UK

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.

An advertisement in the Antiques Trade Gazette has brought to light a remarkable coincidence – that the two paintings illustrated here, clearly depicting the same subject, are both to be auctioned on the same day by two different auctioneers at opposite ends of the country.

THIS may not be an obvious time for expansion but for Isle of Wight-based Kendall’s Fine Art business has never been better, and to prove it they are opening two mainland outlets this year.

FROM April 10 to 13 the Glasgow Art Fair, the largest contemporary art fair outside London, will run for its eighth year in its pavilions in George Square in the heart of the city.

HOTELIER Sarah Barrington, who owns the venue, still owns the fair, but David Smith of E.W. Services now organises the popular Thame Easter Antiques Fair, which will run at the Spread Eagle Hotel in the picturesque Oxfordshire town over the Easter weekend of April 18 to 20.

Association vow to fight new licensing move: Portobello market is facing its own congestion issue as dealers report that the local council have threatened to confiscate stock from traders whose pitches illegally block the pavement or road.