West Midlands

After trading for only six months, Fieldings Auctioneers, based in Stourbridge, West Midlands have won a regional business award. They were nominated by the Black Country Chamber of Commerce for the Best New Business, Service Sector in their first annual New Business Awards (2001-2002).

Royal Doulton and Moorcroft collectors are always in abundance at these sales in the heart of the Potteries, and if their specialisms within their subjects sometimes make for hard going at the rostrum, the increasing demand for Royal Albert pieces was well catered for.

The curious inhabitants of Middle Earth have existed quite happily (and vividly) in the minds of readers since J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic The Lord of the Rings first appeared in the 1950s.

WITH nearly 300 ceramics and glass lots covering a range of interests, there was almost bound to be one surprise at this Midlands sale for Bonhams on 13 March.

SEVEN decades of work by Susie Cooper, one of Britain’s keynote ceramics designers, is the subject of ‘Susie Cooper Style’, an exhibition running until the autumn at the Wedgwood Story visitor centre at Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent.

The continued demand for Art Nouveau and the ageless appeal of the female nude provided a winning combination at the sale held by Richard Winterton (11% buyer’s premium) at Burton-on-Trent on March 13.

THE smaller items among the quality furniture, clock and collectable entries proved the most commercial lots at this 846-lot Herefordshire auction at Brightwells on 6 and 7 February.

POLICE are casting their net farther afield in the hope of recapturing a missing mermaid, and the thieves who stole her.

The value of toy trains is rarely tied to world events, but this Märklin 00 gauge replica of a London Midland and Scottish railway locomotive was manufactured by the German toy firm for export to Britain in 1938.

FLOOD waters threatened to sink a £1m antiques emporium just weeks after its official launch. The flowing lines of antique and interior design dealers Mansers’ new showroom on the outskirts of Shrewsbury echo those of an ocean liner, but Mother Nature added the final touch when the River Severn burst its banks last Tuesday, leaving the new building seemingly afloat in the turbid waters around the historic Shropshire county town.

THIS first sale of the new year at the Staffordshire rooms Richard Winterton attracted a number of new buyers who were all in the area for the LAPADA fair at the nearby Birmingham NEC.

This was a busy sale at the Hagley community hall for Fieldings on 12 January with a good crosssection of material on offer attracting a good mixture of trade and private buyers.

THE Midlands branch of Bonhams is the clearing house for all sewing pieces offered to the empire’s rooms and showed its worth at this specialist sale on 13 December.

IT was apparent on the second day of the first major fair of the year, The LAPADA Antiques and Fine Art Fair which opened at Birmingham’s NEC on January 16, that there is no marked upturn in business following a despondent 2001.

THIS was the second sale for the West Midlands firm Fieldings Auctioneers who got off to a tough start by holding their first sale in October when the market was reacting to the September 11 attacks.

COUNTRYWIDE hints that there may be some lift to the general silver market got a further boost at this Staffordshire sale on 28-29 November at Wintertons where one of the main sections comprised 13 silver lots, of which 90 per cent sold to both trade and private bidders with Christmas in mind.

Jewellery is a classic Christmas seller and, combined with the current demand for Art Nouveau this hallmarked silver Charles Horner pendant, right, was always a likely seller.

The inaugural specialist sale of some 350 character jugs at the Stoke on Trent ceramics auctioneers Potteries Specialist Auction (12.5% buyer’s premium) on November 17 was, said the auctioneers, a great success with specialist UK dealers and collectors flocking to the Cobridge rooms.

George Jones majolica continues to be extraordinarily popular with buyers, both trade and private. Some damage to a George Jones cheese dish and cover offered in Birmingham at Biddle & