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The toy fair at Sandown Park in November is usually “the busiest one of the four we hold there each year”, says Barry Potter, founder in 1979 of BP Fairs, which first launched at this racecourse venue 31 years ago.

MADAM – We have a once fine upright piano in our salerooms, sadly rejected now at three successive sales.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

This large, rare Victorian doorstop depicting Charles Edward Stuart, or Bonnie Prince Charlie as it is inscribed, is offered by Malcolm Eglin Antiques for £395 at the next Galloway fair.

While it was probably pleasing for a buyer at Holts (25% buyer’s premium) to know a pair of Purdey shotguns had previously been owned by ‘God’, or Eric Clapton as less passionate fans of the great guitarist know him, it did not materially affect the £160,000 winning bid.

In its short nine-sale history, Kingham & Orme (22% buyer’s premium) has experienced considerable success selling fans, 55 of which were included in the October 5-6 mammoth sale attracting bids from round the world. Many were of museum quality.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales below £6500 and three upcoming lots offered over the next fortnight, including a painting of Margate by George-William Thornley.

Formerly in the collections of a distinguished English bibliophile, Major John Roland Abbey, a copy of Luigi Mayer’s well-known set of Views in Egypt, Palestine and the Ottoman Empire was one of the highlights of a recent Scottish sale.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

A vivid palette of primary colours and an equestrian theme in a natural yet abstracted landscape: the elements that define André Brasilier’s painting 'Cavalcade d’automne' are integral to his wider output.

Among the most desirable of all needlework samplers are those associated with pupils of the orphanages, asylums and charity schools of the Georgian and Victorian eras.

A 17th century manuscript grimoire that sold for £18,000 (featured on these pages in ATG No 2363) was very much the star turn of an October 2 sale in Sussex, but certainly not the only lot to catch the eye.

Launched in 2016, the fleamarket which runs every weekend at Flat Iron Square around seven railway arches on London’s Bankside in Southwark Street, SE1, has now extended into adjacent Union Street.

A newly discovered work by the 17th century French artist Jacques Stella (1576-1657) found by Xavier de la Perraudière of auction house Ivoire Angers in a local property is to be offered for sale on December 5.

The multi-talented Deco designer and artist Jean Dunand (1877-1942) is one of the names celebrated in Christie’s selected design sale in Paris on November 14 with around 20 pieces in different media.

A portable table clock by Thomas Tompion sold for a top-estimate £200,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) as part of a mixed-owner sale conducted by Hansons at Bishton Hall, Staffordshire.

New figures obtained by the BADA reveal that piano keys represent the vast majority of ivory items exported from the UK in the past three calendar years.

At a time when catering for niche interests is a profitable path for auctioneers, recent sales in Scotland, Ireland and England have shown that the furniture market can still come to life – provided it meets three criteria.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.