UK

In a major cooperative move, next summer’s series of London book and map fairs has been aligned to run in the same four-day stretch.

Early British army uniforms were the highlight of an extensive single-owner militaria collection amassed by a long-standing Nottinghamshire family which was offered at Stroud Auctions.

‘More affordable’ Lucie Rie lots head a selection of hammer highlights from summer sales.

Trade associations have defended the current firearms laws in the UK amid accusations on a BBC Panorama programme of a ‘loophole’ in gun control.

Pitched at £20-40, a small bisque doll with jointed limbs, below, topped Mitchells’ (20% buyer’s premium) toys sale at Cockermouth on July 21.

Our round-up of British and Irish book sales coming up from August 28-September 9, 2018.

The setting for this near-monochrome self-portrait, below, by Walter Sickert (1860-1942) is the Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo in Venice and shows the equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni and the Scuola Grande di San Marco.

'Elements of Foliate Heads' will be instantly familiar to fans of John Piper (1903-92), despite the fact that the picture has not been on the market for more than half a century.

Thirty dealers will be showing off the many striking elements of Art Deco at English Heritage’s two-day fair on Saturday and Sunday, September 8-9.

MADAM – In his letter (ATG No 2355) Michael Baggott references the possibility that, following changes in the law, antiques could be mutilated because of their ivory content.

Topping two days of steady selling and 750 wide-ranging lots at Leominster saleroom Brightwells’ (17.5% buyer’s premium) summer auction was a Republic period cong-form vase in the style of the renowned Qianjiang School artist Wang Yeting.

Unseen on the market since 1946, a view of Sloane Square (below) by Robert Buhler (1916-89) raced to £5000 at Ewbank’s (22.5% buyer’s premium).

An intriguing portrait by an unidentified hand of a Royal Navy admiral in a wig and blue gilt braided uniform was a star entry at Cotswold saleroom Chorley’s (20/15/12.5/10% buyer’s premium).

Briefly noted in ATG No 2353 was a copy of Through the Looking Glass sold for £30,000 at Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9%) on July 10, where it was part of the eighth and latest sale of books from ‘The Library of an English Bibliophile’.

Created to impress and instruct, textiles played an important role in the history of the Catholic Church.

Selling above estimate at Jacobs & Hunt (22% buyer’s premium) in Liss, Hampshire, was a life-size bronze by Sydney Harpley (1927-92) titled Umbrella Girl, below.

A simple image titled 'Pony' by British artist Patrick Caulfield is the highest-estimated lot ever to be offered at south London saleroom Roseberys.

This watercolour, below, by Frederic Whiting (1874-1962) took a multi-estimate £2500 at Thomson Roddick’s (15% buyer’s premium) Edinburgh saleroom on August 9.

The annual Art Car Boot Fair, now in its 15th year, will run this month in Granary Square in London’s revitalised King’s Cross area.

Outselling the usual favourite Bond movie posters, a British Quad for Get Carter starring Michael Caine topped the 69-lot specialist sale of movie posters at Ewbank’s (22.5% buyer’s premium).