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The rise of modern and contemporary collectors buying antiquities has energised dealers and auction houses to juxtapose old with new. But it can be hard to pull off.

“My granny used to say, if you get stuck sell the French table,” the vendor told Harrogate auctioneer Elizabeth Pepper-Darling.

An eclectic array of modern art stood out at the Roseberys London (23% buyer’s premium) sale of 20th century art and design.

Jackie King is an art consultant with a background working in Old Masters for dealers including Silvano Lodi and Brian Koetser. She lives and works in London.

The original drawing of the map of Winnie-the-Pooh’s 'Hundred Acre Wood' sold for £350,000 (plus 25/20/12% buyer’s premium) at Sotheby’s sale of English Literature, History, Science, Children’s Books and Illustration on July 9-10.

Issued by ‘Hunt & Sons, Card Makers to His Majesty’, a ‘Great Mogul’ deck of playing cards of c.1830, the labels that seal the packaging still unbroken after all those years, featured in a recent Suffolk sale.

Found in a garden shed during a house clearance, this unrestored version of a classic c.1950 pedal car, below, attracted bidders online, on the phones and in the Wolverhampton rooms of Cuttlestones (17.5% buyer’s premium) on June 22.

There were two 1997, first-impression copies of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the June 21 sale held by Bonhams.

New culture minister Jeremy Wright, appointed after a Cabinet reshuffle prompted by the resignation of David Davis and Boris Johnson, is being asked to prioritise the introduction of digital export licences for art works in time for Brexit.

The family of the late Paul Whitfield are holding an event in London on the evening of September 26 to celebrate his life. Contact paulwhitfieldmemorial@gmail.com for details.

More than £35,000 worth of Modern British art from a single-owner collection sold at Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium) in Winchester on June 27-28.

A well-known antiques centre on the point of closure last year after 20 years of trading – and saved in no small part by the social media reach of ATG – will shortly celebrate its first year under new ownership.

In terms of lot numbers, the major single contribution to Sworders’ anniversary sale (see main Auction Reports this edition) on June 19-20 was the estate of the late Annabelle Comery, an inveterate and wealthy collector who had lived on Alderney in the Channel Islands.

Four days after fire gutted the Glasgow School of Art designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, this silver-plated teaspoon, below, designed by the great man was offered by Derbyshire auction house Hansons (20% buyer’s premium).

A still-life by Scottish Colourist George Leslie Hunter (1877-1931) not seen on the market for nearly half a century took £72,000 at Hansons (20% buyer’s premium).

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from July 17-28, 2018.

Bonhams’ (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) main summer sale of European ceramics took place at its Bond Street rooms on July 5. On offer were 245 lots which raised a hammer total of just under £600,000, with a 62% take-up.