Always sporting a buttonhole – either a carnation or a rose – a pocket handkerchief, bow tie and often a panama hat, Newman was well known in the industry having begun his career back in 1952.
Born in Birmingham in 1936, after the Second World War his family moved to St Ives. He started in the antiques business aged just 16, when he joined auctioneers WH Lane & Son in Penzance. He became the youngest ever auctioneer to qualify as a student member of the Chartered Auctioneers and Estate Agents Institute when he was 19.
During the 1960s he conducted the sales of Treasures from the Deep of rare coins and artefacts discovered from ship wrecks.
By 1979 he was a senior partner of his firm and moved to Plymouth with his wife Barbara, whom he had married in 1958, and his three children Helen, Sarah-Jane and Paul.
He later joined Bonhams as their representative in Devon and Cornwall. He was active in both television and radio and appeared as an expert on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. He also appeared in his own BBC South West television series of Antiques at Home.
He continued to work as an independent valuer and arbitrator until 2010.
His friends said: “We all mourn an incredibly intelligent, hugely knowledgeable and very entertaining man. He will be particularly remembered for his ‘Jethro’ yarns and other tales which were the source of much amusement.”
Newman would ride his scooter around the village of Newton Ferrers where he lived and was described as a “larger than life” character.
After his wife Barbara died in 1994, he married Pamela Hussell in 1996.
He is survived by wife Pamela, his children Helen, Sarah-Jane and Paul, his step-children Karen and Paul and his seven grandchildren and three step grandchildren.
