Latest News Articles by Joan Porter
Grandma’s Attic has plenty in store
02 April 2018Dealer Chris Brown is a busy man. A specialist in Poole pottery, for a start he organises the twice-yearly dedicated sale at Cottees Auctions in Poole, Dorset.
Mount your own Everest ascent
02 April 2018In answer to the question “why do you want to climb Mount Everest?” mountaineer George Mallory, who died on it in 1924, famously replied “because it’s there”.
Bengal and Bauer both on sale at the textiles fair
02 April 2018The panel of kantha stitching from West Bengal shown below will be for sale with dealer Jennifer Evans, aka Jenpatola, for £79 at The Textile Society’s antique and vintage textile fair at the Armitage Centre in Manchester on Sunday April 15.
Firm foundations: IACF’s operations director describes the value of experience in the organising world
02 April 2018One of the aspects of the antiques fairs which are so much a part of the trade’s lifeblood is often their sheer longevity.
Forget the Beast from the East: it’s our Best from the Easter
26 March 2018The Easter holiday weekend is one of the busiest in the fairs and markets calendar and organisers will be offering up a prayer to the gods for good weather, particularly those who run showground events.
More Easter fair dates to look forward to
26 March 2018Easter fairs and markets around the UK over the Easter weekend.
Pen a positive response to the Yorkshire Fleamarket
19 March 2018Helen Bowman and Ben Wray of Bowman Antiques Fairs say they are delighted that their sister event, the Yorkshire Flea run at Skipton Auction Mart, is growing in popularity.
Mix business and pleasure at Snape
19 March 2018About 500,000 people a year visit Snape Maltings, on the banks of the River Alde, to take in the exhibitions, galleries, independent shops and riverside walks as well as the Aldeburgh Festival and the Snape Proms.
Turning from collector to dealer at Bowman
19 March 2018Graham Beech will be one of the new standholders among the 220 exhibitors at the three-day Bowman Antiques Fairs event at the Stafford County Showground from March 23-25.
First marks made at Charing Cross
19 March 2018Meet David, a young collector pictured below with his mother Inna at a recent Charing Cross Collectors Market. David, who is nine, is shown holding his purchase, a George II silver shilling which he will be adding to his budding numismatics collection.
Go underground in vintage style
19 March 2018Former railway tunnel and air raid shelter in Ramsgate provides novel venue for Sunday fair...
Stampex award goes to Ephemera Society member
12 March 2018Ephemera Society member Robertino Poposki has been awarded the silver prize in the ephemera class at the Spring Stampex 2018, organised by the Association of British Philatelic Societies.
Marine collector offers items at Holt event
12 March 2018Stephen Walters is a maritime expert who has acted as a consultant to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich – the largest task being to design and part-curate the William Bligh bicentenary exhibition in 1989.
Peterborough Festival remains a success for Bob Evans Fairs
12 March 2018It all started in 1972 when Bob Evans Fairs launched a small and pioneering antiques fair in Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, followed by 70 more up and down the country.
Dealer shows driving ambition to launch fairs
05 March 2018He’s 30 now but a love for antiques all started for decoratives and jewellery dealer William Driver when he was eight. His interest began with collecting Wade Whimsies, progressing to Clarice Cliff and other pieces as he trawled antiques fairs and markets.
Design event rolls in to former Brussels railway station
05 March 2018Tour & Taxis in Brussels is a vast swathe of Victorian industrial warehouses on the city’s canal. The complex includes the former train station and its spacious central hall, a long-disused international postal and customs office with links to the German Thurn and Taxis family.
Oz suitcase rummage comes to UK
05 March 2018Gene Hoyle, of Lancashire-based family firm Hoyles Promotions, which has been running busy weekly Sunday fleamarkets and car boots across north-west England for 40 years, is adding a “suitcase rummage” to his fleamarkets at Clitheroe Auction Mart in the Lancashire town.
Born identity of brocante in Paris suburb
05 March 2018J’y Reste (I am there) is a clay sculpture evoking a symbolic birth created by Brigitte Moity in her studio at Savigny-sur-Orge, a suburb of Paris.
Mid-century is modern look
05 March 2018“Mid-century is pretty unstoppable as the ‘new antique’ with exhibitions on Fifties and Sixties designers like Charles and Ray Eames and Harry Bertoia now regular events,” says Lucy Ryder Richardson, founder with Petra Curtis of the Midcentury Modern Shows.
On the scent of antique perfume bottle Mother's Day gifts at IACF Shepton Mallett
26 February 2018The annual celebration of Mother’s Day falls this year on Sunday, March 11. Perfume bottles dating from the Victorian era, in a variety of materials and range of prices are a one-of-a-kind gift option.