UK

MADAM – I was astonished to learn that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has specifically decided to refuse any grants under the Discretionary Grant Scheme to antiques market stallholders in Portobello Market.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from July 14-29, 2020.

Daniel Hadden trades in art and antiques online and recently featured in ATG as one of the founders of the social media effort #alcoholandframes (see ATG Nos 2447 & 2449).

The New Hall China Manufactory holds an important place in the history of English porcelain. Active from 1781-1835, it was effectively a cooperative between several Staffordshire earthenware makers, who acquired the Bristol porcelain patent and financed a factory together, first at Tunstall and then at Shelton New Hall in Hanley.

Bonhams will sell the third tranche of a substantial private collection of Meissen on July 22. It includes a number of Böttger stonewares with this 4in (10cm) head of the Emperor Vitellius, c.1710-13, estimated at £4000-6000.

Eighteen months ago, dealer Lydia Wood launched an antiques trail in the small town of Ashburton on the edge of the Dartmoor National Park in south Devon.

Large, bold and decorative, transfer-printed pottery footbaths have an appeal that goes beyond collectors of 19th century ceramics.

'Concetto spaziale' (1960) by Lucio Fontana is one of the works on offer at The Arts Club exhibition Block Party.

Helen Yourston, director of B2B Events, has been in touch with a reminder of the organiser’s first event post-lockdown.

This rare 2in (5cm) English delftware ointment pot, c.1775, carries the inscription in manganese 'The Queen’s Dentifrice'.

Staffordshire flatback figures have been off the boil for a while.

When once asked how long he had spent painting a certain picture, Scottish artist William Johnstone (1897-1981) is said to have replied: “Only 10 minutes, I suppose, but it’s taken 70 years of looking.”

Pitching a work at the right level is crucial to demand and price when it comes to selling unattributed or loosely ascribed Old Masters at auction.

International bidders competed online and by phone against the UK trade and collectors for a group of 18th century Meissen figures offered at Adam Partridge (20% buyer’s premium) in Macclesfield.

This spiral-moulded cream jug decorated with a drummer boy is from a well-documented Caughley tea and coffee service painted with figural subjects by Fidelle Duvivier during a brief period of work at the Chamberlain factory in Worcester in October 1792.

Two pictures from local deceased estates drew solid competition at a recent sale at East Yorkshire auction house Hawleys (20% buyers premium) thanks to being offered with ‘there-to-be-sold’ estimates.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

A George IV rosewood table with an Italian specimen marble top, c.1820, was among the highlight sales at Masterpiece’s recent virtual edition, selling with an asking price of £75,000 to a private collector.