Chelsea Antiques Fair faces the end

In mid-December owner and organiser Caroline Penman decided that she would not continue with the fair, which was founded in 1950 and is the second oldest antiques fair on the calendar. Only Grosvenor House, founded in 1934, is older.

From the Antiques Trade Gazette. The Penman Fairs website expresses the hope that someone will come forward to keep the show running. I confess that it's been quite a while since I've attended the Chelsea Fair (when I was making regular autumn buying trips in Europe, I would usually get to London a bit later, towards the end of September). It's sad to see the antiques scene there so transformed: shocking enough what eBay has wrought here in the USA, but the markets in Britain had such a history. Now Portobello's more tourism than trade, Camden Passage is being redeveloped, and Bermondsey's a pitiful shadow of what it was. Weirdly enough, online articles tout them all as if they remain in their prime.

Australia links made this miniature a sleeper

Last month, a nondescript portrait miniature estimated at £200-300 sold for £90,000 -- excluding buyer's commission. Why?

It depicted John White, the chief surgeon for the First Fleet -- the 11 ships that sailed to Botany Bay in 1786 to establish a convict settlement.

Moreover, the unframed oil on ivory was by the convict and artist Thomas Watling (1762-1806). It was signed and dated 1792, the year Watling finally reached the colony after being sentenced to 14 years for forging banknotes in Dumfries. . .

Over the next two years Watling made many drawings which form the basis of the important studies of wildlife, landscapes, and the indigenous people of Australia known as the Watling Collection, now housed in the zoological library of the Natural History Museum in London. . .

Watling's only major known surviving work is Sydney in 1794, a large oil painting which hangs in the Dixson Gallery, Sydney. There are some sketches and finished drawings, a few of which have appeared on the market, but the discovery of this miniature appears to be something of a first.

Full article here. A miniature specialist's take here. The painting referenced above, more generally referred to as Sydney Cove, has a catalogue entry here.

ADDENDUM: The Gorringes catalog entry lists a presale estimate of £3,000-5000, so it would appear that the estimate was increased after the publication of the printed catalog.

Record price for Scottish great sword

As the Antiques Trade Gazette notes, genuine 16th-century Scottish two-handed swords are extremely rare and virtually never come on the market, nearly all residing in museums.

Despite some later restoration to the grip, its rarity meant that there was bound to be keen interest when it was included in the property to be sold from Warwick Castle to benefit the Great Hall armour display.

Thomas Del Mar Ltd, who hold sales in association with Sotheby's at Olympia, offered the sword as part of their December 12 Antique Arms, Armour and Militaria sale with an estimate of £50,000-80,000.

With four parties interested, bidding rose quickly, leading to a three-way battle between two phones and a bidder in the room up to the £100,000 mark. From then on it was down to the two phones, the successful private buyer finally securing the sword at £200,000 plus 20 per cent premium, a record for a Scottish sword, the previous record standing at £24,000.

It also sets a new record for a 16th century sword, going over four times the £48,000 taken in 2001 for a German "hand a half" example.

I'm not sure what the current consensus is regarding the term "claymore" -- whether it should be applied to the early two-handed swords, or only to the later one-handed basket-hilted broadswords. I also wonder if the record price need be qualified as "for a European 16th-century sword", given the price level of top Japanese blades.

"Hot Pot" back in Italy

The Met's celebrated Euphronios Krater is now on display in Rome. It wasn't too many years ago that the return of such an object seemed unthinkable. The Guardian also notes:

Rutelli also gave details about a recent agreement with a private U.S. collector that signals Italy's intention to broaden its campaign.

The deal with New York philanthropist Shelby White calls for the return of 10 artifacts from her private collection, the Culture Ministry confirmed Friday. . .

Nine of the items already have been given to the Italian Consulate in New York and the 10th - another vase by Euphronius - was expected to be returned in two years, the ministry said.

More detail on the return of the krater in the NY Times; there's also a slide show of some of the other returned antiquities currently on display as part of the Nostoi. Capolavori ritrovati exhibition.

ADDENDUM: It should also be noted that the Met has done quite well for itself in this affair. The Italians are lending antiquities to fill the place left by the departure of the Euphronios Krater, and whereas the Italians still have Marion True on trial (even though a number of the charges were recently dropped), their respectful public treatment of the Metropolitan's leadership has been markedly different. This was strongly highlighted in the recent New Yorker article on Marion True, which I am long overdue in discussing here.

Mozzarella threat

Oh, no -- not the mozzarella di bufala:

The production of one of Italy's best known exports, mozzarella, is under threat from an infection spreading through herds of water buffalo. . .

As much as 30% of the herd who live in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius are reported to be infected. . .

Brucellosis has been present in the herd for 10 years.

But the Italian papers say the local vets who are supposed to test and put down infected animals have been intimidated by the local mafia - the Camorra - who also control some of the farms.

Consequently, it is reported, the disease has been allowed to spread . . . Caserta, one of two key mozzarella-producing areas, is the worst affected.

From the BBC.

Teletubbies-R-Us

A recent British survey found that 79% of those between five and sixteen had a TV in their room. Looking for equivalent US data, I find a 2005 study giving 68% for eight to eighteen-year-olds -- not directly comparable, though a closer look at the original papers might be more informative.

