Features

Dealer portals provide a handy online view of a selection of stock from a large number of traders. They offer a connection to dealers for both the buyer casually browsing from home and the buyer seeking a specific type of item.

Whereas buying at fairs often involves a heavy dose of serendipity, buying at auction tends to be a more focused and considered affair.

Art and antiques shops and galleries offer an enjoyable retail experience with a knowledgeable dealer.

Ask anyone about a special item they bought and they will usually start by telling you how they came to own it. Here the ATG team recounts the story of 15 purchases, each one for under £1000

At a mid or high-end art and antiques fair buyers can comfortably get round all the stands in a day and have time to browse, consider and discuss with expert dealers. Such events have a more relaxed and social vibe to them: dealers invite their clients along and hope to meet new buyers by attracting them onto their stands with eye-catching items and displays.

Antiques centres provide a treasure trove of objects from a wide array of dealers all under one roof and make a good destination for a trip that any antiques or vintage lover will enjoy.

This parcel gilt musical box decorated with a frieze of figures is by Stuart Devlin (London 1975).

This 22oz George II serving dish by Paul de Lamerie (London 1747) was formerly part of the service commissioned by Admiral George Anson (1697-1762).

The London firm Samuel Jackson seems to have specialised in mounting other materials in silver to produce wine-coolers.

The Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu sale at Dix Noonan Webb (25% buyer’s premium) in London on March 15 included more fine silver and enamel vesta cases by Sampson Mordan & Co to add to those sold by the firm in September 2021.

With more than 16,000 works on display, 'Art Treasures of Great Britain', held in a temporary iron-and-glass structure built in the Old Trafford area of Manchester in 1857, remains the largest art exhibition to be held in the UK.

Silver was the major strength of a recent two-day sale at Dreweatts (25% buyers’ premium). All bar one of the 549 lots got away to a hammer total tipping the £1m mark.

An example of 17th century hollowware appeared for sale at Dawsons (23% buyer’s premium) in Maidenhead earlier this year.

Appealing to a range of different types of collectors, particularly aficionados of sewing antiques, Victorian and Edwardian animal pin cushions have their own niche in the novelty silver field.

Estimated at £20,000-30,000, this cast of the Warwick vase by John Samuel Hunt, London 1845, sold for £32,000.

Henry William Dee, the son of Soho silversmith Thomas William Dee (c.1792- 1869), made a speciality of producing silver novelties for Garrard, Leuchars & Son and Asprey’s and other retail goldsmiths. There was real genius here and the patterns for many were patented.

For many years the largest city outside London, Norwich had its own silver assay office during three periods from 1565-1702.

Is the fire returning to the Lalique market? Record results for a private collection of 150 perfume bottles at Lyon & Turnbull suggests it might be

The Lalique glass market – one where most pieces fall in the £500-10,000 price bracket – was once a space dominated in the UK by the major international auction houses, particularly Christie’s and then Bonhams. But the landscape has changed.

Christie’s was first off the mark in terms of releasing details of upcoming lots at this summer’s Old Masters auction series in London. Last week it announced two important consignments from the collection of Cecil and Hilda Lewis.