UK

Mallams will sell a significant Dutch collection of Japanese swords and armour as part of this week’s auction of Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Islamic Art in Cheltenham on October 25-26.

We present the candidates for the 2017 AAL Awards, co-sponsored by ATG. Two honours are given for outstanding works of art: to a dealer and an auction house. Also, awards judge Anne Crane of ATG gives a personal insight.

There are 10 auction house participants in AAL this year, the number swollen by an increased international presence. ATG provides a selection of auction preview highlights.

A gift from the founder of the Tata global business empire to the architect who designed his Bombay headquarters, this late 19th century Patek Philippe gold hunter pocket watch was an eyecatcher at Andrew Smith (19% buyer’s premium) at Itchen Stoke on September 12.

A collection of 28 German tinplate clockwork toys all found buyers, generally above estimate, at Bourne End Auctions (15% buyer’s premium) on October 4.

The earliest firebacks date from the 15th century, the early days of iron casting. These were placed against the back wall of a fireplace, an important feature when that wall was made of wattle and daub or soft stone.

Last month, Britain’s oldest postcard publisher, J Salmon, announced it was closing after almost 140 years of business. Blamed for its demise was the rise of selfies and social media.

Dominated by two lots of Chinese porcelain, the September 28-30 sale at Hansons (17.5% buyer’s premium) also included eight Royal Worcester pieces by George Owen (1845-1917) who was inspired by the Orient to produce his trademark reticulated wares.

A dozen years since the first designated Asian art sale in the UK regions, the calendar throngs with specialist events.

A copy of the 1925, Hogarth Press first of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway attracted a great deal of competition in a Cotswold Auction Company (20% buyer’s premium) sale of October 3 and finally sold at £18,000.

Dealers in Mayfair, St James’s and Kensington Church Street use Asian Art in London as a chance to bring out their showstoppers in exhibitions at their home or temporary spaces. Here, ATG picks out some of those events in more detail.

Back at No 1, 60 years after driving teenagers wild and their parents to despair, Bill Haley’s Rock Around the Clock was the star of Pop and Rock Memorabilia sale at Ryedale Auctions (17.5% buyer’s premium) in Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, on September 29.

The Emerald Isle was not the only place selling Irish art recently. In London on September 27, Sotheby’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) offered a collection of paintings and personal effects belonging to the family of Irish poet WB Yeats and his brother, artist Jack Butler Yeats.

The Asian Art in London festival of exhibitions and auctions runs for the 20th time from November 2-11. Here, Kate Quill and Roland Arkell look back at how it all began and what this year's event involves.

An antiques centre which was on the point of closure has been saved in no small part by the pulling power of the Antiques Trade Gazette’s social media presence.

The Frome Independent is a well-supported monthly street market in the Somerset town which covers the centre with some 200 stalls in total.