Antiques Trade Gazette-Do They Really Want Debate. A Letter To The Editor.

Sir,

How to become an art adviser (issue 2163 back page) read more like an advertisement for various self appointed art associations to my taste, than a informed and deliberate attempt to make a debate thereof.
There needs a full and frank assessment as to the varying degree of professional advice in the art market, that is without doubt. But this was not it.
In France auctioneers and valuers and advisers are regulated by law, here “anyone with a suit a business card or a well heeled handbag” can put themselves forward as an expert and set up an auction house.
This is where the real conflict lies, surely it is now time, that the art and auction market, which is now mostly online, that all auctioneers and advisers need to be regulated, and have to prove themselves.
A quick survey of estimates can be so hilarious, how can they be so wrong.
The quality advisers will have nothing to fear with another certificate to calm their clients nerves.
But will ATG pronounce the idea in light of the success of the saleroom.com.
The art market is full of ponzi schemes, we all know this but what the said article seems to pour scorn over is the un-calibrated power of professional hard working dealers, the ones who know all the tricks of the unregulated trade and will lead the client through the pitfalls of the art consultancy market in its present form. That don't get praise because they are just working hard. 
Though I concede the writer tried to mention this unregulated consultancy market but then went on to say he was invited into a private club closed to all but a lucky few.
Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder.
Theorhetical Qualifications cannot buy experience in my opinion.

Please could we have a little less condescending articles based around how great someone with varying degrees of professional paid for education is.
Or how jolly wonderful the old school tie brigade who have run the trade for decades are.  
And could we have more about the passion of the trade and its collective experiences.
I think its time for regulation.
And a serious look into the auction market and how it can help auctioneers clients rather than themselves.
There is such a high level of knowledge in the antique trade so what would most reputable auctioneers have to worry about.
Now that's a real debate.

http://waynecolquhoun.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/should-uk-auctioneers-be-regulated.html

Woolley and Wallis, Auctioneers of Salisbury-Try to sell me a Gio Ponti Fake.

I was a bit pushed for time so I got some pictures sent from Michael Jeffrey at Woolley and Wallis.

 It was a specialist sale with a specialist 20th Century Design department.

http://www.woolleyandwallis.co.uk/departments/20th-century-design.aspx

Michael has been around a long time, I first met him at Greenwich town hall 20 years ago, and so I had a bit of trust for his judgement.

How wrong can you be?

Richard Ginori are a company that have made quality ceramics for centuries and their collaboration period with Gio Ponti is a period that I admire. This was a golden period in the history of the company in my opinion. They combined fresh wonderful design with the quality of the reputation that they upheld.

I must say I had a reservation about the quality when I saw the pictures.

Trust and auctioneers is something I keep on forgetting is non-existent.

But I gave the benefit of the doubt to Jeffrey, as this is what he does for a living. There is a good possibility that he had seen more of this genre than I.

He used o work for a major London auction house.

The auctioneer’s job is to look after the seller. So I do as much as I can to mitigate my purchases.

I think it is slight of hand when the cataloguer knows that something is damaged and does not give a condition report willingly so on this occasion I requested said report and received a glowing recommendation as to its worth.

I looked at the catalogue description. A Richard Ginori earthenware vase designed by Gio Ponti.

It even pointed to comparable auction records from Sotheby’s

If Jeffrey had have stood on the steeple of Salisbury Cathedral and shouted.

‘This is Gio Ponti vase’ it could not have been clearer that he was knocking this out as a genuine article. He wrote the script himself.

See picture to right.

Should I buy some Royal Mail shares or a Gio Ponti I thought there is a clear 300 quid profit in the shares but as ever I prefer art and I would make a bid.

I bought it online as per Woolley’s recommendation covered legally by the description. It was not after or from the circle of it was A Richard Ginori designed by Gio Ponti.

I was thrilled to be successful bidders I have hardly seen any Ponti never mind own one.
It was the fact that I got it for £700 that sent a few alarm bells ringing. But I knew I was covered by the catalogue description.

Someday you get busy others you don’t so when I had time I started my research, a little late, granted, and slowly came back down to earth.

I was even more concerned as I had been inspired by one of Ponti’s designs for a vase of my own. So if I can paint t someone else can.

So I asked Colin my friend what he thought and we set out to do a bit of research together.

I wanted to take a back seat so I don’t look too deeply into it.

In no time at all, he did, what Wallis and Gromit should have done.

“Not sure Wayne I think its fake” he proclaimed.

