UK

The attractions of variations from run-of-the-mill ceramics extends to all factories, and the recent sale of a Royal Doulton 'Nelson' jug showed how the presence of a rare backstamp mark can increase the value of an item 100 times over.

A highlight at Fieldings Auctioneers’ July 7 sale in Stourbridge is a box containing personal effects reputed to have belonged to Captain William Kidd, the well-known Scottish sailor who was convicted of piracy and hanged in London on May 23, 1701.

Richard Winterton Auctioneers of Lichfield, Staffordshire will be offering for sale on July 5 a corporate collection of original artwork to include works by Vida Gabor, Jean Chaleye, Sue Ryder and Byron Howard among others.

A collection of Cornish Troika pottery will go under the hammer at Lawrences of Crewkerne, Somerset at their three-day, mixed-discipline sale on July 3, 5 and 6.

Among the star attractions at Bloomsbury Auction’s ‘Urban Contemporary’ sale, a 120-lot auction held on July 3 in Mayfair, London is ‘Moona Lisa’, a unique rendition in gold by Bristol-based artist Nick Walker.

ATG Editor Ivan Macquisten is pictured here chairing a debate at the Summer Olympia fair on how the West should adapt to the demands of the Asian market.

Lockdales of Ipswich are probably best known as coin and militaria specialists but, having moved premises earlier this year, they have also offered some stand-out items in their fine art and antiques sales in 2012.

A new management structure at Tennants of Leyburn has seen proprietor Rodney Tennant pass the day-to-day running of the business to a fourth generation.

Glamorous, imaginative, fresh, unashamedly expensive and just a bit OTT – ‘Masterpiece London’ is back for a third time.

Seldom appearing at auction, this very rare English, Longton Hall porcelain figure of Guanyin, c.1750 will be offered at Chorley’s June 28, ceramics-focused sale in Gloucestershire.

The fine pictures, silver and jewellery auction at Halls of Shrewsbury on June 27 will offer for sale the coronets and accompanying robes bought in the second quarter of the 19th century from Garrard & Co Ltd and worn by the Earl and Countess of Cavan.

This Chinese cloisonné enamel crane from the Qing Dynasty (18th-19th century) will be offered in Dreweatts’ Donnington Priory sale on June 27.

A 19th century vampire-slaying kit will be just one of the unusual pieces for sale at Tennants on June 22.

Jacobs & Hunt of Petersfield, in association with consultant John Cameron, will offer the collection of the late record-breaking aviator Peter Twiss at auction on June 22.

Pressure for better police cover is starting to pay off for Portobello antiques dealers – but they say there is still much to be done. The traders have been incensed by cuts that left just four officers to patrol the area in pairs on Saturdays despite a recent rise in robberies, and demanded action on extra patrols.

Worcester Porcelain Museum will be launching a new look by unveiling items never seen before at the 'Antiques for Everyone' fair in July.

A medieval Nottingham alabaster plaque prised away from a London church has been recovered after the appeal in ATG.

After 12 years of trading together, London clock dealers Nigel Raffety and Howard Walwyn of Raffety & Walwyn Ltd have announced that they will be going their separate ways this month.

COMMENT: More than 60,000 visitors on a summer Saturday, one of the most popular tourist spots in the UK, a name so recognised internationally that the local council wants to brand a Crossrail station after it... there are plenty of reasons to protect Portobello‘s antiques trade.

Sotheby’s latest sale of European Paintings in London proved a seminal event for the work of Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916) as five paintings by the Danish painter topped the sale, led by a record price at auction for both the artist and any Danish work of art.