Strong Sales at BADA Show

British wealth management site Spears reports the recent British Antiques Dealer Association show in London did very well.  Sales reported were across the various sectors, including clocks, furniture (period and modern), clocks and watercolors.  Some were in the  figure range, and the show attracted collectors from the international community.

It is nice to see some love and $$$ going toward the dec arts.

Spears reports

Dealers reported strong sales across a wide range of disciplines with clocks, watercolours, folk furniture and modern design pieces performing particularly well. Several exhibitors sold pieces for six figure sums including Thomas Coulborn & Sons of Sutton Coldfield whose pair of Regency ormolu mounted Blue John campana form urns was bought by an international collector new to them.

The urns, made c1810-20 from rare stone found only in Derbyshire, featured on the cover of the BADA Annual Handbook 2013/2014 and had become an emblem of this year’s Fair. Jonathan Coulborn said: “We have had our best BADA Fair ever.”

Godson & Coles of London sold an English burr maple bureau cabinet c1720 to a UK buyer for a six figure sum while the Willow Gallery from London sold a picture by “a well-known Victorian painter” in the same price range to a British collector. Alick Forrester, a partner in the Willow Gallery, said: “It is the first time that we have sold on the first day of the Fair. There have been some very good people coming in.”Clocks are a traditional strength of the BADA Fair and several exhibitors had good sales. Anthony Woodburn of Lewes sold half a dozen table clocks, including pieces by Benjamin Vulliamy and John Ellicott, to UK buyers for prices between £50,000 and £100,000. “It’s been a really good Fair,” he said.

An American private collector who flew over to the Fair bought one of two clocks featured in the BADA Handbook by Raffety of London. The exceptional George I blue and gilt chinoiserie lacquer longcase clock by James Markwick of London c1720 sold for a price in the region of £80,000. Montpellier Clocks of Cheltenham sold a Dwerrihouse & Bell longcase clock, made in London c1800, with a rare pendulum to a UK buyer for “a substantial five figure sum”.

Watercolours sold well at the Fair, probably helped by the fact that the loan exhibition of 18th century works by the English watercolourist William Payne had attracted many people interested in this field. Two exhibitors sold works by Payne. John Spink of London, who curated the loan exhibition, sold an early Payne entitled Man Driving a Donkey near Plymouth to a UK private collector for a price around £7,000 while Guy Peppiatt Fine Art of London sold Payne’s View of Oxton House from the South East, which had an asking price of £3,500.

Source: Spears