‘How dare the Woolleybacks of Salisbury try to sell me a fake’ I thought

Now it’s my turn so I contacted Ginori and they said quite clearly this is no one of theirs.

Jeffrey phones me talking about the tone of my email telling him he had tried to knock me out a fake.

“How do you know?” he said
“I contacted Ginori”

“Oh right” his attitude changed completely.

I didn’t call him a disgrace to his profession or claim he was trying to extort cash under false pretences.

“Can you send me the correspondence?” he asked

“No” I replied
Left an original Gio Ponti Vase by Ginori.
It makes you feel a bit stupid when this happens “Do they think I am a bit woolly around the ears”

Selling fake C.D’s is a punishable offence. Selling fake Louis Vuitton bags will land you in jail.
At least you know where you are when you go around a dodgy market.

Can Ginori seize this vase as it could damage the credibility of the company and its heritage for absolute quality?
It is not a vase by them
Could Woolley and Walls be reported to the Police?

But when the air of credibility is misleading well it could be said that this is a purposeful action. Well it fooled me this time.
At least you know when a robber is mugging you.

I know we all make mistakes but in this instance it took me 10 minutes to do what Michael Jeffrey should have done. I would like to know why he did no research.

I contacted the trading standards who duly visited them.
I think he will be a bit more careful with his descriptions from now on. I will keep my eye on them.
I will not trust his judgement again and I don’t think you should either.



Should Auctioneers be regulated?
 Should the-saleroom.com be checked over in more detail?

http://waynecolquhoun.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/should-uk-auctioneers-be-regulated.html

Should UK Auctioneers be regulated?

I often deal with some of the most knowledgeable and professional auctioneers in the antique trade. I have ongoing relationships with auctioneers that spell out their terms and I feel I can rely on them.
I also have to deal with some of the biggest shysters who I wouldn’t trust as far as I could throw them.

It is often the porters, the people who usually run a saleroom, who go unmentioned. These are usually the people I rely on to get a feeling of a place.
Very often not the spiv in a suit who runs it.


The Internet has made it easy for commission merchants to fleece the public.
This combined with the BBC, advertising the salerooms, for cheap entertainment, giving them credibility, on a daily basis.
The public now seem to be of the mindset that an auction house is the source of the goods.
That may often be the case but I am often surprised how the public will often pay more from an auctioneer than the price you would sell it for in a shop….. Then give the commission men 20%.

Most people could not be aware that an auctioneer will get 40%, yes 40% of the hammer price.
That is 20% from the buyer and 20% from the vendor. Some charge more.

They then have the insult to not even wrapping the goods for you.
Most of them don’t even supply bubble wrap.

Many of them belong to trade associations that are no more than sewing circles. That collude to give an air of credibility.
If you look into many of them they are no more better than the fences that some of them represent.

The auctioneers can’t and won’t regulate themselves. It’s too good for them at the moment with the Internet connecting them worldwide.

Why would a saleroom wish to hide the fact that a work of art is damaged?
Yes I know we deal in a trade that has articles that have hundreds of years of wear and tear on them, but really why shouldn’t each lot have a condition report attached to it. Why do they hide behind a caveat emptor of buyer beware.
 This is slight of hand in my opinion. Any other trade would be outlawed by society if they were treated the way some auctioneers treat the public.

Back street garages get a bad name, but what about back street auctioneers.
 That said I have had particular problems with Bonham’s Chester, no wonder they are closing.

I have also been illegaly overcharged by Sotheby’s, a company most people foolishly believe are squeaky clean.
They colluded with other auction houses to price fix.
The head of major auction houses were even sentenced in the US. Jail was too good for them.

Now many of the Antique trade newspapers have set up sites that enable buyers to bid from the luxury of their own home, via computer.
They have one purpose in mind, to add further charges for themselves.
To add another layer of commission.
Do these web-based vehicles check the credibility of the company that they are representing on the web?
Do we now have middlemen representing middlemen?

Today I ask, “Should auctioneers be regulated”.

So the main person who would benefit would be the buyer.
A saleroom currently has no moral obligation to a buyer as they work for the vendor.

Good commerce achieves good results.
Surely the long-term style of a company keeps the public coming back.

I get contempt from auctioneers, threats of storage charges, hidden fees, terms and conditions hidden away with unworkable contracts that you would never expect in any industry.

Maybe its time to stop this.

In France commissaires priseurs are highly regarded, they have to take exams and be examined by the State for credentials.
Its about time this happened in the UK I think.

Should UK Auctioneers be regulated.