The Guild of Arts Scholars, Dealers and Collectors is a Guild of the City of London.

History

Since the 12th century, craft guilds (or Livery Companies as they came to be known from their ceremonial uniforms once they had obtained Royal Charters) have played a central role in both the business and the political life of the City of London. They were formed to protect and regulate the many trades and crafts that were carried out within its boundaries. With time, the relevance and influence of many disappeared and a large number lost their halls in either the Great Fire of London or the Blitz.

However, since the 1920s, there has been a marked resurgence of interest and the ‘Modern’ Companies, as they are known, currently number thirty out of a total of 107, with several others waiting as Guilds to become Livery Companies. All these are very relevant to City life today and include professions such as the Firefighters, Information Technologists, Educators and International Bankers. The abiding strength of each is that every member is involved in their profession.

It is into this Livery revival that the Guild of Arts Scholars, Dealers and Collectors has been born, the brainchild of the Upper Warden and Founder Clerk, Jonathan Horne and Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville. The Guild gained official status from the City in April 2005.

Objectives

The Guild is the only body to represent all those involved in the study, curation, collection and trade in antiques, antiquities and objects of decorative and applied art. It also welcomes those in other related services.










The Master, Master Elect and Wardens on the occasion of their installation in November 2006


Awards

The Guild has already sponsored the publication and launch of several academic books, supported courses on the care of valuable collections of works of art and on historical subjects and given grants to conservation students. It is intended to create an Educational Charitable Fund to increase the scope of educational aid in relation to antiques, antiquities and the decorative and applied arts.