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THEY came, they saw, they appeared interested – but on sale day at Holloways, Banbury, the buyers, particularly the trade, were in the cautious sort of mood auctioneers across Britain have been experiencing in the quiet post-Olympia days.

UK: This article looks at a magnificent Book of Hours illustrated for one of the wealthiest prelates and patrons of the arts in 16th century Europe, Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg.

UK: In the days before Lara Croft burst onto the digitalised scene, playtimes revolved around the handmade charms of Mitzi, Chloe, Witch, Dutch Girl and other pine wood beauties from the puppet stable of Bob Pelham.

The recent British Antiques and Collectables Awards did not have a category for ‘best gallery catalogue’ (sponsors, please note); however, if there had been, Elizabeth Harvey-Lee (1 West Cottages, Middle Aston Road, North Aston, Oxon OX25 5QB. Tel: 01869 347164) would surely have been on the shortlist.

While Lyon & Turnbull enjoyed the lion’s share of the audience for the two sales in Edinburgh at the end of June, Phillips (15/10 per cent buyer’s premium) at least had the most surprising result in the form of this Tunbridgeware sewing/writing table by Fenner and Co., estimated at £300-500.

UK: Sleek, stylish, Art Deco abstraction is what counts most in a design for Clarice Cliff collectors and this piece, which came up for sale at Phillips (15/10% buyer’s premium) on July 5 possessed it in spades.

With the dearth of fresh-to-the-market quality antiques, the zeal with which dealers seek out sleepers ensures that few lie dormant. Such was the case at Leominster where an 18th century walnut and marquetry commode, 5ft 10in (1.78m) wide, sailed past its £2000-3000 estimate and sold at £11,800 to a Maltese buyer.

Furniture took the only four-figure bids at this 858-lot Heathcote Ball Leicester sale on June 21 with a George II oak chest-on-stand leading the way.

A BIBLE was one of several lots that moved into the four-figure range in this summer sale at Y Gelli in Hay on June 8.

NEW YORK-based British-born dealer Adam Williams is expected to appeal against his conviction in a French court for receiving stolen property.

GERMANY: Lempertz’ Old Masters in Cologne on May 19 produced a hammer total of DM6.7m (£2.1m) and a surprise price of DM192,000 (£60,000), paid by the Italian trade against an estimate of just DM4000, for a Bildnis eines Singers, a portrait of a singer with crimson turban and coat, his left forefinger resting on a musical score, 3ft 1in x 2ft 6in (93 x 77cm).

THE Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts has acquired one of the world’s most important collections of English Silver, that of Alan and Simone Hartman.

UK: A SOLICITOR’S clerk has been banned from his profession after a tribunal heard how he arranged the theft of valuable works of art to order.

WILLIAM Blake’s painting God Blessing the Seventh Day is one of a number of art treasures placed under a temporary export ban by Arts Minister Tessa Blackstone.

The Doulton Lambeth Wares by Desmond Eyles is the classic reference book on the products of the Royal Doulton’s famous factory in London – started in 1815 for the lowly task of saltglazing sewer pipes – but the original edition is long out of print.

UK: If proof were needed that it is collector’s silver that is the most desirable category of ware in today’s market one could have had no better example than the sale held by Bonhams & Brooks (15/10% buyer’s premium) last Thursday, July 5. This 261-lot auction was especially strong on vertu and collectors items swelled by a number of private collections.

Antique Kilims of Anatolia by Peter Davies, published by WW Norton & Company Ltd. ISBN 0393730476 £40 hb.

The two letters IF are the initials of this mug’s owner, but IF could equally be read as an expression of desire, of conditional optimism, when you realise why the mug was made.

USA: THE United States government is taking serious steps to beat Internet fraud and is consulting leading e-commerce figures on how to go about it.

Art of Embroidery: History of Style and Technique by Lanto Synge, published by the Antique Collectors Club in conjunction with the Royal School of Needlework. ISBN 185149359X £45 hb.