Cheshire

In Eccles near Manchester in the Sixties, artist Harold Riley enjoyed the food so much at an Italian restaurant he discovered that he gave the proprietor one of his paintings.

“Non-runners but ripe for restoration” is how Cheshire auction house Peter Wilson describes three 1930s cars found in a garden. It also sums up what fans of classic car ‘barn finds’ are after.

The sale of an early 20th century artwork attributed to Paul Nash has been cancelled after recent tests have thrown doubt on its origins.

An auction of the designer wardrobe of a socialite at Peter Wilson’s Nantwich saleroom attracted more than 100 people and raised £27,000.

Catalogued as white metal, with no hallmarks, a snuff box included in the silver section at Adam Partridge’s recent sale at Macclesfield caused a stir. The mark it did have was that of the great Huguenot maker, David Willaume.

The so-called Lucerne pattern, decorated in primary colours with a stylised Mediterranean chateau in a landscape, ranks among the scarcest and most desirable of all designs from Clarice Cliff’s ‘Appliqué’ range.

Yellow-ground wares from the Vincennes soft-paste porcelain workshops are great rarities.

A Chelsea porcelain beaker with blue and white botanical decoration caused a sensation at Peter Wilson latest sale in Nantwich. Estimated at £100-200, it sold at £37,000.

Dreweatts & Bloomsbury have announced two new alliances as they reshape the wider business as part of the Stanley Gibbons Group.

Nantwich auctioneers Peter Wilson set a new house record at their latest sale with this large Qianlong (1736-95) mark-and-period doucai ‘lotus and bats’ jar and cover.

Robert Stones, owner of Peter Wilson auctioneers, will also trade under the name Louis Taylor following the retirement of Clive Hillier, principal of the latter rooms in Hanley.

Adam Partridge auctioneers of Macclesfield have been shortlisted for the Green Business Award as part of the 2014 Cheshire Business Awards.

The Association of Accredited Auctioneers (Triple A) are hosting a viewing event timed to coincide with Asian Art in London. This Qianlong ‘lotus and bats’ doucai jar and cover, estimated to bring £100,000-150,000 at Peter Wilson of Nantwich on November 27, is among the lots on view at Rountree Tryon Galleries of 7 Bury Street on November 2 from 12 noon-9pm.

Logistics and costs are not necessarily high on Ridley Partridge’s agenda, but his dad certainly knows all about them.

There are signs that last year’s publication of ‘The Della Robbia Pottery’ by Peter Hyland has given a lift to the market for the distinctive wares produced in Birkenhead by Harold Rathbone and Conrad Dressler between 1894-1906.