Antiques Trade Gazette

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Salander stock to be sold by Christie’s in New York

A SPECIAL addition to Christie’s mid-season Old Masters and 19th century art sale in New York on June 9 is what the auctioneers describe as “an exceptional selection of European paintings and sculpture” from the former Salander-O’Reilly Galleries in Manhattan.

As collateral in the largest art fraud of recent times, the inventory will be sold pursuant to a Chapter 11 plan approved by the US Bankruptcy Court in January. The agreement ensures that all of the 130 works will be

sold free and clear of all liens, claims and encumbrances while – for extra measure – the trust overseeing the auction has secured title insurance protection from specialist provider ARIS for all works. Accordingly buyers can bid confident they will not, unknowingly, become embroiled in the web of legal activity surrounding a $120m art fraud. In March, a year after his arrest on more than 100 criminal counts, New York dealer Lawrence Salander, 61, appeared in a Manhattan courtroom to issue a guilty plea on 29 counts of

grand larceny, securities fraud, forgery, falsifying business records and other charges. Prosecutors had accused Salander of a raft of charges including: selling paintings that neither he nor the gallery owned, selling three half-shares of a single artwork, failing to notify investors when their artwork was sold, selling consigned works against the owner’s wishes or below the authorised price and lying on a $2m loan application. Salander is likely to receive a sentence of six to 18 years in state prison although his ability to repay more than 400 claimants who have stated that they are owed money or art following the collapse of the dealership, remains in doubt. With its pre-sale estimate of $2.5m-3.5m Christie’s sale

will represent a drop in the ocean. As one might expect given the context of the dispersal, the majority of works in Christie’s sale fall into the “studio of” or “follower of” categories although estimates have been set accordingly and 20 lots will be sold without reserves.

Roland Arkell

£7.4m largest sale conducted by regional auctioneer

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imperfect example, again of a slightly differing form, sold in Paris by Beaussant Lefèvre, in November 2005 for a price in the region of £150,000.

The Salisbury ghanta was among a

group of Chinese hardstones from Crichel House, Dorset. These ten pieces, sold for a total of £3.6m, were bought from major London dealers half a century ago by Lord Alington and his daughter, the Honourable Mrs Mary Anna Marten. The bell, lacking only its original ‘clapper’ that was professionally restored prior to the sale, was pictured in a 1953 album of works of art at Crichel House. It is believed that most of the pieces

from Crichel House were bought by Mrs Marten in 1952 as a celebration for her winning her court case in the so-called Crichel Down affair.

The Crichel Down case concerned a claim by the Martens of unfair treatment

by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Crown Lands Commissioners. Bidding for the £200,000-300,000 estimated lot was effectively a three-way contest between London dealer John Berwald, a telephone bidder and the London-based Chinese art adviser and dealer Qian Weiping. Mr Qian, seated together with a Beijing-based dealer, proved the major buyer at the sale. In addition to the ghanta, he bought the other seven-figure jade, a pair of Imperial grey-green jade elephants from a throne- room group of the emperor Qianlong. Each 73

/4 in (17cm) long beast stands

four square with its head turned slightly to the side and carries a four-character reign mark. Purchased from Spink & Son, c.1952, these sold for £1m. Enlivened by a number of a single- owner consignments, including material from the estate of Sackville George Pelham, the 5th Earl of Yarborough, the two-day sale netted just shy of £7.4m, a

Above: among the higher-estimated lots in the Salander sale is this Imaginary Self-Portrait of Titianby Pietro Della Vecchia (1602/3-1678). It is expected to fetch $100,000-150,000.

Precious metals

total that rose to £8.8m when the 19.5 per cent buyer’s premium was added. Confirming the continued strength of the Chinese market at its many levels, this ranks as the largest sale ever conducted by a UK regional fine art auctioneer and betters the £5m total posted by the equivalent event last year. The Salisbury Salerooms now hold the four of the six highest prices generated by a UK regional saleroom – all for Chinese works of art. In May last year, an Imperial Qianlong spinach-green jade buffalo on its original gilt bronze stand sold at a £3.4m, bettering the firm’s previous provincial record of £2.6m (plus 15 per cent buyer’s premium) bid for a 14th century Yuan dynasty porcelain double gourd vase in July 2005.

The monumental carving of a buffalo,

purchased in 1938 from London dealer John Sparks Ltd for £300, was once owned by Sackville George Pelham. The seven-figure barrier – a once

On Friday, May 21, Michael Bloomstein of Brighton were paying the following for bulk scrap against a gold fix of $1183.50 (€943.47, £821.70):

GOLD

22 carat – £705.06 per oz (£22.67 per gram) 18 carat – £576.86 (£18.55) 15 carat – £480.72 (£15.46) 14 carat – £448.67 (£14.43) 9 carat – £288.43 (£9.27)

HALLMARK PLATINUM

£26.90 per gram

SILVER

£9.88 per oz for 925 standard hallmarked.

unimaginable milestone for salerooms outside London – has been passed six times in as many years. The two other occasions were provided by the pair of Fra Angelico panels at Duke’s of Dorchester (£1.7m in April 2007) and a Rembrandt self portrait at Gloucestershire’s Moore, Allen & Innocent (£2.2m in October 2007).

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