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IN 1992 Norfolk dealer Liz Allport-Lomax formed Lomax Antiques Fairs to launch the East Anglian Antique Dealers Fair at Langley Park School, Loddon, Norfolk. Now she is arguably East Anglia’s top organiser with four annual events, each with a waiting list.

MOROCCO’s nascent attempts to establish a reputation as an international auction venue were given fresh impetus by the 200-lot sale staged in Casablanca on September 20 by the Compagnie Marocaine des Oeuvres & Objets d’Art (18/16/14% buyer’s premium).

HERE is a tale of good luck from Julian Tatham-Losh, who owns and deals out of Top Banana Antiques Mall, Tetbury, Gloucestershire. On returning to his car at the Chatou fair in France recently, Julian lost a money belt containing some £4000 in cash.

A REMINDER that there is still some time to catch the 18 special exhibitions mounted by members of The Cotswolds Antique Dealers Association as part of their annual exhibitions fortnight, and this year to celebrate the association’s 25th anniversary. The shows are scheduled to close on October 25, but I am sure there will still be some exhibition items on sale after that date.

Ethelbert White (1891-1972): Painter Printmaker by Hilary Chapman, published by Primrose Hill Press Ltd, Stratton Audley Park, Bicester, Oxon OX27 9AB ISBN 190264834 6 £29.85 hb

Historians of the craft of fish carving currently believe that the Scotsman John B. Russell (1819/20-1893) was the first professional maker of such models. Working with carver John Tully at the Fochabers Studio, which made models for Farlow & Co. into the 1930s, Russell is known to have been producing these fine trophies from around 1880, although the early date to the example pictured here suggests some rewriting of the literature might be required.

Bonhams weren’t the only London salerooms to be offering a good selection of antique glasswares. On October 9, just a week after the Harvey’s dispersal, Christie’s South Kensington (17.5/10% per cent buyer’s premium) had a mixed-owner 280-lot selection of British and Continental glass to offer as part of their monthly At Home series.

Fontainebleau auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat, 57, has replaced ArtCurial’s Hervé Poulain as head of France’s auctioneers’ association, the Syndicat National des Maisons de Ventes Volontaires (SYMEV).

AXA Art are holding a one-day seminar on protecting and conserving art on October 28 at the Royal Society of Arts, London. Before Art Falls Apart: Achieving Consensus on Care, Protection and Value will look at the changing role of dealers, curators, collectors, legal and academic experts, brokers and insurers in this field.

Sad news. The drunken rats and the two-faced lamb have finally parted company.

AUSTRALIA: Today there is no love lost in any Ashes series between England and Australia. It is a hard-fought duel which engenders at best a grudging respect, but a silver presentation tray which will be offered by the Australian auctioneers Lawson Menzies on October 19 is a reminder that the original Ashes series was played in a rather more convivial spirit and ended in a true love match.

Exceptional quality pictures with truly international appeal from long-standing private collections have become an all-too-rare sight in the provinces, but on October 3, thanks to significant consignments from no fewer than three deceased estates, Mallams Oxford (15% buyer’s premium) were able to offer at least half a dozen lots that wouldn’t have looked out of place at any of the world’s most expensive art fairs.

CLOSING this Saturday (October 18) and not to be missed, is an exhibition of photographs by Michael Cooper at the Atlas Gallery, 49 Dorset Street, London W1. One of the great archives of 1960s photography, this show has prompted the Independent on Sunday to brand the snapper as “The Swinging Sixties’ poet of the lens”. Lennon, Magritte, Warhol, Burroughs, the Rolling Stones, Twiggy, and Hockney are all featured among the 37 photos priced from £800 to £6000.

While the original Friendly Society was a successful London fire insurance association, the name was adopted throughout 18th and 19th century Britain to describe every kind of mutual aid organisation.

A PORTISHEAD parent proved no dummy when he unearthed two Regency library globes at his child’s school. The unusually large globes, by renowned London maker Cary, were discovered under the floorboards of local Bristol school, Portishead Primary, and went on to form the stellar entry in this 396-lot collectors sale.

Exceptional subjects still have the capacity to fetch exceptional prices, as the Bury St Edmunds auctioneers Lacy Scott & Knight (10% buyer’s premium) discovered when this unsigned and unattributed 19th century watercolour came under the hammer on September 20 with an estimate of £250-400.

WITH a £120,000 total from some 500 lots catering for most areas of antiques, the September 18 sale held by Douglas Ross (15% buyer’s premium) at Woburn was a sound, if unspectacular, start to the autumn season for the Bedfordshire rooms.

High quality mahogany carcase furniture continues to transcend any malaise experienced at other levels of the furniture market. The final lot of a small but nicely formed sale conducted by Finan & Co. at the Old Ship Hotel in Mere, Wiltshire on October 4 was this fretwork and blind fret decorated Chippendale-style and period mahogany library bookcase.

First introduced c.1809, the ‘Caramanian’ series represent one of Spode’s most popular early 19th century pattern ranges.

THE Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors have launched a Business Rates helpline which offers free advice to businesses across the UK. There is also a new, easy to understand leaflet available by calling the same number – 0870 333 1600.