LONDON – Auction houses are banking on a recovery at next week’s series of big Russian art sales in London, at which they expect to show that the market dominated by new money is through the worst of the recession.

With most at stake are Sotheby’s and Russian specialist MacDougall’s, who together offer works worth between 27 and 39 million pounds ($45-64 million). Christie’s the world’s largest auction house, has pre-sale estimates of 6.5-9.3 million pounds.

The figures are sharply down on a year ago, reflecting how financial turmoil and falling stock and property values have hit super-wealthy collectors from Russia and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union and deterred owners from selling their best pieces.

Sotheby’s, for example, expected its 2008 winter sales to fetch between 29 and 41 million pounds. The actual result was 25 million, marking a significant drop in values which had soared during the previous five years or so.

This year Sotheby’s estimates have halved to 15-21 million pounds, reflecting a more selective pool of buyers and limited supply, as sellers hold out for a return to the heady days of 2007 and early 2008.

“There are less lots on offer,” Jo Vickery, Sotheby’s senior director, told Reuters. “We’ve been much more selective in the current economic climate, looking particularly for works with a very good provenance.

“There is considerable demand out there but at the moment, supply is less.”

William MacDougall, director of MacDougall Arts Ltd., said he expected prices to continue to recover from recent falls.

“The general theme since April last year is that sellers are reluctant to sell at these levels, unlike, say, holders of equities who have been forced into doing so.

“But the results in October in New York were very good and so we’re expecting a continued healthy market next week.”

TOP LOT SEREBRIAKOVA’S “NUDE”

He said over 90 percent of buyers were born in the former Soviet Union, and, although London has become the global capital for Russian art, the majority of them were based elsewhere.

His company is selling art valued at 12.4-17.6 million pounds. MacDougall’s also boasts the most valuable single lot of “Russian Week” in London, with an oil painting of a nude female by Russian artist Zinaida Serebriakova expected to fetch 1.0-1.5 million pounds.

Close behind is Sotheby’s and another work by a leading 20th century female artist, Alexandra Exter, whose brightly-colored “Venice” is estimated at 0.9-1.2 million pounds.

The auction house is also offering a large collection of Faberge cigarette cases and cufflinks that had been hidden in a pair of pillowcases in a Swedish foreign office safe for over 90 years until their recent discovery.

The objects belonged to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and her husband Grand Duke Vladimir, brother of Czar Alexander III.

The sale is expected to raise around one million pounds, and a handful of the bejeweled cigarette cases still contain matches and period cigarettes. Estimates range from 80 pounds to up to 90,000 pounds.

The week of Russian sales kicks off with Sotheby’s and Bonhams holding their main auctions on Monday and wind up at MacDougall’s on Thursday.

A senate inquiry will examine draft laws which would see plain cigarette packaging mandated in Australia, Family First Leader Senator Steve Fielding said.

The laws would ban advertising logos or trademarks on any cigarette packets so tobacco products would only carry plain labelling dominated by health warnings.

“There is no case for allowing any glossy brand promotion for a product that is lethal and addictive,” Senator Fielding said.

“Smoking related diseases cost the Australian community over $30 billion each year.

“Family First’s plain tobacco packaging bill would take the polish off cigarette branding and the positive images the tobacco giants try to associate with their products.”

Chair of Cancer Council Australia’s tobacco issues committee, Kylie Lindorff, said Family First’s reforms to tobacco product packaging are essential to reducing the unacceptable level of cancer death and disability caused by smoking in Australia.

“It is incongruous enough that a poorly regulated product that is available from retailers almost anywhere kills more than half of its consumers,” Ms Lindorff said.

“For the products to also be marketed in glossy packets intended to convey the aspirations or sense of identity of the consumer is even more absurd.”

The Heart Foundation also strongly supports Senator Fielding’s laws because current cigarette packaging is a potent form of advertising and promotion for smoking.

“Generic plain packaging, with a clear graphic warning on the front and back of the pack, should be mandated to counter the allure of smoking and reduce the disease burden it causes,” National Heart Foundation’s tobacco control spokesperson, Maurice Swanson said

The Public Health Association of Australia says smoking is the largest single preventable cause of death and disease in Australia, with over 15,000 deaths each year.

Family First introduced its Plain Tobacco Packaging (Removing Branding from Cigarette Packs) Bill 2009 on 20 August 2009.

South Dakota’s smoking ban faces one burning question. Did the notaries who verified the petitions do enough to make them official?

