MAAK/DRISCOLL

The MAAK sale part 2 of the Driscoll collection is now on line ,unfortunately 5% import vat to be added to each lot.

Another start studded selection only beaten recently by the Driscoll items that were at Philips! It will be interesting to see how the Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew do of which there are a fair number. A very good selection of the standard modern British as well. Lot of Mary Rogers and Ewen Henderson with a good smattering of the usual cohort. Estimates seem about right to seel, and I think of good deal of items there will go a lot higher!
But extra costs do add up. 22.5% Buyer's Premium+ VAT, 5% Import Tax, 4%Artiist Retail Rights over 1000 Euros. On most of the dearer that you are going to have extra costs of 35% plus.

As you say i think most items will go higher due to the Driscoll collection provenance, also a number were exhibited in 'Things of Beauty Growing', I might have a punt on lot 170 the small Henderson piece , the Rie pieces don't really appeal but the large Janet Leach charger looks good if not a little overpriced.

So where are these items coming from? Items "repatriated" to their country of
manufacture, shouldn't be subject to import duties.

He was an important American collector Dan. All these items come come from his Estate as he died last year. So they all come from the USA.

Hi denbydump, It would seem that you can be charged either 5% or 20% VAT on entry depending on how the item being imported is categorised (and how good the sender is in filling forms) .Recently i enquired about a John Ward pot on ebay from the US (the pot is still listed) and was told the import VAT would be around £800 ,the pot is around £3200 so i dropped my interest as i felt it was too risky. I guess major auction rooms would fill forms correctly and so get the 5%. I believe items of historic or cultural interest may have different rules.

When John Driscoll bought from me the items were collected by UPS and the wording that he asked for was quite specific and 7 copies of all documents were required. The wording included "unique art object", which is probably the crucial term. I still use it today when I send pots to North America. I have never asked my buyers if it works but no one has ever moaned about the high import duty.

I think the interesting point being, that the Driscoll collection came from America because somebody thought that it would get better prices here. That is highly unusual! Most of the time the trade is exactly the other way in auctions. Hence we are just not used to the 5% import tax being levied on auction items in this country.

Back in the days of Cyril Frankel at Bonhams/Phillips, almost all of the Japanese pottery was imported from Japan to be sold here because the prices were considerably higher here. I talking about dead potters. It seems that in Japan once someone dies then most collectors lose interest.

https://maaklondon.irostrum.com/auction/auction-lots/a9eaa0c6-549c-49fd-8941-134d23d0be06/lots
The latest sale 23-26 May. The usual high quality pieces with a fairly large selection from the Driscoll Collection it seems. Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew in particular,

I am quite surprised at some of the fairly low estimates especially on the John Ward pieces,( perhaps a sign of these uncertain times) , a nice selection of Lucie Rie and a good Coper piece, the Suttie pieces are interesting but i wonder if he is still has his popularity , the Henderson pieces are ok but i only find one of any interest to me.

The Fritsch pieces looked interesting. Auction estimates deserve a thread just to themselves! Signs of the economic times perhaps? During the last five years or so, the Studio pottery market has become quite a frothy one. But then so has the whole Contemporary Art Market!
You do not see much Angus Suttie on the market, so it would be interesting to see how they go. A bit odd to see a John Dunn there at a fairly hefty price! He rarely gets much at all at most auctions,
Some Potters do not sell well on Maak. Alan Caiger Smith always seems to struggle a bit.

The Fritsch pieces are good but i have never managed to buy one even when placing what i consider good bids , i think at the moment other potters interest me more, as you say auction estimates can be strange but they do reflect what the vendor would be willing to accept at the moment , MAAK reserves seem to be around 5% below the lower estimate, it's not very likely that any of these pots are going to be knocked down at the the low estimate but we live in hope. I am not familiar with Dunn's work , i like the Duckworth piece though.