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Small is beautiful in the antiques world where miniature versions can command as much, sometimes more, than their full-size counterparts. That was certainly the case at Christie’s South Kensington last month when the small collection of miniature top hats and one bowler pictured above was pursued way beyond its £300-500 estimate to sell for £2400 (plus 17.5% per cent buyer’s premium) in the auctioneers’ March 12 costume and textiles sale.

THE COVER of the catalogue issued by Cheffins for their Cambridge sale of March 19 made clever use of what I take to have been the coloured title of the 1794 French edition of Moses Harris L’Aurelien... that they sold for £4800. In rubbed red morocco gilt, this famous study of moths and butterflies was a large paper copy illustrated with 44 coloured plates, with text in French and English.

HELD a little earlier in the month than usual, The Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair will run at its now trademark marquee in Battersea Park, London SW11 from April 8 to 13.

MAYFAIR’s smart antiques market, Grays, is close enough to Bond Street to attract its fair share of fashionistas, but now it has become a couture centre itself with the opening last week of the luxuriously appointed Vintage Modes.

The death of Walter Moorcroft last year and the strong prices at Sotheby’s recent dispersal of the Wade collection have reinforced the popularity of this market, especially for the earlier Macintyre wares. A small collection at Bonham’s sale in Bury St Edmunds yielded the following results.

Peter Rindisbacher (1806-1834) was a Swiss-born artist who was the first Western artist to leave a significant visual record of colonial frontier life in Western Canada during the early 19th century.

THE stock market may be going down and tourists numbers dropping thanks to foreign conflict, but in Pimlico Road, antiques dealers are facing the biggest threat from their second huge rent hike in just over two years.

RUMOURS that the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair, scheduled for April 8-13 in Battersea Park, London has been cancelled are completely untrue, say the organisers.

WHAT business there was came on the final day of the Cheshire County Antiques Fair, staged by Cooper Antiques Fairs at Arley Hall over the weekend of March 14 to 16.

YET again the Bath Decorative and Antiques Fair, held at the Pavilion, North Parade from March 5 to 8, proved a huge success with both the 46 exhibitors and the myriad dealer customers.

ENERGETIC Essex organiser Robert Bailey is never more relaxed than at his London flagship fixture, the Claridge’s Antiques and Fine Art Fair which will be staged at the exclusive Mayfair hotel for the ninth time from April 2 to 6.

AN album containing 101 photographs of military, topographical, architectural and sporting subjects in India, Kashmir and Afghanistan was the principal attraction for some in a March 12 sale at Hay-on-Wye held by Y Gelli.

The vessel in the foreground of the photograph reproduced right, which at first glance appears to have been deliberately rolled over onto its side, or careened, but which may of course be a special craft, looks uncannily like a vast stranded fish. It is seen here in one of 129 albumen prints of photographs by Felice Beato that sold at £26,000 to Shapero in a Bonhams sale of March 11.

For the rest of this month and until April 11, New Bond Street’s Fine Art Society is awash with large brightly-coloured graphically-designed panels of furnishing fabric, printed headsquares, colourful dresses and even a swimsuit for their latest selling exhibition.

PIMLICO-based furniture designer David Linley pays homage to Art Deco with his latest furniture launch, the Salon Collection, comprising a console table, side table, coffee table, cabinet, sofa and mirror, all currently available from Linley, 60 Pimlico Road, London SW1.

You’ve heard of a pain in the arse? Well here’s an arse in the pane! This would-be burglar was caught in the act as he tried to break into the London offices of coin dealers and auctioneers A.H. Baldwin.

COLLECT is the simple name of a new annual event to be launched at the V&A in London in February next year. The Crafts Council say it will be the premier showcase for unique and limited edition contemporary objects.

The Europa saleroom at Christie’s South Kensington (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) was packed to capacity for their film poster sale on March 4. It was standing room only for the international mix of collectors and dealers who had turned out to secure one of the 280 lots of posters promoting the attractions of various Westerns, horror and science fiction, James Bond, film noir and other vintage and not-so-vintage movies from around the world.

Top price in the latest round of ceramics sales in London was the £22,000 paid at Christie’s King Street rooms on February 24 for this 9in (23cm) wide mid-17th century delft posset pot.

Caughley Porcelain has been on the up recently, gaining in followers and in value. Enthusiasts for this Shropshire factory will doubtless want to make their way to Stockspring Antiques next month for what looks to be an interesting loan exhibition under the title Paul Sandby and Caughley Porcelain.