UK

As recent London sales have demonstrated, demand for top-class Italian maiolica is on something of a roll. There is an international roster of collectors who are attracted to this colourful ceramic version of Italian Old Master painting.

Wessex Auction Rooms, a new purpose-designed saleoom, has just opened on the outskirts of the Wiltshire market town of Chippenham.

THE Metropolitan Police have defended their decision to cut funding to the art and antiques unit by 50 per cent.

19th century furniture may not be the height of fashion, but this wine table is one of only a handful known to carry the label of Anton Seuffert, New Zealand’s premier cabinetmaker and inlayer. Many of the timbers seen to the 23in (58cm) diameter top are timbers native to New Zealand.

The Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race runs for four and a half miles along the River Thames, starting at The Old Swan Inn at London Bridge, finishing at The Old Swan at Chelsea, and passing under 11 bridges en route.

“Dealers in fear of a turfing-out” ran the story in ATG No 1722, January 14, which told the story of the Somerton Antiques Centre, home to 27 dealers.

Dublin and Edinburgh rooms all but double sales totals as Bonhams raise stakes in Scotland

Charterhouse Auctioneers and Valuers have expanded their operations in Sherborne with the addition of an extra saleroom, and new heating and air conditioning in their main saleroom.

A late 17th century English musical lantern clock with a musical movement closed the year in style at Moore Allen & Innocent of Norcote near Cirencester when it was bought by a private collector from the Midlands at £22,000 (plus 15 per cent buyer’s premium) on December 8.

“We've timed it just right, opening a new fair,” said Trevor Vallis of Wyefairs, who is adding to his portfolio of events in Kent this year.

The Museum in Docklands have acquired a rare and significant archive of 18th century papers highlighting London’s role in the transatlantic slave trade.

JOHN Taylor was the Sawrey joiner and wheelwright, whose wife and stout, elderly daughter, Agnes Anne, kept the village shop immortalised by Beatrix Potter in Ginger and Pickles. But the first Taylor to appear in one of her books was his son, young John, who was the model for the terrier carpenter John Joiner in The Roly Poly Pudding.

Sotheby’s are to sell the stock of Bourdon House, the historic Georgian townhouse in Mayfair recently sold by London dealers Mallett.

AT £420m, the deal would have brought St James Capital a 70 per cent profit on the £245m they paid for the complex just two and a half years ago. But it appears that last week’s London Evening Standard scoop on the sale of Earls Court and Olympia was, at the very least, a little premature.

SIGN up now for the joint RICS/SOFAA Auction Law Conference which will take place in London on Monday, January 22.

Not exactly your typical ATG reader – this great picture was taken by Lucy Naughton, a 27-year-old with a passion for photography who has been finding inspiration at antiques fairs.

MISSING Book Fairs, named after the fairs’ eponymous organiser, Chris Missing, are moving one of their six events from one stately home to another.

THERE’S a fairs reshuffle in the medieval town of Rye in East Sussex.

DAN Godfrey is opening an antiques and collectables centre at the Grade 2 Listed late-18th century watermill at Barton Le Clay, north of Luton in Bedfordshire.

JUDITH Lidell is celebrating the success of her first vintage fashion fair on her home patch of Newcastle-on-Tyne on Sunday November 19.