West Midlands

It’s always heartening to hear about the repurposing of old buildings, particularly when they become antiques businesses.

Auction house Fellows has a new owner, with 100% of the business - previously owned by the Whittaker family - having been sold to a private investor.

This official ticket allowed admission to Westminster Abbey for the coronation of George III on September 22, 1761.

Biannual Herefordshire fair now in its 12th year is held in a large marquee at country house location

An exhibition at the Spode Museum devoted to the near-ubiquitous Willow pattern is bringing together two world cities bound by a unique shared heritage

Halls’ (24% buyer’s premium) Militaria, Naval and Aviation Auction included a medal group with an intriguing link to a famous figure of the First World War, British nurse Edith Cavell.

It was announced on September 6 that the University of Staffordshire has partnered with Stoke-on-Trent City Council to house the Thornhill collection of predominantly Chinese ceramics at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Hanley, with the aim of exhibiting it to the public for the first time since the 1980s.

That Willow became the most popular and persistent of the many transfer-printed landscape patterns was in part due to a stroke of 19th century marketing genius.

Halls’ (24% buyer’s premium) latest Militaria, Naval and Aviation Auction in Shrewsbury offered a tempting selection of lots such as First World War uniforms in decent condition.

Easy to display and made in multiple variants, glass petrol pump globes are a popular choice at auction.

A rare work by Royal Worcester’s near-legendary craftsman George Owen (1845-1912) led a sale at Philip Serrell (20% buyer’s premium) in Malvern, Worcestershire, this summer.

I enjoyed perusing your recommendations of museums’ special exhibitions to see in your annual Summer Supplement a few weeks ago (ATG No 2699).

Etymologist buys a glossary which provides a rich seam when it comes to English language changes

Just a month after a rare Christian Dior (1905-57) musical brooch was sold Tajan in Paris, two more examples appeared for sale at Fellows’ (30% buyer’s premium inc VAT) Handbags & Accessories auction in Birmingham on June 24.

A collection of ceramics by the Hanley-born pottery painter Arthur Holland (1896 1979) comes for sale at Potteries Auctions in Newcastle-under-Lyme on July 12.

A French-inspired fleamarket that was launched in June in the small Shropshire town of Whitchurch proved such a success it is now running monthly.

Lennox and Sue Cato tell us why they are making a move from Kent to the Cotswolds