A two-day trial started Thursday in Pierre. The opponents of the ban are only 18 signatures short of getting the issue on the ballot.

Several notaries took the witness stand Thursday and were questioned about how they signed and dated the petitions and if they did it legally.

Linda Wegman was one of the notaries questioned and always thought she had her ‘I’s’ dotted and ‘T’s’ crossed when it came to notarizing documents.

“It’s hard to remember the date so I had my date printed right on it, thought I had all my bases covered,” Wegman said.

Wegman had a customized stamp made to make sure all of her information could be seen clearly. But when she took the witness stand and was questioned about the stamp, she said she never had it registered with the state, and the six petition sheets she stamped were never officially notarized.

“I’ve notarized hundreds and hundreds of documents using that stamp and if anyone wanted to contest it, I guess they [the notarized documents] are all wrong,” Wegman said.

The Secretary of State and the American Cancer Society did contest Wegman’s notarized documents along with several others Thursday. Supporters of the smoking ban are pointing to those miscues as the reason to throw out thousands of signatures.

“The rules are there. Are they tough? That’s not really what we’re here today to argue. The rules are there, the laws are there, the time has past for that,” Darrin Smith with the American Heart Association said.

Notaries were also questioned about only putting the month and year of their expiration date on the petition. The state argues the month, day and year all should have been included.

Opponents say questions about those technicalities are why this issue is in court.

“What’s a complete date, what’s not a complete date? I don’t know. I thought when somebody signed and dated something, 11-09, as far as the year and the month, I thought that was a complete date. But evidently it needs a number too,” smoking ban opponent and Sioux Falls bar owner Don Rose said.

Judge Kathleen Trandahl will hear from more notaries and witnesses Friday. It will ultimately be her decision if the notaries did enough to authenticate the petitions.

By Ben Dunsmoor
© 2009 KELOLAND TV

The number of tobacco smokers currently in Thailand has reached 14.3 million, the latest Global Adult Tobacco Survey revealed yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Public Health Ministry is considering a proposal to the Finance Ministry to increase the tax level on hand-rolled cigarette products after finding over 7.4 million people smoke this style of cigarette. The remainder smoke manufactured cigarettes.

The Global Adult Tobacco Survey is a national household survey launched in February 2007.

Sixteen countries, home to more than half the world’s smokers and bearing the highest tobacco use, were involved in the study: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Russian Federation, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay and Vietnam.

Thailand was the first country to complete and release its survey – conducted this year as a household poll of persons 15 and older by the Ministry of Public Health, Mahidol University and the National Statistical Office.

Lakkhana Termsirikulchai, who led a survey team, said it found that of the 14.3 million people who smoked tobacco, 7.9 million chose manufactured cigarettes and the other half – 7.4 million – were hand-rolled cigarette smokers.

Only six out of every 10 smokers said they planned or are thinking about quitting, while five in 10 smokers had tried to quit in the last 12 months.

The survey found that 3.3 million workers are exposed to tobacco smoke at the workplace and 20.5 million adults to tobacco smoke in their homes.

The survey found that 74.4 per cent of adults noticed anti-cigarette smoking information on television. Only one in 10 adults were aware of cigarette marketing in stores where cigarettes are sold; seven in 10 smokers considered quitting because of warning labels; and 98.6 per cent of adults believed smoking causes serious illness.

Action Smoking and Health Foundation’s secretary-general, Dr Prakit Watheesathokkij has expressed concern over the consumption of hand-rolled cigarettes as most people mistakenly believe smoking them is less dangerous than manufactured cigarettes.

He said hand-rolled cigarettes also cause serious illness for smokers such as oral cancer and cancer of the oesophagus. In India, he added, about 100,000 died from smoking hand-rolled cigarettes each year.

He said most cigarette manufacturers are now producing more smokeless cigarettes after noting an increasing trend in smokeless tobacco use among teenagers worldwide.

To reduce the number of hand-rolled cigarette smokers, Prakit has asked the government to increase the tax level on hand-rolled cigarette products and collect tax excise to 70 per cent of product price from the current rate.

Deputy Minister of Public Health Manit Nopamornbodee said he will consult with the Finance Ministry about increasing the tax level on hand-rolled cigarette products and ya nat – traditional medicine that contains hand-rolled cigarette products.

“I will bring this issue to consultation with the Finance Ministry before implementing the regulation,” Deputy Minister Manit Nopamornbodee said.

