South-west England

Two English Delftware plates, described on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow a decade ago as “as rare as you can get”, went under the hammer at Woolley & Wallis (26% buyer’s premium) on February 5.

The Bath Decorative Antiques Fair returns to The Pavilion venue from March 13-15.

Salisbury saleroom holds specialist offering staged as part of a three-day sale as demand increases

The so-called ‘dummy board’ or ‘silent companion’ is believed to have originated in Holland during the early 17th century.

The star attaction at Stephen Large’s third monthly antiques fair at the Livermead House Hotel in Torquay on Sunday, March 23, is TV personality Paul Martin.

Shortly after the production of the first batch of his jasperware abolitionist medallion, Josiah Wedgwood sent a package to Benjamin Franklin with a covering letter dated February 1788 saying: “I embrace the opportunity to inclose [sic] for the use of your Excellency and friends, a few Cameos on a subject I am happy to acquaint you is daily more and more taking possession of men’s minds on this side of the Atlantic as well as with you.

The Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury on February 19 included this striking tribal mask from central Africa.

Two Cartier brooches commissioned by Sir Stephen Courtauld for his wife have gone on display at Eltham Palace, eight months after they were sold at auction by Dreweatts in Newbury.

A rare visitor to the auction room came in the form of this pocket-sized Victorian sand picture book.

Estimated at £200-300 but sold for £4200 at Charterhouse (25% buyer’s premium) in Sherborne, Dorset, were two design books from the Royal Doulton workshop floor.

Sir Bruno Welby (b.1928), a member of both the English Ceramic Circle and the French Porcelain Society, has bought European porcelain since the 1950s.

The Sir Bruno Welby collection (see main story in this edition) sold at Woolley & Wallis shone the spotlight on two familiar names from the early English porcelain literature: Jefferyes Hamett O’Neale (1719/20-97) and Fidelle Duvivier (1740-after 1796).

Mikaela and Roger Boon’s well-supported biannual vintage fair in the village of Wilton, near Salisbury, has its first outing of the year on Saturday, March 1, in the Michael Herbert Hall.

A deceased estate in Dorset that yielded a notable collection of Old Masters provided a fillip to Lawrences (25% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne’s latest mixed-category auction.