Fine Art Valuation Ltd

“We have discovered the meaning of life” over a beer….

Jane Fox — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:25:15 +0000

“We have discovered the secret of life” was the almost bizarre announcement made in the Eagle pub in Cambridge on the 28th of February 1953 by Cavendish Laboratory scientist Francis Crick. He was, as we now know, referring to the discovery of the structure of DNA (the genetic code) by himself, and fellow scientist James Watson (who had also popped in for a beer) supported by the work of Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins. In 1962 Crick, Watson and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel prize for their discovery. Regrettably Franklin had died five years previously.

On the 19th of March 1953 Crick wrote to his son, Michael, then at boarding school, describing their discovery. This remarkable seven page letter written by a thirty-three year old scientist to his twelve year old son describes their discovery. The letter begins, “My Dear Michael, Jim Watson and I have probably made a most important discovery. We have built a model for des-oxy-ribose-nucleic-acid (read carefully) called DNA for short…..” The letter ends “When you come home we will show you the model. Lots of love, Daddy”. By model he refers to the Double Helix illustrated rather crudely in the letter.

Last month this most evocative of letters was sold by Christies in New York, on behalf of the family for £3.5 million to an anonymous buyer. A world record for an autograph letter.

The following day at Heritage auctions, also in New York, further items were sold on behalf of the family. Included was Crick’s Nobel Prize medal which achieved an astonishing £1.47 million pounds. It was sold to Jack Wang, the CEO of Biomobie, a Shanghai biomedical firm who said he would have paid twice that sum had he been pushed.

Treasures you could be sitting next to…in your flip flops!

Jane Fox — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:58:46 +0000

I was captivated recently by this portrait entitled ‘Chinese Girl’ by the Siberian artist Vladimir Tretchikoff. It had been heavily promoted and was for sale by auction at Bonhams. It was the star of the show and sold for a whopping £982,000 (inc) nearly double it’s estimate. It produced probably one of the most iconic and recognisable prints of the mid 20th century and is the highest sum paid for the artist’s work.

What was fascinating however was that it was bought by Laurence Graff, whom you will all be familiar with (the diamond dealer and owner of the House of Graff, home to ‘the most fabulous jewels in the world’). He plans to display it as part of the modern and contemporary art collection at his Delaire Graff Estate, a sumptuous holiday resort, open to all, in Stellenbosch, South Africa. This exclusive destination displays paintings, ceramics and sculpture though-out the estate.

It reminded me of a trip some years ago to the wonderful British island of Tresco in the Isles of Scilly. The owners of this private island have their own collection of art and much of it is displayed throughout the public areas. A smaller, barely inhabited island next door also owned by the same family has a wonderful hotel and restaurant called Hell Bay. It was sitting here one evening sipping a G&T, that I realised we were surrounded by wonderful (and very expensive) paintings. I happened to nudge past one as I was sitting down and taking a look at the signature realised it was by Dame Barbara Hepworth. Any old Tom, Dick or Harry could have easily splashed their tipple over her marvellous work! The evening was then a succession of talent spotting with works from Terry Frost and Stanhope-Forbes. It made me wonder if any of the other diners realised what was on the walls? Perhaps it was best they didn’t!

Richard Artschwager’s ‘Blps’, Christiaan Nagel’s ‘Mushrooms’ and other street art you have passed but not noticed!

Jane Fox — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 23:56:27 +0000

On a recent trip to the Jeffry Museum and the Whitechapel Art Gallery London, we noticed some strange sculpted mushrooms sitting on top of buildings in and around Kingsland Road, Old Street and the Hackney Road. None of us (and we all frequently travel to this area) had spotted them before and fascinated, we couldn’t resist getting the iPad out to look them up. They are indeed mushrooms by an artist called Christiaan Nagel, a young South African working out of London. They are made from polyurethane ‘surfboard foam’, fibreglass and stainless steel and the brightly coloured fungi seem to be popping up or ‘taking root’ all over London.

They also have that Banksy type quality of appearing to sprout up from the cities architecture over night and along with Banksy et al contribute to London’s growing street and urban art scene. Their locations too are symbolic; placed on top of derelict or semi-derelict buildings, where you would expect to find fungus in damp and decaying conditions but juxtaposed by their bright colouring.

Its actually quite addictive attempting to spot them and people have even started to plot the locations on-line.

Its great fun for bored kids in the car too!

In a similar vein but across the pond, Richard Artschwager used his blp’s (a name created by the artist from the word blip) to draw peoples attention to architecture and surfaces that would usually go unnoticed. The lozenge or capsule shaped stickers made of wood or vinyl were stuck to unexpected places like a smokestack (illustrated); the art itself useless but serving the purpose of directing the viewer to the urban landscape around it.

Unfortunately Artschwager passed away a few weeks ago and we are unsure wether any of his blps are still extant. A series were produced last year in New York as part of a Whitney Museum retrospective. We would love to hear from anyone who knows the whereabouts of any.

