News

The fire that destroyed three exhibition halls and two thirds of exhibits at the National Motorcycle Museum last week has led to the postponement of one antiques fair and the relocation of another.

A complete RUN of the nine Broons Books issued in the years 1939-59 was the runaway success story of the Comic Book Postal Auctions sale that ended on September 2, with prices for the first four Christmas collections of the adventures of the occupants of No. 10 Glebe Street – Paw, Maw, Grandpaw, Joe, Maggie, Hen, Horace, the twins, and the bairn, collectively known as ‘Scotland’s Happy Family’ – bringing four-figure bids.

Weller King will erect a marquee in the grounds of Dial Post House, Horsham on September 23 to sell period oak furniture and works of art belonging to the West Sussex dealer Alex Sloane. A regular on the quality fairs circuit since his shop in Robertsbridge, East Sussex closed in 1996, the vernacular furniture specialist is retiring from the antiques business to live in Spain.

The artist might have been unknown, the subject unconfirmed, but this unsigned 133/4 x 173/4in (35 x 45cm) Victorian oil, right, of figures on the deck of a yacht was nonetheless the most hotly contested lot at Stride & Son’s (15% buyer’s premium) August 29 sale in Chichester.

YOU might well detect a distinct whiff of testosterone in the air around Mayfair’s Bruton Street later this month when a selling exhibition Gentleman’s Relish: 200 Years of Machismo runs at the Shapero Gallery at No. 24 from September 24 to October 17.

THE Somerset auctioneersGreenslade Taylor Hunt were taking a bullish view about August sales. A month of “traditionally smaller sales and fewer buyers but not in Taunton” was the official line after a two-day event of more than 2100 lots on 28-29 August.

Deauville Auction’s saleroom success has incited other firms to try out the Normandy resort as a sales venue, something Augier is happy with insofar as they “bring in extra activity, which is good for the town” – and providing, he adds pointedly, that “they are quality sales”.