UK

Among the first sales of BADA 2018 was this modernist Archibald Knox silver and pink enamel inkwell sold from the stand of The Peartree Collection for more than £10,000.

An unexpected highlight of a recent sale at Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet was this set of four early real tennis rackets. They came from a client in the North of England and had been owned by the family for many years.

It was in keeping with a Salisbury sale dominated by the remarkable £460,000 bid for a teapot made at Cain Hoy, South Carolina by John Bartlam c.1765 (see ATG 2331), that the same Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’s premium) ceramics sale included a group of three rare enamel boxes made for the American market.

Unbolted continues its move into the art and antiques sector with Holts the latest firm to offer its lending services to customers.

“I hesitated to share my collection in this way lest it be perceived as boastful, but I want to leave a record for the future. I hope Obsession… encourages other collectors to share their expertise in a similar manner.”

Led by the portrait of an Italian mastiff by il Guercino (1591-1666), dogs took a starring role in the Cheffins' March 8 sale. The delightful oil of a stocky ‘Cane Corso’, perhaps the artist’s own dog, overshot a £80,000-120,000 estimate and was knocked down at £570,000 – the highest auction price in the English regions so far this year.

Helen Bowman and Ben Wray of Bowman Antiques Fairs say they are delighted that their sister event, the Yorkshire Flea run at Skipton Auction Mart, is growing in popularity.

The ceramics and glass offering at a recent Chiswick Auctions' (25% buyer’s premium) sale included a particularly fine Raeren salt-glazed jug c.1600.

A first English edition of Charlotte Bernhardi’s translation of her father, Admiral Krusenstern’s Memoir… of his 1803-06 circumnavigation of the globe was one of the rarer items offered at Toovey’s (24.5% buyer’s premium) on February 20.

About 500,000 people a year visit Snape Maltings, on the banks of the River Alde, to take in the exhibitions, galleries, independent shops and riverside walks as well as the Aldeburgh Festival and the Snape Proms.

The sale-topper at Wilkinson’s Auctioneers (20% buyer’s premium) of Doncaster in South Yorkshire was a16th century English portrait of an aristocratic lady.

Graham Beech will be one of the new standholders among the 220 exhibitors at the three-day Bowman Antiques Fairs event at the Stafford County Showground from March 23-25.

Meet David, a young collector pictured below with his mother Inna at a recent Charing Cross Collectors Market. David, who is nine, is shown holding his purchase, a George II silver shilling which he will be adding to his budding numismatics collection.

Leaders of four African countries have called on the UK and the EU to ban the trade in antique ivory to help stop elephant poaching.

As TEFAF Maastricht hit fifth gear, it was best objects forward for the 100 dealers bringing art, design and antiques to BADA’s 2018 fair in Duke of York Square on the King’s Road, Chelsea last week.

Former railway tunnel and air raid shelter in Ramsgate provides novel venue for Sunday fair...

Much of the Clarice Cliff pottery that finds its way into UK salerooms is relatively inexpensive. However, a clutch of pieces by the Staffordshire born and bred designer due to go under the hammer over the next few weeks will attract those in the hunt for scarcer works.

William George, an online-only auctioneer which ceased trading antique ivory in 2017, is setting up a group called Auctioneers Against Ivory for auctioneers considering their own antique ivory strategies.