News

THE portrait of John Davis seen right – if it is indeed the man after whom the straits between Greenland and Baffin Island are named – was far and away the earliest of the Arctic lots on offer, but not the most expensive.

HAVING staged fairs with varying success in Birmingham and London, LAPADA, our largest trade association, enters a new era this month with the launch of a new event at a new venue – The LAPADA Autumn Antiques and Fine Art Fair which will run at The Centaur at Cheltenham Racecourse, Gloucestershire from October 21 to 24.

EXCAVATION work due to start shortly on archaeological remains, as part of the Bermondsey redevelopment project, will not interfere with the New Caledonian Antiques Market.

FURNITURE in Bonhams' (17.5/10% buyer's premium) Par sale on September 2 was given a considerable boost by a contingent of Irish dealers who between them secured around 20 of the more standard entries in the 104-lot section.

RIGHT: London auctioneers Spink’s pre-sale billing of this Anglo Saxon gold penny as ”the most important discovery in British numismatics for many years” gained tangible endorsement last week when they sold it for £200,000 – a new record for an English coin.

THE chronicles of Captain Cook and his perils on the high seas of the South Pacific, possess a mixture of action, adventure, discovery, science and romance that is enough to capture the most hardened imagination.

SWALLOW Fairs say they will announce their dates for next year’s International Antiques and Collectors’ Fair at RAF Swinderby this Thursday.