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An evening sale of contemporary ceramics, held by Phillips (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) on September 25 yielded a healthy set of overall statistics and some strong individual results. Just over three-quarters of the 200-odd lots changed hands (82 per cent in value terms) chalking up a net total of just under £390,000.

This early Meissen silver gilt mounted tankard painted in the manner of Horoldt was spotted sitting on top of a radiator by auctioneer Mark Law during a routine valuation.

“THIS was a very good way to get the season rolling,” said auctioneer Ben Lloyd of this 371-lot sale at Mallams Oxford on 7 September from which only one lot remained unsold.

Transit papers lost in terror attacks. UK shipping firms have reported cancellations from American dealers and a back-log of freight waiting to clear US customs in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on September 11.

RELATIVELY quiet July and August sales caused a bit of a re-think at Gorringes: “After July we were a little bit worried,” said Lewes specialist Nick Muston. “There has been an adjustment in the market and we have adjusted prices accordingly.”

Fewer than half of the 128 lots that made up The Cat Sale at Bonhams & Brooks on September 12 found buyers, but while demand was distinctly patchy and only 10 of 22 works by one of the foremost contemporary exponents of feline portraiture, Anne Mortimer, found buyers, there was no stopping Louis Wain.

From the day it was delivered to Lord Yarborough in 1826, this Benjamin Vulliamy travelling clock had remained in the same family until it was sold at Hy Duke’s sale in Dorchester on September 20.

Bretby Art Pottery: A Collector’s Guide, by Michael David Ash, published by David Ash Publishing, 165 Station Street, Castle Gresley, Swadlincote, Derbyshire DE11 9JY. Tel: 01283 212390. www.bretbyartpottery.com ISBN 0954061306. £8pb plus £2.50 p&p.

The Loving Eye and the Skilful Hand: The Keswick School of Industrial Arts by Ian Bruce, published by Bookcase, 17 Castle Street, Carlisle CA3 8TP. Tel: 01228 544560. www.bookscumbria.com £30 hb (signed limited edition) £15 pb, both plus £ 2 p&p.

When this walnut chair arrived at Shanklin Auction Rooms (10 per cent premium) on the Isle of Wight it was catalogued as Victorian and expected to fetch £400-600. However, specialist dealers who viewed it before the September 4 sale noted its clean, classical lines its ebony strung motifs and, most significantly, the wrap-around back.

THE first UK clocks and watches sale after the summer lull presented a good opportunity to examine the health of a market which is notoriously prone to ups and downs. From results at Gardiner Houlgate, Bath, it would seem that the trade in gentleman’s pocket watches remains buoyant, while ladies’ wristwatches are still hard to shift.

Harlequin Unmasked: Commedia Dell’Arte and Porcelain Sculpture by Meredith Chilton, published by Yale University Press in association with the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto. ISBN 0300090099 £45hb

THE degree of demand for any type of ceramics can be gauged by the amount of damage buyers will tolerate – once it was only the rarest of early pieces where condition was not paramount, then this began to be true of 19th century majolica and now, apparently it is beginning to be the case when it comes to Moorcroft.

One unexpected result enlivened an otherwise unexceptional sale of Continental decorative arts held by Christie’s South Kensington (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) on September 13.

Scottish painting is, as we know, one of the stronger sectors of the UK art market, but William Page Atkinson Wells (1872-1923) is not one of its better known names.

A clutch of Oriental entries were among the more interesting works in the Amersham Auction Rooms’ otherwise run-of-the-mill offering of 324 antiques and collectables on 2 August.

Waddesdon Manor, the Rothschilds’ country estate in Buckinghamshire, has come over all fashionable. The theme for their 2001 season is Art in Fashion. In the garden, the parterre has been given over to the talents of fashion designer Oscar de la Renta, who has designed two vibrantly coloured rainbow displays of carpet bedding.

USA: THE EVENTS of September 11 in New York had repercussions well beyond the city and its environs as antiques and collectables became a low priority for most Americans. Although most fairs did go ahead, a number were postoned or cancelled in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks and the effects on show schedules could stretch well into October and beyond.

Porcelain toys are the tiny versions of tablewares produced by ceramic factories alongside their standard size wares. The earliest 18th century examples, often less than an inch in height, were probably made to furnish dolls’ or baby houses, which were initially playthings for adults rather than children.

Pictured are two modern firsts, both in rather chipped jackets, from the book section of a September 7 sale held by Mallams of Oxford. P.G. Wodehouse’s Uncle Fred in Springtime of 1939 was sold for £100, while Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop of the previous year reached £210.