Devon

Eighteen months ago, dealer Lydia Wood launched an antiques trail in the small town of Ashburton on the edge of the Dartmoor National Park in south Devon.

As lockdown kicked in, Edward Whitton of Whittons auction house in Honiton conducted online-only auctions outside in the fresh air (the first was held on April 2). Internet buyers reported hearing birdsong as they placed bids.

A pocket globe with some areas still a mystery leads a maritime auction at Exeter saleroom Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.

An unusual offering at the Chudleigh rooms of Michael J Bowman (17.5% buyer’s premium) was this 3ft 11in (1.19m) long Bokhara pattern runner.

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.

Catalogued as a ‘tin glazed hand painted Chinese vase – 17in (42cm) tall’ and estimated at £50-80, a late 17th century Kangxi period famille verte porcelain vase of waisted trumpet form sold on June 22 for a healthier £12,000 – 150 times the top estimate.

Six months ago a small town on the edge of Dartmoor with a population of 4000 launched an antiques trail to promote all 11 of its antiques and vintage shops. Now the Ashburton Antiques Trail includes both the expansion of one of its existing businesses into larger premises and the arrival of a 12th antiques shop.

Providing a stern test of the resolve of cricket enthusiasts, a Victorian loving cup was the unexpected star of Michael J Bowman’s (17.5% buyer’s premium) sale at Chudleigh.

Having produced only 700-800 works in his short-lived career, Gilbert Marks (1861-1905) is not among the best-known silversmiths of his generation but was considered one of the foremost craftsmen of his day.

This late 19th century cameo glass vase by the highly collectable Stourbridge maker Stevens & Williams was the outstanding offering among the 195 lots at Michael J Bowman’s (17.5% buyer’s premium) sale at Chudleigh on January 19.

The antiques-rich town of Honiton in Devon is famed for its bobbin lacemaking since the 16th century.

Edinburgh offers an antiques trail as does Carmarthenshire in Wales. Now it’s the turn of Ashburton, a small town in south Devon on the edge of Dartmoor with a population of 4000.

News from Antiques on High, the antiques centre saved for the city of Oxford when it was bought by antique furniture dealer Vincent Page last year, alerted via a tweet about a story in ATG.

Organised by the well-known Somerset textiles dealers Liz and Jack van Hasselt, the regular West Country Textiles Weekend takes place next on Saturday and Sunday, October 6-7.

The Royal Horticultural Society’s 65-acre gardens in a north Devon valley form the fragrant floral backdrop for Devon County Antiques Fairs’ quarterly two-day antiques and collectors’ events.

Considering retiring and selling up, the owner of a Cornish B&B owner consigned the George III, japanned chest on stand, below, to Honiton saleroom Chilcotts (19.5% buyer’s premium) to test the market.

The Buckinghamshire countryside, with its rolling hills, fields, hedgerows and trees, inspired much of the art of John Nash (1893-1977), the younger and less well-known brother of Paul Nash.