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9th June 2012 contents


INTERNATIONAL EVENTS A German round-up Page 43-49


London Selection Auction Reports Auction Previews Dealers’ Dossier Art Market Antiquarian Books International Events Fairs & Markets Classified Letters to the Editor The Back Page Subscription form Index of Auction Advertisers Auction Calendar


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Tel: +44 (0) 20 7420 6675 George Wade Carl Nestor Page 10-11 Page 18-20 Page 22 Page 24-27 Page 30-33 Page 38-41 Page 43-49 Page 58-60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 61 Page 51 Page 51-57 news


Jewellery dealer jailed for £1.6m tax fraud


AN antique jewellery trader who fraudulently claimed more than £1.6m in VAT repayments by creating fake invoices for expensive watches has been jailed. Jonathan Uri Shohet, who traded


at Grays Antiques Market in London’s West End, used stolen invoice books and fake invoices to claim back VAT from HM Revenue & Customs but had never bought many of the Rolex and Cartier watches he claimed for. HMRC suspicions were raised when


officers discovered a number of large cash purchases – some up to £80,000 – while checking his business records. They found that the well-known companies that were supposed to have supplied the high-value antique watches to Shohet had never done so. Also, Shohet used many legitimate invoices to reclaim the VAT back a second time. The 45-year-old, of Baldock in


Hertfordshire, later admitted to HMRC that he had accrued large debts through a combination of bad business decisions and maintaining an expensive lifestyle.


Above: jailed for four years over £1.6m VAT fraud, Jonathan Uri Shohet.


Shohet was charged with two counts


of cheating the Revenue contrary to common law and was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on April 24 to four years for each charge, to run concurrently.


Joel throw down the gauntlet over vendors’ commissions


AUSTRALIAN auction house Leonard Joel have made a public challenge to competitors by offering a 105% return to sellers for the higher end of the market. The Melbourne-based auctioneers


made their offer for any painting or sculpture consigned between April 1 and December 31 this year that goes on to sell for Aus$40,000 (about £25,600) or more – including anything sold in 2013 that was consigned in 2012. It is not uncommon for auction houses


to attract consignments by making such offers, but Leonard Joel have done it in a much more highly publicised manner than most in a bid to grab a larger share of the pricier Australian painting scene. It has been structured as an


introductory offer, and critics have branded the deal a “come and go” discount, but managing director John Albrecht is adamant that there is no going back. “We believe we have already created


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an irreversible restructure in the way sellers will think about selling charges, so we plan to build a much more transparent selling charges regime around this offer that is viable, creative and competitive,” he told ATG. “I believe auction houses and their


traditional modes of communication with elaborate words and opaque


arrangements is a thing of the past.” Whether other auction houses follow


their example, or simply regard it as a short-term sales gimmick for maximum publicity, remains to be seen but Mr Albrecht said: “I know other auction houses occasionally offer this sort of deal to their ultra-high-value sellers; I am simply offering it to a broader selling base as I believe they deserve the opportunity and it provides a neat opportunity for Leonard Joel to reintroduce itself to high- value art sellers.”


Precious metals


On Wednesday, May 30, Michael Bloomstein of Brighton were paying the following for bulk scrap against a gold fix of $1548.75 (€1244.97, £995.40)


GOLD 22 carat – £854.10 per oz (£27.46 per gram) 18 carat – £698.81 (£22.47) 15 carat – £582.34 (£18.72) 14 carat – £543.52 (£17.48) 9 carat – £349.40 (£11.23)


HALLMARK PLATINUM £23.59 per gram


SILVER £14.64 per oz for 925 standard hallmarked


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