Surrey

This Martin Brothers stoneware model of a tortoise with a mirthful face was a very welcome discovery for auctioneer Rupert Toovey on a post-lockdown valuation in the Surrey Hills.

The timing could have been a disaster, but three dealers who opened an antiques centre in Dorking at the beginning of the month have been rewarded for their ambition by a very encouraging start.

The FA Cup proved a happy hunting ground for Norman Whiteside in his playing days and at auction many years later the competition was still proving to be a big winner for him.

Dovehouse Fine Antiques Fairs’ mid-summer fair at the Dorking Halls on August 16 has been cancelled.

Art specialist Buffy Parker has launched Parker Fine Art Auctions in Surrey and will hold his first sale in September.

Sunbury Antiques Market is coming back with force next month, reopening with three, rather than the usual two, monthly events at Kempton Park Racecourse.

A group of portrait miniatures sold recently by John Nicholson’s (30/25% buyer’s premium) in Haslemere, Surrey included this English school image, c.1700, of William Fermor, 1st Baron Leominster.

South Africa leaving the Commonwealth in 1961 had serious consequences for British exporters – particularly when withdrawal was followed by imposition of an import tax on luxury goods.

Covid-19 crisis has launched the art and antiques world into technological exploration

Auctions may be down in number but pre-lockdown sales provided some positive market signs

The sale at garden statuary specialist Summers Place Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Billingshurst on March 24 (the day after lockdown) was among the first conducted under new government restrictions on social distancing.

Bid to £4100 and £3000 in a sale held by Lawrences (20% buyer’s premium) of Bletchingley were two albums, or ledgers, relating to the business of violin maker WE Hill & Sons – both with a direct family provenance.

An early coastal scene of Australia sold for more than five times its top estimate to an online buyer from New South Wales at Ewbank’s anniversary sale.

A superb collection of 61 pocket watches drew strong demand at a Surrey auction last week as remote bidders, using the phone and online platforms, competed for some outstanding 17th, 18th and 19th century examples.

A valuation day in Tunbridge Wells led to the consignment of a late-16th century south German rosewood and bone gaming board at Catherine Southon.

A copy of Sylvia Plath’s 'The Bell Jar' in a well-preserved dust jacket sold for £3000 in a recent Surrey auction may have set a record for any uninscribed or association copy.