South-east England

A sword sold at Kent auction house C&T (22% buyer’s premium) belonged to a British Antarctic explorer who died in 1912 – but not with Robert Falcon Scott.

Stall numbers are looking good at around 160 for Grandma’s Attic Fairs’ new antiques and vintage fair at Woking Leisure Centre which launches on Sunday, February 6.

Estimated at just £60-100, a pair of Georgian portrait miniatures sold online for £2900 at Amersham Auctions (17.5% buyer’s premium) on January 6.

A significant collection of works by George Bissill (1896-1973), the Derbyshire miner who enjoyed some fleeting success as an artist in the 1920s-30s but who later died largely forgotten, emerged recently at Mallams (25% buyer’s premium) in Oxford.

Arms and armour sales often throw out interesting talking points in the way of accessories.

Despite his famous name, the artist Henry Strachey (1863-1940) has never had much prominence at auction, with only around a dozen works having emerged.

Japanese antique ivories have been gradually disappearing from the catalogues of prominent dealers and major auction houses but good examples are still being sold in the regions.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), the Nobel prize-winning poet, writer, composer, philosopher and social reformer, began to practise as an artist aged 60.

Dovehouse Fine Antiques Fairs’ organiser Jane Alexander says that her long-planned Little Chelsea Decorative Arts and Antiques Fair at Chelsea Old Town Hall is on hold for the time being.

Collections relating to leading British film director Lewis Gilbert (1920-2018) and his wife of 53 years Hylda (d.2005) provided very different lots for Billingshurst auction house Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium).

In 1602 the Dutch painter and printmaker Jan Saenredam made an engraving of a whale that had been washed ashore near the town of Beverwijk.

This Japanese cloisonné casket bears the mark for the Ando Company of Nagoya.

Relatively few English mapmakers came to the fore in the 17th century at a time when Dutch cartographers were well ahead of the competition.

In natural light this English ‘black glass’ onion form wine bottle appears distinctly blue.

Fresh generations of the famous family added to hall’s collections to create eclectic mix. Jonathan Franks reports.

Masoud Mazaheri of Bakhtiyar is among the dealers set to appear at LARTA this month.

It is thought that Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) executed at least a hundred drawings featuring the Punchinelli, the hook-nosed, humpbacked clowns which were central to the commedia dell’arte. Jonathan Franks reports.

The Aynsley factory’s reputation for good quality, unadventurous bone china tea and coffee wares made it the safe choice for many British households.

A group of medals awarded to a First World War ‘Tommy’ sold for a mid-estimate £2400 at Kent auction house C&T (22% buyer’s premium) on October 20-21. Not that unusual, it would seem.