West Midlands

Not all the posters making four figures at auction fall into the usual Star Wars/James Bond/Hammer/early horror bracket.

Moseley Antiques Emporium south of Birmingham city centre is closing after more than 25 years in business.

As announced in ATG No 2428, Continuity Fairs has taken over the Bingley Hall Antiques Fair, which had been held by IACF at the Staffordshire County Showground from mid-2018 to December 2019.

Caughley Porcelain was founded in Shropshire (at Broseley) so it is hardly surprising that local saleroom Halls has been offering its fair share of consignments from this 18th century factory whose wares rivalled those of the Staffordshire potteries and Worcester in particular.

Despite or perhaps because of their macabre nature, antique medical instruments have a strong following, both among practitioners and general buyers.

Dealers have their favoured pitches at B2B’s Malvern Flea & Collectors Fair, as ATG discovers

Bingley Hall Antiques Fair at the Staffordshire County Showground will be managed by Continuity Fairs which has taken over the running of it from IACF.

This 19th century half-length portrait right depicts the Anglo-Irish soldier and politician William Carr Beresford (1768-1854) who fought alongside The Duke of Wellington.

A coffee service decorated in the round by William Powell was one of a quartet of early 20th century Royal Worcester offerings to go way above estimate, largely fuelled by bidding from Vietnam, at Fieldings (20% buyer’s premium).

Pocket guide to pleasure stimulates in Staffs and saucy memoir excites bidders in Yorks.

Halls of Shrewsbury is to sell more than 400 paintings on behalf of Lloyds Bank in an online sale later this month. The consignment will make up part of a Modern and Contemporary Art online auction, which starts on January 17 and ends on January 31.

The Design sale at Christie’s New York (25/20% buyer’s premium) on December 13 included the return to the auction room of one of the famous series of electroplated teapots made by James Dixon & Sons, Sheffield, c.1879, to designs by Christopher Dresser.

The sale at Kingham & Orme (20% buyer’s premium) in Evesham on December 6-7 included the second instalment of the remarkable Shennan collection of silver mustard pots, this time featuring examples made in the reigns of George IV to Victoria (1821-1901).

Although turned down at the time by the British Museum, a 2nd century vase with Bacchic ornament found by Gavin Hamilton near Hadrian’s villa in Tivoli c.1771 proved a sensation with 18th century connoisseurs.

This small Gothic Revival beaker was made by ecclesiastical metal manufacturer John Hardman (Birmingham, 1848) at the height of the first partnership with AWN Pugin.

The typical Georgian silver coffee pot is one of the great bargains of 21st century antiques collecting.

As implied by a plaque to the base titled 'Aeroplane Par Omertz' [sic], this gilt bronze and ivory figure of a boy in an aeroplane was by Georges Omerth (fl.1895-1925).

International interest at the Kingham & Orme (20% buyer’s premium) sale at Evesham on December 6-7 focused on René Lalique. A single-owner collection of the great French designer’s work attracted multiple phone and internet bidders from the US, the Continent and Russia.