“We have to study its impact carefully on whether an increased tax level would reduce the amount of hand- rolled tobacco smokers or not,” he added.

He also instructed the Department of Development of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine of Public Health and the Department of Medical Science to conduct research into medicinal plants that help smokers to quit.

Meanwhile, Thai Network Against Tabinfo Asia 2009, led by Dr Hatai Chitanont, has submitted an open letter to Deputy Finance Minister,Prasit Pattaraprasit asking him to withdraw from the tobacco industry event he is due to open on Wednesday at Impact Arena Moung Thontani Exhibition Centre.

“Pradit must think carefully whether to participate, talking about a product that kills millions every year,” he said. “Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has told Cabinet he will not allow government officials to be involved in the event.”

He added that any government support for an event organised by the tobacco industry would be a violation by the Thai government of the UN’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

By Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation
November 10, 2009

The New York State Senate hearing on the state’s non-collection of taxes on cigarettes sold to non-Native Americans on Indian Reservations brought representatives from Indian nations from all over New York State into a highly charged arena at the Borough of Manhattan Community College on Tuesday.

The hearing was chaired by state Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington) and had several other senators on the committee in attendance throughout the day. Though the hearing was scheduled to end at 2:30 p.m., the full slate of witnesses and complexity of the testimony being given extended to just after 4:30 p.m., with only two brief breaks in between.

Johnson had to call for order on a couple of occasions during heated exchanges between Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) and JC Seneca of the Seneca Nation of Indians that prompted mocking rebukes from Indians in the auditorium. Golden implored the Seneca nation to help New York State given the $4 billion budget deficit the state is facing claiming that New York State will soon be in the same position as California and issuing IOU’s to contractors, vendors and employees. This was met with calls from the crowd, many of whom were yelling out “That’s not our problem” and taunting the senator as he walked out midway through the proceedings.

Early on in the testimony, the senators attempted to establish the amount of tax money that New York was theoretically missing by not collecting tax on tobacco sales on Indian territories when sold to non-natives from off reservation land. This proved more difficult than the panel probably hoped as the first three witnesses gave figures that ranged between $95 million annually to $1.6 billion annually. The latter figure being given during spirited testimony given by Steve Rosenthal, a former tobacco distributor turned industry consultant.

The $95 million estimate was proffered by Peter Kiernan, representing Governor Paterson’s office, which represented a portion of the more than $200 million missing tax revenue as reported by William Comiskey, the deputy commission or Taxation and Finance. Kiernan said the reduced figure assumed a high level of “non-compliance in collection” of the tax even if a mechanism was adopted to collect taxes on cigarettes and it was agreed to by the tribes.
The committee pursued Kiernan more aggressively than other witnesses, clearly indicating a fracture between the governor’s office and the state legislature. Kiernan made it clear that the governor’s office is less than hopeful that this money will be collected and cited discussion with the New York State police that efforts to collect taxes from merchants on reservation territory would likely be met with violence. Key to this assumption were the incidents in 1992 and 1997 where New York State troopers attempting to enter Seneca territory upstate New York were met with angry mobs resulting in a standoff on both occasions.

Kiernan represented that the governor was determined to come to a resolution with the tribes but as of now has followed the practice of “forbearance,” which was begun during the Cuomo administration and continued through the Pataki and Spitzer administrations as well. Kiernan noted that the lack of clarity in the law and precedent to collect taxes from Indian nations as well as the likelihood of violent confrontation made the situation more difficult even though the Paterson administration believed it had a right to collect taxes from the tribes.

He went on to explain that the state troopers indicated during their discussions that the cost to close down activity on reservation lands in New York in an attempt to enforce taxation would cost nearly $2 million per day with no clear idea of how long a standoff between the state and the nations would take. Senators Golden and George Winner (R-Elmira) took the greatest exception to Kiernan’s testimony prompting Winner to ask “Doesn’t that send a message that there are rewards for not following the law?”

Other senators, most notably Sen. Ruben Diaz (D-Bronx) attempted to lay a foundation that Native Americans enjoy public resources from transportation to healthcare. But there was a noticeable shift in the room when JC Seneca of the Seneca Nation and Seneca counsel Rob Porter were sworn in and took their seats in the witness chairs in the front of the packed room. Johnson took an amicable and cautious approach with Seneca and Porter as the discussion turned toward the key issue of sovereignty. Seneca in turn spoke in measured tones about the definition of sovereignty and cited case law and a Federal treaty between the United States and the Seneca Nation establishing that all commerce conducted on reservation territory is exempt from all local, state and federal taxes.

