East Midlands

Stock-buying trips prove successful for one American as she heads back to Blighty once more...

Figurative sculptor Christy Keeney from Donegal, Ireland, has been an exhibitor at the Earth and Fire International Ceramic Fair in Nottinghamshire for 16 of the 22 annual events held so far.

Coming up trumps at Stamford auctioneers Batemans (20% buyer’s premium) on May 6 was a full pack of 52 Georgian playing cards.

The calm and grassy plain by the River Welland in the middle of the town of Stamford where Field Dog Fairs holds a biannual event was not always so serene.

A painting of St Tropez by the Fauvist painter Charles Camoin (1879-1965) went under the hammer for the first time in more than half a century at Gildings (15% buyer’s premium).

The Buxton Antiques Fair, organised by Cooper Events, runs from May 18-21 in Buxton Pavilion Gardens. It is a quiet yet well-respected presence in the annual fair calendar and has withstood many market changes since it opened more than 50 years ago.

A fine collection of Meiji and 19th century Chinese ivory works of art sold at Hansons (17.5% buyer’s premium) offered a window onto a turbulent market.

Silver was among the success stories of the wide-ranging March 30-April 1 sale at Hansons, in particular a 1705 Britannia standard chocolate pot.

Just over a year since its launch, Stamford Auction Rooms is staging its first estate sale on May 27.

Nicholas Mellors Auctioneers in Newark has closed but Newark Antiques will continue to trade.

A work by one of Lebanon’s most eminent painters, Khalil Saleeby (1870-1928), surfaced at Hansons (17.5% buyer’s premium) of Etwall in Derbyshire.

In the continuing series looking through the keyhole of ‘bricks and mortar’ shops in 2017, ATG talks to Lucinda Silcock who runs St Martin’s Antiques Centre in Stamford.

First editions of Jane Austen’s most popular book, Pride and Prejudice of 1813, in contemporary bindings don’t come along often. But one such prize – a copy with a rather distant but nonetheless attractive family link – appeared at Mellors & Kirk (20% buyer’s premium) in Nottingham on March 22-23.

A classic Second World War British Commando 2nd pattern Fairbairn Sykes fighting knife sold with scabbard for £550 at Hansons (17.5% buyer’s premium) on March 21 against an estimate of £100-120.

Since Lynn and Alan Cartwright of Jaguar Fairs ceased their antiques and collectors’ fairs at the Derby Roundhouse, there has been a gap in the market in the East Midlands city.

A painting from the early career of French artist Auguste Herbin (1882-1960) appeared on the market for the first time in nearly a century at Gildings’ Market Harborough salerooms on March 28.