Features

Potter & Potter’s early spring signature Circus, Sideshow and Oddities Sale in Chicago features a collection of photographs of such subjects, plus theatrical images, amassed by collector and historian Gary Bart.

At a mid or high-end art and antiques fair buyers can comfortably get round all the stands in a day and have time to browse, consider and discuss with expert dealers. Such events have a more relaxed and social vibe to them: dealers invite their clients along and hope to meet new buyers by attracting them onto their stands with eye-catching items and displays.

Whereas buying at fairs often involves a heavy dose of serendipity, buying at auction tends to be a more focused and considered affair.

Antiques centres provide a treasure trove of objects from a wide array of dealers all under one roof and make a good destination for a trip that any antiques or vintage lover will enjoy.

Art and antiques shops and galleries offer an enjoyable retail experience with a knowledgeable dealer.

When Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger founded photo-sharing app Instagram in 2010 they probably did not expect that 12 years later it would have become a platform for selling antiques.

Dealer portals provide a handy online view of a selection of stock from a large number of traders. They offer a connection to dealers for both the buyer casually browsing from home and the buyer seeking a specific type of item.

Ask anyone about a special item they bought and they will usually start by telling you how they came to own it. Here the ATG team recounts the story of 15 purchases, each one for under £1000

The largest showground fairs are so extensive that it would be impossible to browse items on all the stands in one day. IACF’s Newark Antiques Fair, for example, is held on an 84-acre site with up to 2500 stands.

Appealing to a range of different types of collectors, particularly aficionados of sewing antiques, Victorian and Edwardian animal pin cushions have their own niche in the novelty silver field.

This 22oz George II serving dish by Paul de Lamerie (London 1747) was formerly part of the service commissioned by Admiral George Anson (1697-1762).

Estimated at £20,000-30,000, this cast of the Warwick vase by John Samuel Hunt, London 1845, sold for £32,000.

With more than 16,000 works on display, 'Art Treasures of Great Britain', held in a temporary iron-and-glass structure built in the Old Trafford area of Manchester in 1857, remains the largest art exhibition to be held in the UK.

Henry William Dee, the son of Soho silversmith Thomas William Dee (c.1792- 1869), made a speciality of producing silver novelties for Garrard, Leuchars & Son and Asprey’s and other retail goldsmiths. There was real genius here and the patterns for many were patented.

The London firm Samuel Jackson seems to have specialised in mounting other materials in silver to produce wine-coolers.

For many years the largest city outside London, Norwich had its own silver assay office during three periods from 1565-1702.

This parcel gilt musical box decorated with a frieze of figures is by Stuart Devlin (London 1975).

An example of 17th century hollowware appeared for sale at Dawsons (23% buyer’s premium) in Maidenhead earlier this year.

The Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu sale at Dix Noonan Webb (25% buyer’s premium) in London on March 15 included more fine silver and enamel vesta cases by Sampson Mordan & Co to add to those sold by the firm in September 2021.

Silver was the major strength of a recent two-day sale at Dreweatts (25% buyers’ premium). All bar one of the 549 lots got away to a hammer total tipping the £1m mark.