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French Jewelry of the 19th Century by Henri Vever, translated by Katherine Purcell, published by Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0500237840 HB slipcased £195 until December 31, 2001, then £225.

SOTHEBY’S launch their new saleroom at Olympia in West London on September 18 with the auction of the Ian Grant Collection, removed from 41 Ladbroke Square.

Rain of the Moon: Silver in Ancient Peru, by Heidi King with contributions, published by Metropolitan Museum of Art, distributed by Yale University Press. ISBN 0300085125. £14.95 pb.

UK: PAINTINGS were the main strength of the 422-lot sale at Phillips, Knowle (15/10% buyer’s premium) on July 18, but furniture and works of art also boosted the £236,800 total.

There are some who think that the people who collect the cat paintings of Louis Wain (1860-1939) are as mentally unbalanced as the artistic imagination that created them, but there is no gainsaying the extraordinary prices that Wain continues to fetch in the salerooms.

A MIX of modest standard furniture and collectable ceramics hardly seemed a formula for success in mid-summer but the mix at Fellows (buyer’s premium 15%) attracted a full house at Birmingham on July 10.

The annual Hong-Kong coin sale presided over by Baldwin-Ma-Gillio-Monetarium is always a big draw. This one, number 33, including the semi-annual sales at Singapore, is scheduled for August 30.