South-east England

The extra push of archive items accompanying medals at auction is well recognised but such material is increasingly on the advance in its own right. Honours offered with log books, diaries, maps, letters and so on are very attractive to buyers given the background story they create about the recipient.

A photo collection sold at C&T formed part of an archive relating to Brenda Long, secretary to General Sir H Ismay (later Lord Ismay), Chief of Staff to Sir Winston Churchill from mid-1944 until the end of 1945.

A famous military name always in demand at auction is Richthofen. However, the two lots sold at Dickins Auctioneers (19.5% buyer’s premium plus VAT) on March 31 related not to the Red Baron of Great War fame, but to his cousin, Generalfeldmarschall Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen (1895-1945).

One of the more obscure Second World War special forces units was the little-known Raiding Support Regiment. Bosleys (23% buyer’s premium) of Marlow sold an embroidered cap badge from this regiment for £3100 (estimate £500-800) on January 25.

ATG’s weekly selection of items on sale at auctions and dealerships.

Surrey auction firm Fryer & Brown Auctioneers is set to be struck off the UK company register after it ceased trading in January.

One Tuesday last month, Edward Cruttenden of Sunbury Antiques, the organiser of the hugely popular fortnightly market at Kempton Park Racecourse, had his busiest day this year.

A Petworth dealer has been the victim of a £2200 ‘card not present’ debit card fraud.

In Kent, the Design Gallery’s largest-ever furniture warehouse sale, including a basement clear-out, takes place on Saturday and Sunday, April 22-23.

A good mix of traditional and modern pictures drew decent bidding at Mallams’ (20% buyer’s premium) on March 16.

This Japanese rice paper drawing was among a number of lots to draw strong bidding at Dreweatts and Bloomsbury’s (24% buyer’s premium) offering of the Jan Krugier collection.

An oil of HMS Ophir moored off Halifax in Canada sold for a multi-estimate sum at George Kidner’s (19% buyer’s premium) sale in Lymington on March 2.

THE ongoing exhibition L’Absurdité is the result of the combined effort of two dealerships from Petworth. They are Kevis House Gallery, the Lombard Street space where the exhibition takes place, and Toni Arden, back for the first time in several years having closed her local photography gallery Arden and Anstruther in 2011.

Estimated at £50-100, this Maori flute sold for £140,000 (plus 24% buyer’s premium) at John Nicholson’s of Haslemere on February 23.