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20th Century Ceramic Designers in Britain by Andrew Casey, published by the Antique Collectors’ Club. ISBN1851493522 £39.50 hb

PROBABLY the greatest success story of recent years, the railwayana market fostered and virtually cornered by Ian Wright at Sheffield continues to flourish.

Last week’s German and Austrian art sales, the first major test of international art market since September 11, pointed to difficult conditions ahead for Sotheby’s and Christie’s – and indeed Phillips – during the forthcoming winter season.

Lawyers have filed a motion attempting to quash a case that has the potential to blight the entire trade in Egyptian antiquities in the United States.

As well as providing a venue for pop concerts and motor-cross rallies, Tredegar House is also a favourite location for auctioneers. Last year Sotheby’s used the 16th century estate for their Welsh sale – this year it hosted Phillips auction of The Arts in Wales.

Cloudband.com, the specialist Website firm for rugs and textiles, have had their financing badly hit as a direct result of terrorist attacks in New York on September 11.

Several auction records were broken when Christie’s New York sold the library of Abel E. Berland in an October 8-9 sale that saw 90 per cent of lots sold for a premium-inclusive total of $14.4m (£9.8m).

FEW clocks can claim to be as rare as this example, pictured right, which is being offered for sale at Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchet in Essex on October 23. The rarity is based in part on the maker’s misfortune.

Manufacturing expertise and a fondness for the hard stuff are notable traits among Scottish folk, and they were well married in this miniature copper whisky still, pictured, offered by Glasgow auctioneers McTear’s (10 per cent buyer’s premium) on September 11.

Next month will see a crop of Oriental auctions as part of Asian Art in London, the capital’s celebration of the rich vein of commercial and non commercial treasures and expertise on offer in its galleries, salerooms and museums. For those hungry for goods in the meantime, Bonhams & Brooks (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) opted to go ahead of the general run and offer a large 420-lot oriental gathering on September 26.

IN May 1967 Caroline Lumley and Camilla Cazalet quickly began establishing Lumley Cazalet (33 Davies Street, W1K 4LR. Tel: 020 7491 4767) as leading specialists in late 19th and 20th century prints, with an emphasis on the French School.

Nephew of the influential Amsterdam-based painting teacher Petrus Franciscus Greive (1811-1872), Johan Conrad Greive (1837-1891) was a modestly-talented 19th century Dutch artist who specialised in river and canal scenes often with numerous figures.

While classic silver chugs along at prices scarcely unchanged since the ’70s boom, novelty pieces provide the market with a buoyant area. The 90-lot silver section offered at Crewkerne on September 13 by Lawrences (15% buyer’s premium) saw only nine fail to get away and no casualties among the novelty pieces from abroad.

The imminent cessation of all sales – including wine – at Sotheby’s Chicago has left a gap in the Mid-West market that newly-established wine auctioneers Edward Roberts International are keen to fill. Brainchild of Edward Robert Brooks, the much-travelled head of Christie’s and the short-lived Phillips’ North American wine departments, Edward Roberts will mount their first live sale of fine and rare wines at The Union League Club of Chicago on Saturday, November 10.

It’s a case of two days only with Ryan Fine Art’s (74 Vanbrugh Park, Blackheath, SE3 7JQ. Tel: 020 8293 5300) exhibition of over 80 Victorian and European oils, watercolours and prints.

“For the really top things there’s no shortage of buyers, but the middle ground is weaker,” affirmed Stephen Mould of Sotheby’s wine department. “If you’ve got large parcels that depend on the trade, then bidders are more cautious. But if you’ve got small quantities of the finest things there are plenty of private buyers prepared to pay good money.”

There were few plate books in this year’s Arts of India sale at Christie’s, held on September 27, but one notable result was provided by Emily Eden’s Portraits of the Princes & Peoples of India, published by J. Dickinson in 1844.

A TAKE-UP of 570 lots of the 600 on offer at Clarke Gammon– mainly from a local deceased estate – and a grand total of £75,000 revealed a market in buoyant mood at Guildford on 11 September where the best of a number of highlights answered the current demand for early textiles.

FRANCE: Francis Briest, France’s leading auctioneer of modern and contemporary art, is to join up with the modern art dealers and booksellers Artcurial (acquired by Nicolas Orlowski from Oréal in 1999).

Jean-Vital Remy was one of the most determined and assiduous Dinky toy collectors. Over a relatively short space of time – around 15 years from the mid-1980s – this Belgian enthusiast built up an enormous assemblage of French and English Dinkys spanning the entire production period. His desire for comprehensiveness and determination to acquire pieces with unusual colour or design variations made him a formidable adversary when it came to buying, whether at auctions or in shops or fairs.