Surrey

An actor and theatre director who turned to dealing when work dried up during the pandemic is standing at his first antiques fair on Sunday, May 23, at the Dorking Halls in Surrey.

Jane Alexander of Dovehouse Fine Antiques Fairs is back with her fully booked socially distanced antiques and decorative art fair at the Dorking Halls.

Another white-glove group of items featured at Parker Fine Art earlier this year when all 300 picture frame lots sold in its first sale of 2021, raising a hammer total of £38,400.

Traders and buyers express relief – and gratitude – at return of twice-monthly fixture.

It’s nearly four months since the UK left the EU’s customs union and single market – a hard new reality for those Continental antiques dealers who regularly make the day trip from Belgium, Holland or France to stall out at fairs in southern England.

Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt was one of the stand-out lots in a 300-lot white-glove auction.

Sunbury Antiques Market, better known simply as Kempton due to its Surrey racecourse location, last week became the first open-air fair to return after the most recent lockdown.

Organiser Peter Binfield is hoping for fine weather and a good turnout of 100-plus dealers at the first of this year’s Vintage & Classic Arms Fairs at Kempton Park on Sunday, May 2.

Dorking Antiques was launched last August by three dealers: Mark Holden, Eddie Hawkins and David Whalley.

The late Michael Armstrong was such a film fanatic that when the local cinema closed in his home town in 1993 he opened his own mini replica in his garage, complete with recycled fixtures and fittings.

The name Abbey Road has gone far beyond its significance as a smart street in north London thanks to renowned music studios and a seminal album

A private collection of pictures helped Parker Fine Art Auctions to its highest total since opening in Farnham last year.

A car boot sale find 25 years ago has revealed how a luxury cruise liner was converted for transporting thousands of troops during the Second World War.

The city of Liverpool holds a special place in the oeuvre of John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-93).

Police are investigating the provenance of a collection of Japanese ivories in connection with a high-value burglary in Surrey.

A manuscript volume sold for £4200 was the main attraction of a sale held by Crow’s (22% buyer’s premium) of Dorking.

Georg Siegmund Stobwasser (1717-76) and his son Johann Heinrich (1740-1829) were among many craftsmen who moved to Brunswick during the Seven Years’ War.

A summer landscape of the Western Highlands of Scotland by Walter Hugh Paton (1828-95) was offered at Parker Fine Art Auctions (25% buyer’s premium).

Models, props, scenery and scripts linked to Gerry Anderson emerged for sale at Ewbank’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Send, Surrey at the end of last year.