The senate committee ran into a brick wall with the Seneca and Porter testimony. As counsel to the Seneca Nation, Porter quoted state and federal decisions with efficiency and closed down every angle the committee pursued to further its goal of taxing Indian nations. When Winner remarked that Mr. Seneca appeared to be a non-violent and peaceful person and suggested that conflict could be avoided, Seneca replied to the delight of the Native Americans in the room that “you obviously don’t know me very well.”

He went on to say that neither side wanted conflict but reminded the committee that it was New York State that “invaded Seneca land with a thousand state troopers” and asked what the committee would do if that happened on their land. At the end of the question and answer period, Seneca struck a conciliatory note that the Seneca Nation would continue to pursue all matters in a court of law and try to avoid violent confrontation.

In a brief interview after his testimony, Seneca was upbeat about the hearing saying that “dialogue is beneficial to both sides of our issues” and that he was very concerned for the “success of western New York.” He is one of the largest employers in its region, which has turned the economic tables in the past two decades.

Much of their success has been due to the revenues generated from three gaming operations controlled by the nation and the increased revenues from the sale of tobacco. Seneca Nation and Chief James Ransom, Chief of the St. Regis Mohawk tribe, provided economic reports as part of their testimonies to illustrate the economic benefit that the tribes activities have on the regions they border.

Left unclear is what role the committee will play and whether or not any recommendations they make can be enacted or enforced. As a result of the taxes on cigarettes in New York—and Manhattan in particular—all Indian tribes have seen an explosion in sales on reservation territory.

Part this economic boon to the tribes is a war chest of funds to fight any legal battles that they deem to be en encroachment on their sovereign rights to engage in commerce on their lands. What does seem clear is that New York will have to look elsewhere to close its ever increasing budget gap.

By Jed Morey, Oct 28th, 2009

STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE — They are sold right next to the candy and gum at stores across Staten Island — products like strawberry-flavored mini-cigars packaged like lip gloss.

And they will soon be illegal.

Calling it a move that will help save children from a dangerous addiction, the City Council voted yesterday to ban sales of almost all flavored tobacco products, including small cigars and chewing tobacco.

The bill, expected to be signed into law by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is the latest bit of bad news for the tobacco industry and smokers in the city, who already have been banned from all public buildings and restaurants and have seen taxes on cigarettes skyrocket.

Yesterday’s ban is intended to close a loophole in a law enacted in June by the federal Food and Drug Administration banning the manufacture, importation, marketing and distribution of cigarettes made to taste like candy, fruit and cloves. Since the legal definition of a cigarette is vague, manufacturers found a way to circumvent the ban by repackaging products to make them attractive to kids, like smaller “cigarillos” and SNUS, pouches of flavored tobacco used like snuff.

The American Lung Association estimates that 11,000 stores in the city carry such products.

“Anyone who tells you that these bubblegum, cookie dough, chocolate chip, little cigarillos shaped like a pink lip gloss — don’t tell me that’s not targeted at a young girl. These are not being bought by 50-year-old women, the data shows that,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan).

Members of the Island Council delegation voted yes to the ban, though not before expressing concern that this latest health-centered sanction may be too far-reaching, and speculation that it may not withstand a legal challenge by the tobacco industry. Council Minority Leader James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn) said he was “troubled that a well-intentioned bill could have been more narrow.”

“I am faced with the choice of being big government, taking a legal product away from adults and their ability to make a decision, or allowing the tobacco industry to do what they have always done, which is find new customers. But when you have a difficult choice and have to err on one side, you have to err on the side of the kids,” Oddo said before his vote yesterday.

Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore) said he was convinced when he visited a store in Great Kills that sells the products, and his 2-year-old daughter “couldn’t keep her hands off them.” Though the bill has flaws, he said he didn’t want “perfect to be the enemy of the good.”

“In the end, it was a tough choice between taking away a choice and protecting children,” Ignizio said.

The data to which Ms. Quinn referred are from surveys of city high school students that found while overall tobacco use declined 61 percent between 1999 and 2007, the use of smokeless tobacco increased by 69 percent. The percentage of student smokers who smoked only cigars and cigarillos has almost tripled since 2001, from five to 14 percent, the study found.

