South-west England

AT the end of March, the Bath and Bradford on Avon Antique Dealers’ Association will cease operations. Members will join in the launch of the new West of England Antique Dealers’ Association.

Wessex Auction Rooms, a new purpose-designed saleoom, has just opened on the outskirts of the Wiltshire market town of Chippenham.

“Dealers in fear of a turfing-out” ran the story in ATG No 1722, January 14, which told the story of the Somerton Antiques Centre, home to 27 dealers.

A late 17th century English musical lantern clock with a musical movement closed the year in style at Moore Allen & Innocent of Norcote near Cirencester when it was bought by a private collector from the Midlands at £22,000 (plus 15 per cent buyer’s premium) on December 8.

JOHN Taylor was the Sawrey joiner and wheelwright, whose wife and stout, elderly daughter, Agnes Anne, kept the village shop immortalised by Beatrix Potter in Ginger and Pickles. But the first Taylor to appear in one of her books was his son, young John, who was the model for the terrier carpenter John Joiner in The Roly Poly Pudding.

Initially catalogued as “an Eastern walnut three-tier table, brass mounted and fitted three flaps, 2ft (64cm) wide when open” and estimated at just £150-200, the appraisal of this stylish table seen at Simon Chorley of Southam, near Cheltenham, Gloucester on November 30 was radically upgraded when it was identified as the work of Aesthetic architect and designer Edward William Godwin (1833-1886).

Blandford Auction Rooms have ceased trading as the saleroom was closed by its owners on November 3.

Humberts of Gloucestershire have bought the estate agency and fine art auction business of Calcutt Maclean Standen.

The discovery of two small panels by Fra Angelico (c.1395-1455) in a semi-detached house in Oxford ranks as one of the most remarkable art finds this country has ever witnessed.

FOUNDED in 1893, Malvern Girls College in Great Malvern, Worcestershire was housed in a building that was once a grand hotel in the town’s heyday as a spa.

A Stradivari violin, which has been played in concert halls all over the world, is being offered for sale by Corsham-based auctioneers Gardiner Houlgate in London on November 6.

The highlight of the two-day sale of clocks and watches conducted by Gardiner Houlgate of Corsham, near Bath on October 19-20 was this rare 17th century coach or clockwatch consigned by a Bristol family who had owned it for at least a century. Measuring 31/2in (9cm) across, it is shown here a little over life-size.

SOON after setting up on Friday morning a few weeks ago at Shepton Mallet a flash flood swept through the Edmund Rack building leaving stallholders hastily packing up again and huddling by the entrance.

EVER since the recognition in 1855 of the potential of a 93-acre site close to the Devon town of Newton Abbot, there’s been a fine tradition of competitive horseracing.

Leading country auctioneers Woolley & Wallis will no longer hold general sales of estate merchandise after October.

WHERE polar exploration collectables are concerned, Christie’s have in recent years enjoyed, if not a monopoly, then certainly a strong grip on the auction market.

A vast photographic postcard archive depicting Devon in the first half of the 20th century has emerged in Nottinghamshire.

"They kept their resolution longer than I expected, keeping us in action from 7 in the morning till [?] in the afternoon and to carry the scene on in a military manner they came down upon us, sounding the charge and their army colours flying, and in this manner continued till they were beaten to atoms. "

IT is almost 10 years since the noted Wiltshire glass dealers Delomosne last held an exhibition with accompanying handbook, and that was the collection of cordial glasses belonging to the late John Towse.

On September 10, Litts, the UK’s largest retailer of sporting guns, is holding its inaugural auction of stock.