Print Edition

Some auctioneers believe they are rock stars when they take to the rostrum. But the owner of a new auction business in the north-west has been closer to real-life rock stars than most gavel-masters.

Catching the eye at the Oriental Sale at Cheffins (22.5% buyer’s premium) in Cambridge on August 10 were the two highly collectable 4¾in (12cm) tall gourd cricket cages shown here.

It was the 18th century Dutch silversmith John Schuppe who first popularised the silver cow creamer in Britain in the 1750s. Over the following centuries his design captured the imagination of the upper classes, who commissioned these novelty jugs in droves.

The great flowering of the kimono was in the Edo period (1615-1868) when the merchant and artisan classes, or chōnin, could not use their new-found wealth to improve their social status, so rigid was the shogun military hierarchy.

Two opposing views on the big questions facing the trade… ATG asks whether galleries should display the prices of the works they exhibit at fairs?

Tattooed from head to foot, this ‘Native of Nukahiva’ (in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia) features on one of the two frontispieces and a folding chart that form the illustrative content of the 1813, first English edition of Adam von Krusenstern’s 1803-06 Voyage round the World…

The Giant Flea and Collectors’ Market at the Royal Bath & West Showground in Shepton Mallet is almost fully booked inside with 200 stallholders.

Warwick arms and armour dealer Runjeet Singh will have a representative at the new Olympia fair (see separate story) but he has a ‘fixture clash’ to cope with. The west London show coincides with his first exhibition in Asia.

Recent country house contents sales at Chorley's, Halls and Hansons show that evolving the model is breathing new life into a traditional format.

ATG’s weekly selection of items on sale at auctions and dealerships.

Alexander Loveday of Loveday Antiques, which was started by his father David in 1969 in a small north London shop but is now based in a Hertfordshire showroom.

It may be pretty quiet on the auction front in Europe but Down Under the saleroom and fairs scene is in full swing.

Self-regulation of the art and antiques trade was set to be the focus of an auction conference in Shanghai at the weekend.

Over the years, any number of rare and very early manuscript fragments have been recovered from disintegrating old bindings in which they had been used as packing.

A unique Victoria Cross and other awards won by one of the greatest heroes in Canadian history is to be auctioned by Dix Noonan Webb on September 27.

This focus on furniture kicks off with a royal link and three more cheers at summer sales for the furniture market which a number of auctioneers are saying shows modest signs of recovery.

A 19th century painting depicting the death of Horatio Nelson soared to £21,500 at Lawrences (22% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne on July 14.

An RAF logbook added value to a Second World War casualty group sold at Ipswich saleroom Lockdales (19.5% buyer’s premium) on July 15-16.

Thomas Del Mar, former Sotheby’s specialist and founder of the 25 Blythe Road group of auctioneers, turns fair organiser next month. The first Olympia Arms Fair takes place on September 30.

Medals for service in the Falklands, Northern Ireland and long service/good conduct denote a busy 1980s career. In value terms, for a non-special forces unit, it means a price probably within £1000 at auction. But it is a single action lasting about 17 minutes from start to finish which explains why such a group on offer at Woolley & Wallis on November 22 is estimated at £20,000-30,000.