South-west England

After more than 140 years out of the public eye, two maiolica plaques by the celebrated Renaissance artist Francesco Xanto Avelli (1487-1542) sold for £38,000 each at auction in Salisbury.

Chorley’s (25% buyer’s premium) first dedicated Islamic & Indian sale section was based around a single consignment: an East India Company (EIC) archive that came by direct descent from Sir Charles William Rouse Boughton (1747-1821).

The Cotswolds Decorative, Antiques & Art Fair welcomes new and returning exhibitors this autumn.

Relatively few Britannia Standard silver dinner services from the Queen Anne period are available to buy.

The sale at Harper Field in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, on November 4-5 includes 14 pieces of Wedgwood Arts & Crafts creamware painted by Alfred Powell with scenes relating to Cherington Park, Tetbury and the surrounding area.

The auction record for an Edwardian novelty silver pin cushion beaten twice at the same sale at Kinghams (26% buyer’s premium) in Moreton-in-Marsh.

A lock of hair reputed to belong to Catherine Parr – Henry VIII’s sixth and final wife – drew a good deal of interest at Greenslade Taylor Hunt (19.5% buyer’s premium) in North Petherton, Somerset.

The Wednesday Truro Antiques and Collectables Market has moved to a city centre location outside Truro Cathedral, with the first held earlier this month and additional dates to be announced.

The minimum lot values beloved of auctioneers’ accountants have come more and more into play just at a time when areas of the ceramics market have softened.

While an unusual 17th century picture titled The Hares’ Revenge was the star of Woolley & Wallis’ (27/26% buyer’s premium) latest Old Masters, British & European Paintings sale when it made £50,000 (see ATG No 2761), a couple of scenic views of Greece also drew competition.

The descendants of a Boer War soldier succeeded in buying a rare medal group at Kinghams (26% buyer’s premium) in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, returning the awards to family ownership for the first time in 100 years.

The highlight of the sale of British and Continental Ceramics and Glass at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes on September 23 was this exceptional south Staffordshire enamel and gilt metal snuff box, c.1765-70.

Decoratives dealers Kay Davies and Amanda Perry are the new organisers of the biannual Wilton Decorative & Vintage Fair.

Eminent Georgian instrument maker George Adams (c.1709-72) first described his ‘variable’ microscope in 1771 in the fourth edition of his Micrographia Illastrata.

Such messages from second-class passengers on the liner are some of the rarest to be offered at auction

The Patek Philippe Ref 448 dress watch is one of original Calatrava references, named after the ornate ‘Calatrava’ cross that is part of its brand.