Old Line London Antique Shop Now Under Receivership

The news in the antique and fine art trade has not been been terrible over the past few months and there have been some positive signs. The news I have been reporting and relaying has not been as negative as it was at the end of 2008, so perhaps that is a good sign. Unfortunately, there are still signs of weakness, even at the very top market as the new of receivership for the Partridge firm in London.

I spotted this yesterday on Art Info and the Times of London and fellow appraiser Anne Weston also sent me an additional link on the receivership of one of the more established and known antique dealers in London and in business for over 100 years, the Partridge gallery. The reports states the business is now up for sale and the receivers feel confident a deal can be brokered to save the legendary firm. So perhaps the firm will emerge from its receivership and be a stronger entity.

The London Times reports Partridge Fine Art, the dealership set up in 1902 to buy antiques for Queen Mary, was placed into administration yesterday.

The business, which sells to private clients, designers and institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum and the J Paul Getty Museum, is probably best known for selling a Louis XVI writing table to the Getty museum nearly 35 years ago for what would be millions of pounds at today’s prices.

The table was designed in 1777 by Jean-Henri Riesener, one of the great cabinet makers of his age, at the behest of Marie Antoinette, who saw it as an integral piece of furniture for her palace at Versailles.

The Times continues A spokesman said that the tough economic climate was likely to be the main reason for the group’s downfall. It is unclear how many jobs were at risk.

“We are concentrating on saving the business and selling the store as a going concern, thus saving a piece of history as well as the employment of those working there,” Mr Stoneman said. “We are confident that there will be a significant amount of interest.”

The Antiques Trade Gazette adds, The dealership is housed in possibly the grandest building in Bond Street, a purpose-built four-storey listed building called the Palace of the Arts, from where it has supplied the finest art and antiques to the likes of Queen Mary, the Burrell Collection in Glasgow and, perhaps most notably, the British Museum and the Getty Museum in Malibu, California.

The company ran into trouble around five years ago, when then chairman John Partridge unveiled what he dubbed the worst set of trading figures in his 46 years at the helm.

Former auctioneer and ceramics specialist Mark Law, who already ran porcelain specialists Albert Amor, quickly put together a bid to take control of the company. With the backing of a consortium including former Culture secretary David Mellor – a client of Partridge – he formed Amor Holdings, an investment vehicle that bought out the Partridge family in a £14m staggered deal.


To read the full Times of London article, click HERE., to read the Antiques Trade Gazette article, click HERE.