London

Sold for £6000 in a Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of March 30 was a copy of one of the earliest books on swimming.

The time has come for the second of Robert Young Antiques’ three annual events. The Exhibition of Antiques Folk Art is the only one to take place in the dealer’s Battersea gallery and this year runs from May 11-20.

“Wait a minute. You’re putting my gloves in jail? This is awful. How can you put my gloves in jail? They ain’t done nothing… yet!”

Antique dolls supremo Judy Bebber has been organising the biannual Kensington Doll Show at Kensington Town Hall for 20 years.

Described as a building full of clues and symbolism created by its architects John Seely and Paul Paget, Eltham Palace was designed in 1933 for the vastly rich art collectors Virginia and Stephen Courtauld of textiles fame.

ATG’s weekly selection of items on sale at auctions and dealerships.

A week before their new joint space opens, dealers Charles Wallrock and David Brooker stand in the shell of their gallery sipping cups of tea, admiring the fresh paint job and speculating on how long it will take to lay the carpet.

Before the poet Edward Lear sent the owl and the pussycat out to sea in a beautiful pea green boat in his 1867 poem, he combined them in this c.1846 watercolour.

Daniel Levy opened his gallery, Daniel Raphael, in Church Street, Marylebone, earlier this year. The contemporary art gallery features the works of emerging and established artists. In the future he plans to increase his involvement in the fair scene.

More than 130 original artworks by the artist, sometimes savage political cartoonist and stage designer, Gerald Scarfe, were offered by Sotheby’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on April 5.

If you are interested in Chinese mother-of-pearl gaming counters then it’s a pretty good bet that the name Bill Neal will also come up.

In the continuing series looking through the keyhole of ‘bricks and mortar’ shops in 2017, ATG talks to Stuart Watson who runs St. Reatham Antiques.