Gloucestershire

Gloucester auctioneers Bruton Knowles are experimenting with a new software package that allows online visitors to turn selected objects 360 degrees for a detailed inspection.

LAST week’s ATG included a short piece on a 1566 poem by Patrick Adamson, giving thanks for the birth of a son to Mary Queen of Scots, that made £3100 in a Dominic Winter sale of April 6.

According to Brunet, Giulio Ferrario’s monumental study of Le Costume Ancien et Moderne ou Histoire de Gouvernement, de la Milice, de la Réligion, des Arts, Sciences et usages de tous les Peuples anciens et Modernes, was originally published in Milan in 143 parts between 1816 and 1834 – simultaneously in French and Italian.

Special Postcard Auctions, Cirencester, February 28, Buyer’s premium: 10 per cent THE First World War was the main attraction at the Corinium Galleries when a single silk showing a bearded Un Diable Bleu – the nickname given to France’s gallant and celebrated Chasseurs Alpin regiment – led the day at £290, and a similar portrait bust of Un Poilu (infantryman) made £230.

The recent competition seen for rare First World War silks was repeated at the sale conducted by Specialised Postcard Auctions (10% buyer’s premium) of Cirencester on December 6.

The Simon Hall collection of cookery books, to which were added lots from other sources, was offered by Dominic Winter on January 27.

Mallams, Cheltenham. January 6 - Buyer’s premium: 15 per cent WILD animals and ferocious reptiles were major features at this 430-lot Gloucestershire sale.

BK Art & Antiques, Gloucester, November 11Buyer’s premium: 15 per cent

Humberts, inc. Tayler & FletcherBourton-on-the-Water, October 26Buyer’s premium: 10 per cent

SOME of the 16 shows which comprise the traditional autumn season of selling exhibitions held by the Cotswold Antiques Dealers’ Association have already been covered in this column but here are a few more to whet the appetite.

PROVINICIAL auctioneers may no longer be able to bank on a solid furniture take-up to keep business ticking over (the 162-lot furniture section at Bruton Knowles (15% buyer's premium) on September 16 fielded the lion’s share of casualties), but at least they can rely on unusual, commercial or quality entries still selling at a premium.

IT may have been the peak of the summer holiday season, but it was business as usual at Mallams (15% buyer's premium) Gloucestershire rooms when the 515-lot sale on August 19 totalled in the region of £70,000.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE dealer Mike Golding, whose business Huntington Antiques in Stow on the Wold is known for early furniture, works of art and tapestries, has just sent out his latest catalogue of recent acquisitions, which will comprise his exhibition next month as part of the Cotswold Antique Dealers Association’s annual series of autumn selling shows.

ORGANISED by the Cotswold Art & Antique Dealers’ Association, in association with the Thames Valley Antique Dealers’ Association, a fun day out with, hopefully, a bit of business thrown in, is promised at the annual swap shop and dealers’ cricket match at Stow-on-the-Wold next Tuesday, September 14.

SIX masked raiders broke into the South Cotswolds Antiques Fair at Westonbirt School, near Tetbury in Gloucestershire around 3am on the morning of Sunday August 15 and escaped with an estimated £400,000 worth of jewellery.

WITH rising interest rates, a fluctuating stock market, selective bidding and increasing competition for quality private consignments, now may not be thought to be the most prudent time for expansion but Wotton Auction Rooms (15% buyer's premium) have gone ahead with plans to build a larger saleroom within their existing premises. It will open next month.

A HEALTHY take-up for the 170 lots entered without reserve from a period farmhouse in Shropshire provided the backbone of Humberts' (10% buyer's premium) 602-lot Gloucestershire outing on June 29, but it was an early 18th century upholstered walnut wingback armchair consigned from a different private source that proved the star turn.

NOBODY is pretending that this year has all been sunshine and brightness for the trade, but nor has it been quite as terminally doom-laden as some commentators would suggest.

A NEW auction house opening in Stroud in Gloucestershire is to hold its first sale on July 28. Stroud Auctions Ltd will be the first permanent auction house in the town.

CELEBRATING 15 years trading in their present premises, Anne and William Morris, who operate as Ruskin Decorative Arts, have a summer selling exhibition at 5 Talbot Court, Stow-on-the-Wold from July 17 to 25.