News topics

If you remember the American Football mania that first hit the UK in the mid-1980s when coverage started on Channel 4, then you will certainly recall ‘The Refrigerator’.

This winter village landscape showing peasants on a frozen waterway is among the works on offer at Richard Green’s exhibition Cabinet Paintings.

An ensemble of jewellery by René Lalique was on offer in a Decorative Arts sale held by Tessier & Sarrou (28% buyer’s premium) at Drouot. All the pieces were signed examples of his distinctive Art Nouveau style and inventive use of non-precious materials.

The simple pair of leather football boots on offer at East Bristol Auctions (17.5% buyer’s premium) this summer was not as flash as today’s examples in all colours and emblazoned with all kinds of branding and personalised messages.

At the age of 36 most footballers have either hung their boots up or are about to. By that stage Ronnie Simpson had experienced a decent enough career: including two FA Cup wins with Newcastle.

Keeping score in the earliest days of the Football League was not as easy as checking the internet.

Although a smaller affair than the much better-known Isle of Wight festival of the same year, the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music, held on June 27-28, 1970, at the Shepton Mallet showground, boasted perhaps the greatest UK music festival line-up of all time.

The FA Cup proved a happy hunting ground for Norman Whiteside in his playing days and at auction many years later the competition was still proving to be a big winner for him.

As with so many other sales schedules for the summer, Graham Budd’s June two-day auction had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown. However, he has just announced that he will be holding his next on November 9-10 as a live ‘broadcast’ auction (all forms of bidding except for in the room, viewing by timed appointment at the firm’s Enfield premises).

The Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair can go ahead as planned in September after the National Trust deemed it an ‘outdoor’ event.

A pair of imperially inscribed Qianlong (1735-96) mark and period famille rose wall vases set a house record for Asian art at Roseberys.

The ‘high season’ of summer auctions in London held by Sotheby’s and Christie’s generated £205.8m including premium last week.