UK

One of the earliest surviving incandescent light bulbs, made by the English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) in the 1870s, sold for £7500 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Bonhams’ sale titled Instruments of Science and Technology.

What still feels to many like the opening month of a new season got off to an excellent start with some serious, if occasionally unexpected, five-figure bids at four major provincial salerooms.

In the past, pictures by talented but obscure female artists were given short shrift on the secondary market. Now all that is changing.

Two contrasting marine scenes, encapsulating the unpredictable nature of the sea, were offered at a recent sale at Mitchells (20% buyer’s premium) of Cockermouth in Cumbria.

Japonisme, western art inspired by Japanese art and design, is the theme of the next Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair in London’s Battersea. At the event, which runs from October 2-7, a showcase in the foyer focuses on pieces that reflect the influence of Japanese design on European interiors.

Three modestly valued works in regional sales, all sold below £1000 including a watercolour of a North African market scene by Hercules Brabazon Brabazon.

Two early examples of Indo- Portuguese furniture sold for five-figure sums at auction this month.

The Northern Antiques Fair, an annual Harrogate event, is a chance for connoisseur buyers in the north to shop a little closer to home.

Trading as Discover Vintage, Keeley Harris runs shows in Coventry, Manchester and Leeds – the next on Sunday October 7 at the 1970s-built Pudsey Civic Hall, on the outskirts of Leeds.

Our round-up of British and Irish book sales coming up from September 25-October 6, 2018.

The annual London Writing Equipment Show at the Holiday Inn in Bloomsbury on Sunday October 7 will be a sell-out, says coorganiser Jeremy Collingridge.

Proof of a burgeoning market, a series of stellar results for British studio pottery were posted at the ‘Made in Britain’ sale conducted by Sotheby’s on Bond Street.

For most enthusiasts of Airfix’s plastic construction kits, it was the company’s dramatic box artwork that caught the eye when choosing the next model to make.

Bigger could mean better at the UK’s largest coin fair this year. Celebrating its 40th year, Coinex 2018 is in a larger venue and has more exhibitors.

There is a full load of arms fairs this month including the Antiques Arms Fair at Olympia on September 29 (see Dealers’ Diary, ATG No 2359) and the now triannual Kempton Vintage and Classic Arms Fair. Launched at Kempton Park Racecourse last year, it followed the demise in 2016 of the specialist event held for many years at the National Shooting Centre in Bisley.

Figurative art was the other big seller in early September, led by the waxwork of Medardo Rosso’s sculpture Bambina Ridente (see last week’s News pages) which topped a successful week of sales at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) when it more than doubled the top estimate at £180,000.

This linocut comes from one of just 30 copies of Rigby Graham’s 'The Casquets… the most dangerous Channel Islands' issued by the Brewhouse Press in 1972.