TV antiques king in court battle over ‘broken deal’
HIS expertise and enthusiasm have made Charles Hanson a BBC stalwart of shows such as antiques Road Trip, Bargain Hunt and Flog It!
Other triumphs include his eponymous auction house, Hansons, identifying an 18th-century Qianlong vase — used as a doorstop for decades — and selling it for £650,000.
But now Hanson, 40, who began his career in the glass and ceramics department at Christie’s, stands accused of treating a former business associate with what she describes as ‘disdain and contempt’.
In a claim filed in court last week,
susan Haswell maintains that she helped Hanson — whose headquarters are in Derbyshire, where he lives with his wife, Rebecca, and their two children — establish his first base in the capital by finding him premises in teddington, south-West London.
the inaugural auction there was held in February last year, after which, claims Haswell, 54, the ‘business flourished’ — only for Hansons allegedly to alter the terms of their agreement six months later, ‘unilaterally’ and ‘without reason’.
Haswell alleges that, after making ‘numerous attempts’ to meet or discuss their agreement, she issued a claim for fees and commission, but received only partial payment, which, she says, explains her return to the court, seeking a total of £6,810.
‘It is very disappointing that my agreement with charles Hanson, entered into in good faith by me — and, I felt, by him — has been treated with such disdain and contempt,’ she tells me.
‘ I gave everything to the new venture and invested time and energy in creating the new London auction department. sadly, charles took and took.’
Hanson has now further expanded his London business into Notting Hill. A spokesman for Hansons Auctioneers tells me: ‘We acknowledge that there is a dispute which we are working hard to resolve.’