UK

THE fortifying glass of fruit punch offered by the Wadebridge auctioneers Lambrays (15% buyer’s premium) to buyers before the start of their traditional Cornish New Year’s Eve sale may not have fuelled much interest in the mid- to low-range quality furniture – around two-thirds of which failed to sell – but it whetted one private buyer’s appetite for the large shaped stained glass window, right.

A WORK of art in itself, a piece of US history and redolent of the tragic past of the American Indian tribes in which so many collectors are now passionately interested. Could any artefact be more likely to guarantee a huge price than this Blackfoot war bonnet, right, dating from the early/mid 19th century but still in fine condition?

IN February 1885, a 21ft long illuminated manuscript dating back to the 1320s was exhibited to the Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries in London.It was described as “a very curious Genealogical Roll of the Kings of England” whose “chief point of interest is the artistic excellence of the figures”.

THE Andrew McIntosh Patrick Collection of metalwork by Christopher Dresser – to be sold by Edinburgh auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull in April – is on view at The Fleming Collection, 13 Berkeley Street, London W1 on Thursday, March 10 (not March 7 as previously advertised).

Police have issued this CCTV image of a man wanted for questioning in connection with a theft at a Greenwich antiques shop.

Back in the 1920s the Great Western Railway was amongst the pioneers of marketing. It produced a large array of promotional items, among which were the well-known series of wooden jigsaw puzzles made by the Chad Valley toy company, and sold on the railway’s bookstalls. Nearly 40 different puzzles were made.

Two pictures by Henry Redmore (1820-1887) helped Scarborough auctioneers David Duggleby (12.5% buyer’s premium) to a record sale back on November 29 by selling for a combined £27,600.

THE currencies of the world will be traded at Maastricht, but no exchange is likely to match that seen on the stand of West Yorkshire porcelain specialist Valerie Clark at Robert Bailey’s Winter Fine Art and Antiques Fair in Harrogate over the weekend of February 4 to 6.

FOR a century and a half, the family breweries which peppered Stroud, supplied the Cotswolds with a variety of ales.

Clarke Gammon Wellers, Guildford, December 14. Buyer’s premium: 15 per centTHE current demand for decorative furniture was underscored at this 710-lot Surrey auction by a pair of hybrid, George III, satinwood marquetry and parcel gilt side tables which stole the limelight.

The venerable Mayfair dealership The Fine Art Society, whose Bond Street premises are currently undergoing stage two of a refurbishment, has announced two youthful appointments to its board of directors.

WITH MacArthurmania gripping a nation already gearing itself up for the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar, this should, in theory, be an auspicious year for the UK marine pictures market.

Almost a quarter of a century after it was stolen from its walls, the Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery is again appealing for the return of a Japanese woodblock print that once belonged to Vincent van Gogh.

Though blessed with means of communication beyond the comprehension of anyone of Nelson’s navy – superior by far to signal beacons, semaphore and speeding sloops and cutters – an unfortunate breakdown in these modern methods meant that the two Nelson items featured in last week’s reports were not joined by what proved to be the star turn in a Lyon & Turnbull sale of February 1.

WELSH organisers Amulet Fairs are at Deeside on Sunday February 27 and then, on March 6, at Llangollen. Remember to bring your euros.

JUST a couple of years ago, specialist glass fairs were proliferating. That frenzy seems to have settled down of late, probably because the serious glass dealers understandably are getting choosy. But one that increasingly is making its mark is the Cambridge Glass Fair, organised by Paul Bishop under the name Oxbridge Fairs, which will be held for the fifth time this Sunday (February 20) at Chilford Hall Vineyard, Linton, Cambridgeshire.

A remarkable array of art and antiques seized by the High Court from an Austrian businessman convicted of fraud were sold by a small-scale Buckinghamshire auctioneer last week.

“SWINDERBY goes it alone, a week before Newark,” was the headline in the ATG’s October 23 issue last year. With dmg’s Newark ditching their Monday and Tuesday slot in favour of a Thursday to Saturday event (February 3-5) this put Swallow Fairs’ at RAF Swinderby a full week ahead with their Thursday to Sunday show on January 28-30.

DISTINGUISHED Kensington early English pottery specialist Jonathan Horne, whose stock is as popular with his many American collectors as on the home market, returns from the New York Ceramics Fair to his shop at 66c Kensington Church Street, London W8 from February 22 to March 5 for his 25th annual exhibition.

Buoyed by rising stockmarkets and the continuing strength of the euro against the pound, European private collectors were buying in force at Sotheby’s and Christie’s February round of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art sales in London.