trinity Medal of 1544, issued by Maurice, Elector of Saxony, in an attempt at reconciliation between the Protestant and Catholic churches. It is estimated at £100-150,000.

• Albrecht Durer’s silver medal of the emperor Charles V, struck in 1521, commissioned by the City of Nuremberg in anticipation of the emperor’s visit following his coronation in Aachen in the previous year. It is one of eleven known specimens in silver of which this and one other are the only examples outside a museum – and is estimated at £150-200,000.

Tom Eden, expert in charge, said: “A sale of this significance being sold without reserve has no parallels and offers huge opportunities to collectors, dealers and institutional buyers.

“Renaissance medals have always fascinated academics but have generally not been taken seriously by top-end collectors. They are important objects which often furnish us with images of individuals whose portraits are otherwise unknown and they display, in a very personal way, the changes in portraiture and art styles from the 15th century onwards. They are an important adjunct to painting on the one hand and sculpture on the other”.

For further information please contact Tom Eden at Morton & Eden on +44 (0)207 493 5344 or info@mortonandeden.com

Excitement surrounds the discovery and sale of a tiny iron casket that sold for a jaw dropping £10K at a local auction.

The 8cm wide iron casket was discovered by Chief Valuer Adrian Rathbone of Richard Winterton Auctioneers in Lichfield in a box of junk. The box of ‘junk’ had been consigned from a local estate clearance amongst usual household effects to be sold at auction. All items consigned to the auction house are scrutinised and checked by the team and Mr Rathbone recalls finding the tiny iron casket:

‘I spotted something glistening at the bottom of a box of general pewter wares and could not believe what I pulled out. It caught my eye because it was covered in gilt decoration and appeared to be very early in date. I knew immediately that we had something rare and special’.

The casket turned out to be an example of rare Toledo (Spanish) metalwork dating from the sixteenth century. Meticulously constructed. It was an ingenious ‘box of tricks’ as the lock cover is released by pulling the front left foot, and furthermore the mechanism still worked.

The casket was put up for auction in the Fine Art Sale held by Richard Winterton last Thursday (22nd October) at the Lichfield Auction Centre. Photographed in the glossy sale catalogue, the casket attracted interest from UK and European buyers. Five phone bidders were lined up to bid on it and it eventually sold to a delighted UK bidder on the phone for £9,500, beating of competition from the continent.

Elsewhere in the same auction, Lot 156 a Lalique ‘Inseperables’ timepiece brought £2,600, Lot 199 a 1750’s Derby basket sold for £4,600 and Lot 240 a Victorian Minton majolica platter brought £2,100. Lot 250, a pair of mid nineteenth century European ivory figures representing autumn and winter consigned by a Lichfield client sold in the room for £5,500.

The next Fine Art Sale will be held on 9th December and will include Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson furniture from a local Convent. Contact Adrian Rathbone on 01543 251081 for further information or email lichfield@richardwinterton.co.uk