South-east England

With the new auction season kicking off in September, plenty of pictures will be going under the hammer over the next few weeks and, naturally, there are a few stars that have come to light across the regions.

Earlier this month, 100 years to the day since the outbreak of the First World War, Sandham Memorial Chapel near Newbury reopened to the public after restoration.

Chichester firm Stride & Sons included two fine Georgian miniatures in their latest sale.

It’s only recently in the decade-long boom in Chinese works of art that Far Eastern buyers have come to appreciate once again the merits of Export silver. Once a neglected area, academic interest has been piqued in the subject as the marketplace moves in leaps and bounds.

COMMENT - Are children just an irritating distraction to the serious business of appreciating art in a museum or gallery? Is it time to turn back the tide and put adult appreciation front and centre? As the father of two, Antiques Trade Gazette Editor Ivan Macquisten speaks from experience.

Selborne, Hampshire, auctioneer Hannams produced a YouTube video to promote the presence of this very early key-wind musical box by Nicole Frères in their inaugural sale.

The Art Fund have launched a new crowdfunding scheme to help museums and galleries, the first of which should also help boost the art and antiques trade around Hastings.

Maori boat-shaped feather boxes – or ‘waka huia’ – are infrequent visitors to UK salerooms so it was unusual to see two examples sold in close proximity this summer.

Book dealers have been urged to be on the lookout after a second edition of the King James Bible from 1614 was stolen from a Berkshire church.

The story goes that Steiff black mohair bears were produced as mourning bears after the Titanic disaster in April 1912.

The school curriculum needs to focus more on arts and crafts if the creative industries are to have a future in the UK. So says the director of education at West Dean in West Sussex.

The new Chinese representative at John Nicholson’s auctioneers has set out a seven-point plan for how to connect properly with Chinese clients.

This postcard sketch by the Chapman Brothers is one of a large number created by well-known figures in art, sport, music TV and film to raise money for Action Against Cancer and the Brain Tumor Charity Silas Pullen Fund.

It may not look much today, but this camera was the latest cutting-edge piece of technology when it was first released for sale in 1899 – and it helped lay the foundations for the future of film and moving pictures. Then it retailed for £30, now it has just sold at auction in Surrey by Lawrences of Bletchingley for £7800.

For a cast-iron sign that spring has brought a resurgence in the garden look to the results of the recent biannual sale of garden design at Summers Place Auctions where Coalbrookdale seats were back in the limelight.

After a period of some 40 years in single ownership, Petworth Antique Centre in the antiques-rich town of Petworth in West Sussex has been bought by an investment company, Palladian Property Investment Limited, based in London.

An instantly recognisable William Russell Flint (1880-1969) watercolour drew a strenuous competition at Mallams in Oxford last week.

It all started when Phil Sylvester was a lad, as serious collecting often does.

James II large silver chinoiserie footed salver, the circular top flat-chased with a continuous border of four Oriental figures, two long-legged birds and further birds in flight among palm trees and other foliage, beneath sunrays emerging from clouds and further clouds. London 1688 by Benjamin Yate (maker`s mark YT), diameter approx 131/2in (34.3cm). Estimate £30,000-50,000. Sold for £30,000 hammer at Tooveys of Washington, West Sussex, May 21, 2014.

A very rare Allcock Ariel reel with its original calf leather case sold for a wholly unexpected £6600 at Westenhanger Auctioneers (20% buyer’s premium) in Stanford, near Ashford, on April 13.