The British Antique Furniture Restorers’ Association is the foremost national organisation of craftsmen engaged in furniture conservation and restoration and was founded in 1979 to safeguard interests of owners and buyers of antique furniture and the antique trade.
The golden chandelier symbol displayed in a window or at a fair, is the sign of membership of LAPADA, the Association of Art & Antiques Dealers. Since its inception in 1974, LAPADA’s membership has grown to over 600 members making it the largest association of professional art and antiques dealers in the United Kingdom. Although the majority of its membership is UK based, LAPADA also currently has 50 members in 16 other countries. Membership is only open to those who meet the Association’s requirements as to experience, quality of stock and knowledge of their subject. Between them, members cover virtually every discipline from antiquities to contemporary fine art.
There are now 27 ‘Recognised Collections’ of national significance in Scotland. They are held by local authorities, universities and independent trusts, funded by the Scottish Executive and managed by the Museums Galleries Scotland. The Recognition Scheme will help to make sure that these important collections are identified, cared for, protected and promoted to a wider audience.
The collections are not only significant to the communities in which they are located but to Scotland as a whole. They cover a range of themes on what makes Scotland great, from medicine and art and science to industrial heritage and our literary heroes, from the collection cared for by Burns Monument Trust, Alloway, to the entire collection of Glasgow Museums.
http://www.visitscotland.com/guide/see-and-do/visitor-attractions2/collections
Bonhams is not only the world’s fastest growing auction house, it is also the world’s oldest and largest auctioneer of fine art and antiques still in British ownership. The name Bonhams is recognised worldwide throughout all sectors of the fine art, antiques and collectors market, and several of its departments are established world leaders within their fields. We cover a broad range of items, from paintings to motor cars and cycles, from books to porcelain and contemporary ceramics, jewellery to rivercraft.
Established in Edinburgh in 1826, Lyon & Turnbull are Scotland’s oldest firm of auctioneers.
In more recent years the innovative marketing, flexibility and dedication to personal service delivered by our team of specialists has helped us to become the fastest growing auction house in the UK, with offices and representatives throughout the country.
Lyon & Turnbull are now becoming identified on an international stage, setting world record prices for British and continental paintings along with outstanding results in other areas, such as jewellery, silver, furniture, ceramics, books and decorative arts.
On March 11, 1744, Samuel Baker, founder of Sotheby’s, held the first-ever sale under his own name. The library of a certain Rt. Hon. Sir John Stanley, Bart. described as “containing several Hundred scarce and valuable books in all branches of Polite Literature” sold for a few hundred pounds. Well over two centuries later, on December 6, 1983, Sotheby’s sold a single book, The Gospels of Henry the Lion, for more than 8 million pounds.
Since those early days, it is not just prices that have grown considerably. So too have the scope and scale of Sotheby’s itself. Samuel Baker would hardly recognize his old firm, were he to take a stroll down London’s present day New Bond Street – or, for that matter, down Manhattan’s York Avenue. It has only been in the last century, after all, that the original London company has expanded from book auctions to cover all areas of the fine and decorative arts. This great expansion means that Sotheby’s is not just one of the oldest fine art auctioneers in the world, but also now the largest. There are more than 100 Sotheby’s offices around the world; and, in 1998, auction sales produced a turnover of just under $2 billion.
Sunnyside Antiques for antiques, antique furniture and antique shops.
