South-east England

WHILE auction houses are becoming more aware of the threat from credit card fraud, dealers should also take care over payments, a victim from Crawley, West Sussex has warned.

FOLLOWING last week’s front page story regarding allegations of non-payment and irregularities over credit card payments at Cameo Auctions of Midgham, Berkshire, many readers with similar complaints contacted ATG looking for advice.

The subject of a recent BBC documentary regarding county court judgments, the Midgham firm of fine art auctioneers and valuers are also the subject of non-payment claims and other complaints.

IN February we revealed how Queen Victoria was an accomplished artist, but now her daughter’s skills have been highlighted by a Surrey auction.

WHEN the Royal Navy seized an enemy patrol boat in the Falklands War the name of it must have given particular satisfaction at the capture.

AUCTIONEER Martin Lawrence of Petersfield firm Jacobs & Hunt was not expecting much when asked to conduct a probate valuation in a top-floor council flat in a rundown part of Southsea.

IT survived the Reformation and had been buried in a churchyard for safekeeping before being rediscovered nearly 200 years ago, but this ‘very rare’ medieval reredos panel has now fallen victim to thieves.

A RUGBY-tackling mystery hero and a life-size pottery Great Dane helped scupper a daylight smash-and-grab raid targeting a rhino horn libation cup.

THE vital part trade has played in the history of collecting is the theme of a two-day conference at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford on June 15 and 16.

SECURITY measures taken at Great Grooms antiques centre of Hungerford have foiled ramraiders.

IT could have been one of the sleepers of the century had it not been recognised and swiftly withdrawn from a Bonhams Oxford auction.

A KENT auction house has withdrawn a sacred Aboriginal artefact from sale after intervention from cultural experts and the Australian High Commission.

BILLED as the largest and most important country house auction of the year, Christie's three-day sale at Cowdray Park in West Sussex, netted £6.4m hammer against a £5m top estimate.

THIS fine set of three George II rococo casters by Eliza Godfrey, London 1752 sold for £66,000 at Henry Adams of Chichester on July 14.

Bought at a car boot sale in the Portsmouth area earlier this year for just 40p each, these three opaque twist wine glasses decorated by the Beilby workshop of Newcastle upon Tyne c.1765 sold for £16,000 at the latest sale held by Stride and Son of Chichester.

BONHAMS have taken part of the ground floor of Royal Victoria House in the Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells, as their new operational base in Kent and Sussex.

HASLEMERE in Surrey has fallen victim to a gang targeting silver for melt, two weeks after thieves stole a rhino head from the town’s museum.

THE Guildford Riverside Saleroom is to reopen under the banner of Wellers Fine Art Auctions after a seven-year absence. The firm, who had a presence in the town until ten years ago, will also continue to operate from Chertsey.

THIS bronze Zinfandel by equestrian sculptor Adrian Jones (1845-1938) was stolen earlier this month from a private house in Surrey.

A THEFT of a rhino head from a museum in Surrey is thought to have been motivated by the hugely valuable trade in rhino horn.