18th-century Mexican time capsule opened

A time capsule was found atop a bell tower at Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral, where it was placed in 1791 to protect the building from harm, researchers said Tuesday.

The lead box -- filled with religious artifacts, coins and parchments -- was hidden in a hollow stone ball to mark the moment on May 14, 1791, when the building's topmost stone was laid, 218 years after construction had begun.

Workers restoring the church found the box in October, inside the stone ball base of a cross that sits atop the 200-foot southern bell tower. Researchers spent the next three months opening the airtight box and preserving its contents.

From the AP.

Last call for oldest footprints

They are the world's oldest human tracks, a set of footprints pressed into volcanic ash that have lain perfectly preserved for more than three-and-a-half million years. Made by a group of ancient apemen, the prints represent one of the most important sites in human evolutionary studies, for they show that our ancestors had already stopped walking on four legs and had become upright members of the primate world.

But now the Laetoli steps in northern Tanzania are in danger of destruction. The footprints, although reburied 10 years ago and covered by a special protective coating, are suffering storm erosion, while trees and plants begin to grow through the historic outlines.

Full story here.

Whence the fortune cookie?

The deeper you dig, the less expected the results:

Some 3 billion fortune cookies are made each year, almost all in the United States. But the crisp cookies wrapped around enigmatic sayings have spread around the world. They are served in Chinese restaurants in Britain, Mexico, Italy, France and elsewhere. . .

But there is one place where fortune cookies are conspicuously absent: China.

So far, so old news. But it now seems incontrovertible that the origins of the American fortune cookie are Japanese.

Her prime pieces of evidence are the generations-old small family bakeries making obscure fortune cookie-shaped crackers by hand near a temple outside Kyoto. She has also turned up many references to the cookies in Japanese literature and history, including an 1878 image of a man making them in a bakery - decades before the first reports of American fortune cookies. . .

The families of Japanese or Chinese immigrants in California that claim to have invented or popularized fortune cookies all date the cookie's appearance between 1907 and 1914.

From the NY Times.

Biggest rodent ever

The fossilised skull of the largest rodent ever recorded has been described by scientists for the first time.

The remains of the one-tonne beast, found in Uruguay, indicate that it would have been as big as a bull.

It is thought that the three-metre-long herbivore would have roamed estuaries and forests 2-4 million years ago.

Read the rest here.

Brazil museum raid followup

The latest strange twist:

Police in Brazil have issued an arrest warrant for a television chef who is accused of ordering the theft of the country's most valuable paintings.

The works were stolen in a raid on a San Paulo gallery, but were recovered in perfect condition last week.

Moises Manoel de Lima Sobrinho is used to appearing in the media - the 25-year-old chef has a cookery show on a local television channel in Brazil.

But now his photograph has been circulated by police who suspect him of masterminding the audacious theft of two paintings.

Not much detail as yet in English, but the Brazilian papers have more (for example, here). And though it seemed clear even before this latest announcement that the aim of the theft was extortion, the Guardian dutifully reports the inevitable claims that any theft of internationally prominent artworks must be the work of internationally prominent thieves:

Brazilian authorities, including the culture minister, Gilberto Gil, said they believed the raid could have been commissioned by art thieves from overseas.

"Thefts like this were probably not carried out by Brazilians," Gil said. "They must be linked to international gangs."

Much less embarrassing to lose masterpieces to master criminals.

Golden Horns theft followup

Another chapter was added to the ongoing saga of Denmark’s Golden Horns Thursday after a Jutland court sentenced two men to prison for stealing the items from a museum last autumn.

Although the two horns are merely replicas of the original Golden Horns which were made 1600 years ago, they hold nearly mythical status in the nation’s consciousness.

Upon discovering their disappearance from the Jelling Museum in Jutland on 17 September, police initiated the most massive manhunt in recent history. . .

Some good came out of the theft, according to Niels Jensen, the spokesperson for the National Museum, which had lent the horns to the Jelling Museum. Since their recovery, visitors have flocked to view the horns and attendance figures have doubled.

From the Copenhagen Post.

Nazi-looted art update

The latest twist in the tortuous story of restitution for Nazi-era stolen art began in Dusseldorf, Germany, wound through a court in Providence, Rhode Island, and now is giving hope to university officials in Montreal.

Last month a U.S. court ruled that the Nazis forced German dealer Max Stern to sell his inventory of art. Officials at Concordia University in Montreal, one of the beneficiaries of Stern's will, believe the ruling will help them recover artworks owned by more than 20 museums or individuals. . .

The courts have rarely ruled that a sale under duress is a theft, restitution specialists said. In October, actress Elizabeth Taylor kept a Vincent van Gogh painting after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by three people who said their great-grandmother was forced to sell the work before fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939.

This case does appear to be more clear-cut than most, however:

Stern, who inherited a Dusseldorf gallery from his father, was ordered to liquidate his holdings through a Nazi-approved dealer in 1937, according to court documents. He never received the proceeds of the sale. . .

Cases involving a forced art sale aren't all bound to win in court. In her ruling, the judge stressed the fact that Stern received no compensation from the forced sale and that he subsequently undertook efforts to recover the art.

From Bloomberg.