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A New York judge has set the date for the start of the trial of Sir Anthony Tennant and Alfred Taubman on price fixing charges.

THE 2186 lots offered at Gorringes, (buyer’s premium 10 per cent) at Lewes on July 17, 18 and 19 had the touches of quality and variety that buyers demand but specialist Nick Muston noted the resistance to lower-value items.

French Jewelry of the 19th Century by Henri Vever, translated by Katherine Purcell, published by Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0500237840 HB slipcased £195 until December 31, 2001, then £225.

Rain of the Moon: Silver in Ancient Peru, by Heidi King with contributions, published by Metropolitan Museum of Art, distributed by Yale University Press. ISBN 0300085125. £14.95 pb.

UK: PAINTINGS were the main strength of the 422-lot sale at Phillips, Knowle (15/10% buyer’s premium) on July 18, but furniture and works of art also boosted the £236,800 total.

There are some who think that the people who collect the cat paintings of Louis Wain (1860-1939) are as mentally unbalanced as the artistic imagination that created them, but there is no gainsaying the extraordinary prices that Wain continues to fetch in the salerooms.

A MIX of modest standard furniture and collectable ceramics hardly seemed a formula for success in mid-summer but the mix at Fellows (buyer’s premium 15%) attracted a full house at Birmingham on July 10.

The annual Hong-Kong coin sale presided over by Baldwin-Ma-Gillio-Monetarium is always a big draw. This one, number 33, including the semi-annual sales at Singapore, is scheduled for August 30.

Treasury of the World: Jewelled Arts of India in the Age of the Mughals. The al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait National Museum, by Manual Keene, published by the British Museum ISBN 0500976082. £18.95 pb.

Depicting the balloons of the Montgolfier and Charles brothers, as well as Blanchard, Lunardi and Garnerin, this folding colour frontispiece plate comes from an anonymously published little volume entitled

Horology topped the July 24-25 519-lot sale at the Bournemouth rooms of House & Son (15% buyer’s premium) when an 18th century longcase, being sold on the behalf of a local storage company where it had been left uncollected for years, was a specialist target.

Brown furniture may not be at a premium at present but walnut is still capable of springing some surprises, as was seen at the Taunton sale held by Greenslade Taylor Hunt (15% buyer’s premium) on July 26 and the July 21 sale held by Altrincham auctioneers Patrick Cheyne (12% buyer’s premium).

GENERAL silver remains a quiet market but novelty material is booming as shown when this 51/2in (14cm) silver-encased desk bell by Gy & Co,in the form of a tortoise, was offered at the July 17,18 sale held at Aylsham, by Keys (10% buyer’s premium).

French Jewellery of the 19th Century, published by Wartski, 14 Grafton Street, London W1. £5 in aid of Befrienders International.

UK: DEVON dealer in early furniture and works of art Michael Dann of Hatherleigh Antiques holds another of his splendid exhibitions of very special pieces from September 12 to October 13.

A DISPUTE over rent and refurbishment could spell the end of ewolfs.com, the Ohio-based online auction house, who have shed 20 of their 24 staff and shut down temporarily in the crisis.

ICOLLECTOR intend to bring in more revenue by introducing a subscription rate of around £40 a month for their Auction Search service and extending banner advertising on their Website.

A continued demand for good quality Georgian and early Victorian jewellery at Phillips (15/10% buyer’s premium), Bayswater, 415-lot antique and modern jewellery auction, August 7, saw this gem set heart-shaped locket pendant, c.1830, steal the top slot.

This pair of Chinese porcelain vases had been salvaged from a house owned by a religious cult. No, not the Falun Gong, but the Panacea Society, a ‘charity’ founded in Bedford after the First World War who believed that Christ would make his second coming to the town of the eponymous van.

USA: Christie’s New York are relocating and restructuring a number of their departments in preparation for the assimilation of Christie’s East into the company’s Rockefeller headquarters.