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An American private collector bid £15,000 for a rare Clarice Cliff figure group at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury.

The global report delivers the bigger picture for auctions and dealers but there are findings relevant to the mid- and lower-markets too.

Last week’s review of a recently published ebook on a Dallas collection of early English pottery included an image of a pair of figures of the famous bare-knuckle pugilists Thomas Cribb and Thomas Molineux.

MADAM – I am an artist and a restorer and have been working with broken Staffordshire figurines for some time now – re-inventing and giving them a new lease of life.

A cluster of new fairs is planned in Europe this year.

While many a hopeful vendor has to be told gently that great-great-grandpa’s pocket watch is worth little more than the melt price of the metal, a complication or major name – such as the signature Ch. Frodsham, London to the movement of this example, below – makes all the difference.

Considering retiring and selling up, the owner of a Cornish B&B owner consigned the George III, japanned chest on stand, below, to Honiton saleroom Chilcotts (19.5% buyer’s premium) to test the market.

The Easter holiday weekend is one of the busiest in the fairs and markets calendar and organisers will be offering up a prayer to the gods for good weather, particularly those who run showground events.

Bac To Basic Antiques brings a special display of First World War commemorative pottery to this edition of the Antiques for Everyone fair.

Pictured and discussed here is a selection of interesting and unusual lots from sales in February and early March, ranging from a Russian enamel jug in Saarbruecken and an aristocratic de Lászlo portrait in Heidelberg to an early Grand Tour souvenir in cork in Cologne.

Porcelain by Jacob Petit (1797-1868) is a scarce sight at provincial rooms.

Among Horace Hone’s (1756-1825) most renowned depictions was the 18th century actress Sarah Siddons.

None of the works by the Elizabethan poet, courtier and soldier Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86) were actually published in his lifetime.

'Busman’s Honeymoon: A Love Story with Detective Interruptions' was the 11th and last of the Dorothy L Sayers books featuring Lord Peter Wimsey.

Aldine press books of the early 16th century, mostly it seems in a good but much later full morocco or calf bindings, produced a number of the higher bids in a recent Yorkshire sale.

The essential guide to the German auction world - 10 things to know

MADAM – I was open-mouthed in disbelief to see again opinion discussed as fact when the ivory issue was aired on national television (ATG No 2334).

MADAM – I did a double – no, triple – take when I read the article ‘First Doctor Who script up at auction’ in ATG No 2332.

“It’s not the age or pedigree – it’s the look of the piece.” The phrase became less a heresy and more a cliché during the latter years of the furniture boom of blessed memory, when the increasingly influential decorator trade was spending substantial sums on 19th and early 20th century reproductions.

The venerable Antiques for Everyone (AfE) fair is still open to change in its 33rd year. The next edition runs from April 5-8 at Birmingham’s NEC, hosting around 200 dealers who offer items to fit a variety of tastes, functions and wallets.