South-west England

Woolley & Wallis chairman Paul Viney is stepping down from the role after nearly 20 years building up the firm to be a regional powerhouse in UK auctions. Here he reflects on his experiences.

Market freshness and well-regarded primary and secondary provenances distinguish the 250-300 pieces of early English delftware to be offered for sale by Woolley & Wallis in a stand-alone auction in Salisbury on September 17.

The Tribal Art and Antiquities sale at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury on September 18-19 includes property from the estate of Ingrid McAlpine (1939-2018), one of London’s most prominent antiquities dealers.

Useful buys if you want to know how to ‘pott a Swan’, ‘fry Harticholk’ or even ‘stew Lettice’

A complete set of plans showing what was once the world’s largest industrial complex and the British state’s single biggest investment has sold in Cornwall. Thomas Milton’s plans of the Royal Dockyards sold to an online buyer for £10,000 (plus 18% buyer’s premium) at David Lay's latest sale in Penzance.

In this group of predominantly Victorian ceramics beloware two 18th century pieces: a typical polychrome delft plate of modest value and a far more commercial early English toby jug.

Better by a distance than nine similar items, a mid-17th century wainscot chair offered by Lawrences (25% buyer’s premium) in Crewkerne demonstrated the yawning price gap between the acceptable and the desirable in the early oak market.

Former farmer Ralph Retallack is now an antiques dealer in Falmouth with his partner Nicola Fuller. They are launching an antiques and decorative fair near St Ives this September and are looking to attract more quality exhibitors including architectural salvage dealers.

This still-life painting by Joan Gillchrest (1918-2008), offered for £1995, is part of an online exhibition staged by Devon dealership British Ceramics and Paintings.

Landscape painter Sidney Richard Percy (1821-86) is described in Christopher Wood’s Dictionary of Victorian Painters as “a prolific and variable painter, and his prices vary accordingly”.

Coming up on August Bank Holiday Monday (August 26) is an annual event which brings thousands of eager buyers to the grounds of a stately home in Wiltshire.

ATG explores Tetbury’s Long Street to discover dealers evolving to lure casual buyers as well as connoisseurs

The dealers of Tetbury who trade with the Continent are determined to work through whatever turbulence Brexit may bring. A no-deal departure, likely to result in tariffs and customs checks, would present problems for import and export of stock.

A 19th century plaster bust of Napoleon was among sales at the recent Cotswold Decorative Antiques & Art Fair, which takes place in Westonbirt School near Tetbury three times a year.

The personal enthusiasm of John Braund of Turpin’s Antiques, who died in January aged 90, was early oak and associated metalware.

Somerset auction shows how bidders are very sensitive to how works are estimated.

One notable consequence of the growing prevalence of charity shops on the high street is that auctioneers are receiving more and more items that these organisations want to check in case they are valuable.