UK

WILTSHIRE auctioneers Netherhampton Salerooms were celebrating a new house record on March 3 after a disbound album of Far Eastern topographical drawings sold for £43,000.

THE home of West Midlands toy specialists Astons is the grade II listed Baylies's Charity School, on Tower Street, Dudley.

THE National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers (NAVA) will hold its annual Forum for chattels auctioneers and valuers at The Belfry golf and leisure resort in the West Midlands on April 26.

ONE of the North East’s best-known auctioneers faces a substantial fine and a possible prison sentence after being charged over the sale of an Edwardian collection of birds’ eggs.

INTERNATIONAL Antiques and Collectors’ Fairs (IACF), the owners of the Newark and Ardingly showground events, have announced plans to hold a regular one-day fair at the RAF Swinderby site.

Bearnes, Hampton & Littlewood (BHL) are not seeking to recover a cache of gold and jewellery accidentally sold as part of a lot in their 2006 sale of Agatha Christie effects.

DRAMATICALLY overshooting a £2000-3000 estimate, this small unsigned Mannerist oil on slate depicting Venus and Cupid attracted the attention of at least ten bidders at Rosebery's of West Norwood, South London on March 9.

EWBANK Clarke Gammon Wellers of Surrey have extended their influence south west by forming a strategic alliance with Bournemouth auction house Riddetts.

BEARNES Hampton & Littlewood have held their first sale at the newly renovated Dowell Street, Honiton saleroom which they took over from Bonhams' in January.

OF all the many subjects painted by Harry Davis during his long tenure at the Royal Worcester factory, among the rarest and most desirable are polar bears in an Arctic landscape.

THE public protest over the replacement of antiques shops in Portobello by fashion stores and other chains is gathering pace.

THE 1953 FA Cup Final will forever be known as the Matthews Final.It was while playing for Blackpool against Bolton Wanderers that the legendary winger Sir Stanley Matthews (1915-2000) gave his career-defining performance and won the only major honour of a long career.

B2B Events have won a three-year contract to run four or five antiques and collectors’ fairs annually at the Detling showground.

SEVERE weather conditions have badly damaged the marquee which Antique Forum use for their six annual weekend fairs held at Trentham Gardens, near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

ON June 24, Gloucestershire auctioneers Chorley's will offer for sale this enormous 47 x 47ft (14.3 x 14.3m) reconstruction of the Orpheus pavement, a Roman mosaic.

THIS rare Charles II clock by John Knibb of Oxford, c.1685, was recently found by the vendor when sorting through effects inherited from a family member around 50 years ago.

WHEN the ‘To Let’ signs in the windows at the former Partridge Fine Art gallery on Bond Street were removed earlier this month, and ‘Let’ signs took their place, rumours abounded as to who the new tenants might be.

BRYAN Goodall, owner of the Hambleton Group which includes toy auctioneers Vectis of Stockton-on-Tees, has invested £600,000 in ArtsBank, a new gallery and arts centre in nearby Saltburn-by-the-Sea.

A REWARD of £50,000 is being offered in the bid to recover more than £1m worth of art stolen in a violent theft from a private collector in Bruton, Somerset.

Last month in Harrogate, auctioneers Morphets held a sale of what is thought to be the biggest collection of vintage railway posters ever to come on the market.