Bath

Copy of the 1931 Golden Cockerel edition of The Four Gospels illustrated with woodcuts by Eric Gill stars in Bath auction.

Nine months after the last Shepton Flea was held at the Royal Bath & West Showground the market returns on Sunday May 30.

Joy O’Meara of Jay Fairs is disappointed but sanguine about the news that the parish hall in the Oxfordshire village of Benson will close for refurbishment from June to October, thus causing her to cancel her monthly antique and vintage fairs at the venue.

This rare 1940s Longines British military issue is appropriately nicknamed the ‘tuna can.’

The latest Clocks & Watches sale at Gardiner Houlgate (20% buyer’s premium) in Corsham, near Bath, was topped at £16,000 by this large iron two-train turret clock movement by Thomas Cooke (1807-68) of York. The estimate was £1000-2000.

Dealer says the market for vintage items such as biscuit tins is holding up well

A Rolex Submariner 5512, bought for around £70 by its original owner in 1964, has sold for £175,000 at auction in Wiltshire.

Suspended for months, the Bath Vintage & Antiques Market at the Green Park Station in the city returns on Sunday September 27, which has delighted organiser Naomi Knight.

It is badly damaged, but this large shallow dish offered by Aldridges of Bath (20% buyer’s premium) is an outstanding example of Kangxi mark and period famille verte porcelain.

The recent auction held ‘live online’ by Aldridges of Bath included this spectacular hand-woven north Indian long shawl, or dochalla. It came with a colonial provenance.

The Blue Moon, a club above Burton’s on Cheltenham High Street, existed for less than two years from July 1965 to May 1967, but in that time the compact 250-capacity venue with a tiny stage hosted Elton John, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, The Yardbirds and (on February 11, 1967) Jimi Hendrix.

In the vibrant world of British decorative fairs, 'The Bath Decorative & Antiques Fair' is a market leader. Now in its 31st staging, it opens its doors to the trade on March 5 and welcomes the public from March 6-8.

Nick Bayliss of Continuity Fairs is launching a new biannual antiques, home and vintage fair at Bath Racecourse, the UK’s highest flat racecourse.

Timing is important. Talking about her September Bath Vintage and Antiques Market, held every month in Bath’s old Green Park Station, Naomi Knight said: “Although we have lost some space over the years, we were fully booked with 45 high-quality dealers and there was a great atmosphere."

Aldridges of Bath smashed its house record last week with the sale of a Yongzheng mark and period bowl for £220,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium). It had come for sale following a routine house call.

Police have recovered a haul of stolen Asian artworks and returned them to the Museum of East Asian Art in Bath.

Barry Fletcher specialises in vintage rugs and comes over regularly from Belgium to stand at the 50-dealer monthly Bath Vintage & Antiques Market.

A Chinese ‘sleeper’ emerged in a Vintage and General Sale at Gardiner Houlgate (20% buyer’s premium), Corsham, near Bath on April 25 courtesy of a textbook ‘scholar’s’ object.

Exhibitors at Bath Decorative Antiques Fair toasted 30 years as the event opened last week.