South-east England

With ‘on the premises’ country house contents sales now so rare, the more usual practice is for the better pieces to be removed to saleroom bases.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

A toy specialist and his son have bought the former auction house of George Kidner in Hampshire and will relaunch auctions and open an antiques centre on the site.

A flying log book belonging to one of the female pilots of the Air Training Auxiliary (ATA) who became famous for ferrying planes in the Second World War has been sold at Kent saleroom C&T.

A matched pair of Chelsea mugs cropped up in an Andrew Smith’s (21% buyer’s premium) sale in Hampshire.

At Donnington Priory on May 23, Dreweatts will hold a sale of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art where this 17th or 18th century bronze ‘dragon’ censer and original stand, with Xuande four-character mark, is pitched at £8000-12,000.

A pair of Worcester dishes of so-called ‘Blind Earl’ form was a best-seller in the ceramics section that opened Dreweatts’ (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) spring sale.

The May 14-16 Interiors series at Bellmans of Wisborough Green, West Sussex, features a substantial Asian section.

Works by Namikawa Yasuyuki underline how buyers are aiming at the very best when it comes to the Japanese market ahead of a series of UK sales.

Estimated at £300-500, a finely decorated Qing famille rose pen box and cover was knocked down for £33,000 at a recent sale at John Nicholson’s (25% buyer’s premium).

A very rare panorama of London that made £90,000 in a recent West Sussex sale was the Pick of the week in ATG No 2387, but many other things among the 200 lots offered in that April 5 auction caught the eye.

Artist’s long-hidden commercial illustrations are at long last offered for sale.

Three oils by the popular East Anglian artist Edward Seago (1910-74) sold for £44,000 hammer at Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium) in a mammoth four-day sale held at its Sussex saleroom.

The annual 'Decorative Living Fair' will stage its 14th outing on Friday and Saturday, May 17-18, at the beautiful location of the park near Tunbridge Wells.

Launched two years ago at a Victorian mansion in Surrey by local online antiques dealer David Steel, the Tree of Ages Antiques Fair will be held on Sunday, May 12, at Robert Denholm House in Nutfield.

A country house car boot to raise funds for a newly opened specialist equestrian centre in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, will run at the 800-acre Isle Estate at Bicton near Shrewsbury on Sunday May 12.