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Partridge Fine Art has gone into administration
A fine art dealership known as the Harrods of the antique world has gone into administration.
Partridge Fine Art, New Bond Street, set up in 1902 to source works for Queen Mary, is understood to have suffered as a result of the economic downturn, losing valuable clients.
It is unclear how many jobs are at risk but MCR, the firm appointed administrators, are working to sell the business as a “going concern”, preserving it as a piece of history and protecting staff.
Andrew Stoneman, one of the partners, said it would continue to trade as normal until a deal was reached.
“We're confident there will be significant interest,” he added.
In its 107 years, Partridge Fine Art has bought for and sold antiques to kings and queens and had contracts with institutions including the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the LA County Museum of Art.
The business, which operates out of a purpose-built four-storey listed building called the Palace of the Arts, has also supplied 500 pieces to the Burrell Collection in Glasgow and helped to build the collection of the J Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, California.
It is probably best known for selling a Louis XVI writing table to the Getty museum nearly 35 years ago for what would be millions of pounds at today's prices. The table was designed in 1777 by Jean-Henri Riesener, one of the great cabinet makers of his age, at the behest of Marie Antoinette, who saw it as an integral piece of furniture for her palace at Versailles.
Partridge Fine Art, which stocks about 1,000 items in 70 galleries, ran into financial trouble in 2005 when the Partridge family were forced to sell control of the company to Amor Holdings, investment vehicle of Mark Law, an antiques dealer with two royal warrants, for £14 million.
Mr Law was head of a consortium selected to protect the business interests, which includes David Mellor, the former Culture Secretary, a client of Partridge who is reputed to have one of the best 18th-century porcelain collections in the world.
It is understood Allied Irish Bank was the main creditor to the business and that it was offered 65p in the pound in settlement of its debts on Friday.
When Mr Law took over the business, Princess Michael of Kent was appointed president of the company.
Reader views (1)
You have forgotten to mention that a full settlement was offered for the debt and this has not been accepted by AIB. One of my sources told me about the unwillingness of AIB to settle the full debt on the day and their appalling decision to force the unnecessary foreclosure of a tremendous business like partridge. I think this whole deal stinks!
- A.G., New York
