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ERIC Knowles crowned his fourth year as the chairman of the British Antiques and Collectables Awards with another grand dinner and ceremony at the Dorchester in London hosted by Miller’s. The event, which took place on Tuesday last week, paid tribute to excellence across the country among dealers and auctioneers.

John Hassell (1868-1948) produced designs for some 600 to 700 posters – including one for the British Vacuum Cleaner Company depicting a lecherous bit of machinery chasing a nubile parlour-maid – but by far his best known work is Skegness Is So Bracing.

Even as the million-pound Impressionist and Modern pictures were being knocked down in their King Street saleroom last week, Christie’s were reconfirming their commitment to the currently troubled middle market sector.

There has been considerable reportage on the subject of commemorative medals at auction recently, and the considerable museum participation in auction sales. So spare a thought for the dealer who issues fixed-price lists. Two fine English fixed-price catalogues have recently thudded through my letterbox.

Highlight of the remainder of the Roy Mickleburgh collection sold by Bristol Auction Rooms on June 24 was this rare monkey band automaton, c.1870. The nine-piece chamber orchestra includes no fewer than 43 separate movements operated by a French mechanism and is housed in a rosewood veneered two-part case with a 48-note German-made crankwind barrel organ below playing a choice of seven tunes.

On July 21 and 22, Sotheby’s will be holding a house contents sale at Wormington Manor near Broadway. This was the Worcestershire home of interior decorator, Christopher Rowley whose shop in Lower Sloane Street, Belgravia was a familiar meeting point for his large circle of friends and clients until his death in April this year.

THERE are few better ways of spending a sunny June afternoon than browsing around the gardens and castle of ’s-Gravenwezel, 10 miles outside Antwerp, as a guest of its owner, the legendary Belgian antique dealer and interior decorator Axel Vervoordt.

Apart from their specialist commemorative medal sale, Morton & Eden (15% buyer’s premium) busied themselves with a general 1025-lot sale on May 21 which made a total of £592,877. This fine result was coupled with a reasonably small failure rate of just 12 per cent. This is about the norm for more specialised events but hard to achieve in a general sale.

A watercolour and drawings sale held by Bonhams on June 10 included a small group of E.H. Shepard illustrations from the estate of the late Jean Ames, who as Jean Gourlay had befriended the artist during the late 1930s and early 1940s, prior to his second marriage, and though the saleroom was non-committal on the matter, it is possible that these versions were specially made by Shepard for Miss Ames.

Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg have opened a new London office in Mayfair to replace their recently vacated Grosvenor Street premises. The new premises at 26-27 Albemarle Street are, say the company, a more cost-effective alternative to Grosvenor Street.

LONDON: Police are urging London’s silver and jewellery dealers to be particularly vigilant after a spate of thefts, or attempted thefts, in the West End. In the space of ten days at the beginning of June three shops were hit by thieves including Kenneth Davis Works of Art of King Street who had a Russian gold box by assay master Dmitrii Il’ich Tverskoi stolen by a man at about 4.15 pm on Friday June 13.

A bunch of flowers sold to a private buyer brought a welcome fragrance for Christie’s (24-18.5% buyer’s premium, excluding VAT) in their auction of Modern and Contemporary Art in Milan on May 26, and proved a powerful attraction, with a full room and numerous bidders on the telephone.

IT’S not all Mod Brit, the modern art market in Britain – there are still buyers who want their heroes and their gardens and during May, Oxford auctioneers Mallams (15% buyer’s premium) were able to supply both markets, albeit at different price levels.

MAYFAIR Orientalist Roger Keverne is offering more than 100 objects in his current Summer Exhibition of Fine and Rare Chinese Works of Art and Ceramics at his gallery at 16 Clifford Street, London W1.

NEW York’s Posteritati Movie Posters, among the world’s leading specialists in the field, hold an exhibition of vintage posters from the MGM musicals of the 1930s to 1950s at their Manhattan gallery throughout July.

Coming up in London: Hidden for over 300 years behind the work of a pupil, this image of one of the world’s most celebrated painters at the age of 28 has only recently emerged from beneath layers of overpaint. This newly discovered Rembrandt self-portrait promises to be the highlight of this summer’s auction season in London and will be offered for sale at Sotheby’s on July 10.

The specialist art and antiques insurers AXA Art have issued advice to their clients following the increasing incidence of art theft from country houses during the last few months.

THE long-suffering middle and lower ranges of the trade can take little solace from business patterns at the June fairs in London, the hub of the capital’s most intense dealing period. With a total of some 500 professional dealers exhibiting at the major fairs, it was those with the rarer, better quality stock who were making sales, despite high price tags.

There was plenty of evidence of buyers’ appreciation of the sculptural qualities of white-glazed porcelain figures from both English and Continental factories. Early, 1750s English examples are particularly sought after and the June sales offered examples from Chelsea and Bow, while on the Continental front Christie’s had an entire collection of white biscuit and porcelain pieces to sell as part of their single-owner Boulle to Jansen sale.Some of the most expensive are shown here.

THE series of chunky Perspex and silver-plated table lighters made by Dunhill in the inter-war years are always welcome auction visitors. The majority depict aquatic subjects – they are sometimes called fish tank lighters – and usually sell in the £300-600 bracket so it was something of a surprise to see the example right offered at Dorking, auctioneers P.F. Windibank (10% buyer’s premium) sell at £2800 on May 24.