UK

The Mayfair Antiques & Fine Art Fair is a destination for many dealers and collectors, but some exhibitors noticed a cautious approach from buyers at its most recent staging.

The latest staging of The London Antique Rug & Textile Art Fair was marked by strong sales of carpets and fewer big-ticket sales, according to organiser and exhibitor Aaron Nejad.

January has become a month of abstinence but bountiful fairs provided a welcome break.

Three Lalique glass panels designed for the dining car of the Côte d’Azur Pullman Express train in 1928 will be offered at auction next week. The Joint Special Managers of Thomas Cook Group are the vendors.

The George Medal awarded to a brave boxer who stepped in to foil a kidnap attempt on Princess Anne is up for auction at Dix Noonan Webb in London with an estimate of £15,000-20,000 on March 4-5.

'Connect: London’s Independent Art Fair' wrapped up its second edition earlier this month, staking its place in the calendar of early fairs around the capital with rising sales and evolving strategies for organisation and selling.

The latest Impressionist & Modern auctions in London posted the lowest total for a February series in this category for a decade.

A remarkable collection of books from The Birmingham Assay Office Library will be offered at Forum Auctions in London on March 26.

Gustav Detring (1842-1913) and Constantin von Hanneken (1854-1925) were two of the most influential Germans living and working in China in the late 19th century.

Two very different lots helped Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) to boost its first major sale of the year.

A UK auction record for a copper coin was set on September 24 when a rare Edward VIII 1937 pattern penny sold at Spink for £111,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium). The coin was made as a trial, ahead of the king’s abdication in December 1936, and was never released for circulation.

The complete original artworks for two of Edward Ardizzone’s much-loved children’s books were sold for £30,000 apiece at Bonhams (27.5/25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium).

Judith Howard (1945-2019), collector, part-time dealer, museum curator, author, TV expert and lecturer, was a self-confessed ‘maximalist’. Every shelf and wall space in her Wiltshire end-of-terrace was there to be filled. Dusting was a chore reserved for just one day a year.

This early-20th century snow scene, below, was painted by the French artist Paul Elie Gernez (1888-1948). He was primarily a naturalist painter of still-lives, landscapes and seascapes, and spent much of his life in Honfleur in Normandy.

As announced in ATG No 2428, Continuity Fairs has taken over the Bingley Hall Antiques Fair, which had been held by IACF at the Staffordshire County Showground from mid-2018 to December 2019.

This silver denarius from 43BC is struck to one side with a youthful male of Quintus Arrius, who was praetor in 72BC and propraetor in 71BC.

Spink (20% buyer’s premium) offered the only Victoria Cross group to appear at auction in 2019.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

Jane Alexander of Dovehouse Antiques Fairs is gearing up for the launch of an ambitious new venture.