News

The bane of the shop trade and the boon of auctioneers – the Internet has certainly transformed the marketplace and nowhere is this more true than toy sales.

A NEW auction house promising prompt payment to vendors has been launched in the heart of London by a foreign investment group.

THERE was no notable furniture in Mallams 495-lot sale on August 28 (buyer's premium: 15 per cent), but a healthy selling rate for silver and jewellery and some good prices for an assortment of oddities and decorative entries, boosted overall figures.

AFTER a closure of some 18 months to sort out some little problems with the lease, Mayfair's Shapero Gallery, which specialises in antique prints, photographs, maps and watercolours, reopens this week at 24 Bruton Street, W1 with a show called simply Cities.

THIS 75 per cent-complete shell of the extinct South American mammal known as the Glypdodont, pictured right, will be the star attraction of a highly unusual single-owner collection of ornithological and palaeontological specimens being sold by the Moulins auctioneers Enchères Sadde on October 20.

ONCE almost the hallmarks of those corner junk/antiques shops, wrought-metal stick stands these days have a genuine value – a sort of camp appeal utilised by the decorator trade. Of course, the interest in this example, right, offered at Raymond P. Inman (15% buyer’s premium) at Brighton on September 2 may simply have been a greyhound enthusiast attracted by the dog and racing trophy. Whatever the bidder’s motives, the grey-painted stand sold at £790.

LONG a convert to selling shows, Kent rug dealer Desmond North holds another of his regular marquee sales in the grounds of his home, The Orchard, Hale Street, East Peckham, near Tonbridge, on the weekend of October 5 and 6. But even in specialised worlds the market has to be pursued and Mr North, who says he is baffled by what new homeowners use for decoration and furnishings in their ever-more valuable properties, is aiming at this area.