Flavors banned include “any fruit, chocolate, vanilla, honey, candy, mint, cocoa, dessert, alcoholic beverage, herb or spice. Menthol or clove flavors are excluded, as are non-tobacco smoking products such as those traditionally used in Middle Eastern hookahs. Penalties for violating the ban range from a $500 fine for the first offense, to a $2000 fine and suspension of tobacco license for multiple offenses within a year.

The FDA has been looking at whether to add more of those products to its ban.

Peter N. Spencer covers city government for the Advance. He may be reached at spencer@siadvance.com.

A satisfyingly succinct one act piece, The Tobacco Merchant’s Lawyer requires the audience to tune in its multi-lingual ears as it’s performed in the notoriously challenging Glaswegian accent in this English premiere of a new play by award-winning Iain Heggie.

Callum Cuthbertson’s technical skill and ability to deliver a good punch line as the local, Enoch Dalmellington, however, cannot be faulted. Despite a few stumbled lines, he is engaging and entertaining, playing the bumbling yet philosophical Dalmellington effortlessly and drawing the audience into the story. Set in a very different Merchant City to the one that stands there now, the script paints a lush picture of the streets of 1775 Glasgow, and the rich characters that walked populated them.

The detailed but simplistic set is ideal and Dalmellington’s luxuriant costume exemplifies the 18th century affluence of the successful port town. Unfortunately, the plot of this piece is decidedly thin, a disappointing outcome from one of Scotland’s most revered playwrights of recent times. A tale of Dalmellington’s issues with marrying off a dour daughter and trying to keep hold of all floors of his house in troubling times, much of the comedy relies on fortune teller Mistress Zapata’s ‘remarkably’ accurate prophecies for a 21st century Glasgow. You might need a Glaswegian in tow lest these tidbits be lost on you. Some audience members admit to being decidedly confused for the first few giggles that arise from the predominantly Scottish audience.

Though an enjoyable and gently amusing production, we’re inclined to think that perhaps this play will never quite be received as well as it is in its glorious home town.

By Caroline Hall

DANVILLE, Va. ― An international tobacco company plans to open a burley and flue-cured processing plant in Danville.

Japan Tobacco International Leaf Services plans to spend $19.5 million to build the plant, creating 39 full-time jobs and 150 seasonal jobs when fully operational, according to a news release Friday from Gov. Timothy Kaine’s office.

JTI Leaf Services is the international tobacco unit of Japan Tobacco Inc., based in Geneva, Switzerland. It produces two of the top three worldwide cigarette brands, Winston and Mild Seven. Its other brands include Camel and Benson & Hedges.

A place where people can legally smoke indoors now is open in Coralville.
Chicha Shack, a hookah lounge, opened Thursday at 89 Second St., in the shopping center next to the Heartland Inn.
This will be the third Chicha Shack location for owner Mohamed Ali, with the first opening in Ames in 2004 and a second in Des Moines.

Hookah bars are one of the places that fall under the Iowa Smokefree Air Act exceptions.

Passed in spring 2008, the Iowa Smokefree Air Act eliminated smoking in almost all public places, including restaurants and bars. To allow smoking, establishments must meet exceptions to the law. One exception is for establishments that generate at least 80 percent of revenue from tobacco sales. The other is for casinos.

People need to be 18 or older to smoke hookah and 21 or older to drink.

“It’s a great facility for everybody,” Ali said.

The hookah lounge also offers cable television, free wireless Internet and will host belly dancing events, he said. Ali said they will play a versatile mix of Middle Eastern, Indian and American music.

Until the end of September, the lounge will offer specials on beer and hookah as part of the grand opening celebration, Ali said.

The lounge offers more than 20 flavors of tobacco, including grape, strawberry, mint, melon and pineapple. A hookah is an ancient Middle Eastern water pipe used for smoking tobacco.

Smoking hookah is “a good experience,” Ali said. “It’s a different kind of experience.

“It smells good, it tastes good, it’s not harsh like cigarettes or cigars.”

If people don’t want to smoke hookah, they can come in and watch TV or play cards. They have 30 hookahs in the lounge, and Ali said he has 100 hookahs between his three locations.

According to a World Health Organization advisory note from 2005, waterpipe smoking, or hookah, is associated with many of the same risks as cigarette smoking. A typical one-hour session of water pipe smoking involves inhaling 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette, according to the advisory.

This is the second hookah lounge in the Iowa City area. The Red Poppy Tea & Hookah Parlour, located in downtown Iowa City, opened in 2005.

Ali said he chose Coralville “to be away from downtown, the big crowd.”

“I have my own crowd,” he said. “People will drive and target us.”