An interesting account of the blp’s can be found here.blp

Dido Elizabeth Belle – A Black Girl at Kenwood

Jane Fox — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 22:35:50 +0000

Sometimes researching pieces within our collections throws up some truly fascinating stories. They are engrossing and perhaps take up far too much of our time and this story is no exception.

It relates to a portrait medallion by James Tassie of Admiral Sir John Lindsay (1737 – 1788), a British naval officer.

His tours of duty took him to many places including the East and West Indies and while away he was not averse to sowing his wild oats – a bit of a bounder really but we will come back to that shortly!

He served in the Seven Year’s War, was the very first commander of HMS Victory (if only for a short period of time) and was awarded the Order of the Bath at the relatively young age of 33.

His sister Margaret Lindsay eloped with and later married the artist Allan Ramsay as his second wife; something her father never forgave her for.

As already mentioned Lindsay took full advantage of being away from home. By the end of his life he had had three illegitimate children by three different women but it is his daughter Elizabeth Dido Belle that has fascinated us and many others alike. Her mother, also thought to have been called Belle, had been an enslaved african. Dido was brought to England as a young child to the home of Lindsay’s Uncle, William Murray, the 1st Earl of Mansfield and an eminent barrister, judge and politician. He and his wife were childless and were raising his niece Lady Elizabeth Murray after her own mother had died. As Dido and Elizabeth were a similar age it is likely that William and his wife took Dido in as a playmate for Elizabeth. She spent 30 years at the family home Kenwood House in Hampstead, London.

Can you imagine how this was viewed within the social elite that surrounded the family? This was an illegitimate, mixed race, young girl who lived, not as a slave, but as a member of the family. She was educated and privileged to most but not all the families’ lifestyle. She was not permitted to attend dinner with guests but was allowed to have coffee with the ladies in the drawing room afterwards. She was given the responsibility of the estate’s dairy and poultry yards and helped Murray with his correspondence.

She later married and had three sons but died at the age of 43.

The existence of Belle at Kenwood would have undoubtably influenced Murray’s views on slavery. As Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales his ruling in ‘Somersett’s Case’ was by many considered influential in the process of abolishing the Slave Trade.

The portrait you see above is by an unknown artist but it was originally thought to be by Johann Zoffany. It shows Dido and Elizabeth and is a charming depiction of two good friends. It is still held by the family and resides at the family seat, Scone Palace in Perth, Scotland.

Admiral Sir John Lindsay by James Tassie

We are very excited to report that the story of Dido’s life is currently being made into a movie. It is being directed by Amma Asante and stars Gugu Mbatha Raw as Dido. It will be released in the autumn of 2013 and we will be first in the queue for tickets.

The portrait medallion of Admiral Sir John Lindsay by James Tassie will be available for sale shortly. All expressions of interest by email please.

Birmingham Medical Institute – sale of rare book collection

Jane Fox — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:55:33 +0000

The July book auction at Dominic Winter’s rooms at South Cerney was given over to the second portion of the rare book collection consigned by the Birmingham Medical Institute.

Most of the books and pamphlets were published proir to 1820 and were on medical topics.

We received commissions from clients for a number of items and despatched our rare book man down to the Cotswolds. Having identified the lots concerned the next task was to collate all the items. That is to check the books or pamphlets were complete, all pages present, no paper flaws affecting the text, no over-exuberant trimming by the binder. In fact as they rolled off the press. This is an essential job as one cannot offer clients incomplete items. We were lucky, all items were complete. By end of sale we had purchased every lot and at 63% of the level agreed with our clients. A good days work for satisfied customers.

The Saint and ‘The Third Man’

Jane Fox — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:51:03 +0000

One of our specialists recently visited a client where an interesting story emerged. The conversation turned to the film world and eventually to “The Third Man” released in 1949 starring Orson Welles as Harry Lime. The screenplay was written by Graham Greene and the film became a bloc-buster. The theme music, played on a zither, became an international hit in 1950. Our host left the room for a few moments and returned bearing a small polychrome, figure about 12 inches high, of a saint. Believed to be 15th century it appeared in a shot from the film in a Viennese antique shop on a shelf with a number of other pieces. For fun we intend to search the film for the little statue and show it you. More later.

Time to reconsider Antique Silver as an investment?

Jane Fox — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:43:33 +0000

Alongside other commodities (notably oil and gold) silver has seen a steady rise again this month, unavoidably tempting dealers with ever-increasing overheads to liquidate their stock via the refineries. To me, this suggests that posterity will benefit from a higher density of fine quality antique silver compared to ‘ordinary’ quality stock, most of which will have been scrapped – just as has occurred historically, although the reasons may have been different (funding of wars mostly). This density of fine quality stock, preserved by virtue of its excellence of manufacture and illustrious makers or designers, is likely to see a significant increase in value as a result of its rarity, the absence of alternatives and, potentially, the continued rise in the price of the metal. Watch this space…..

Chart courtesy of Cookson precious metals.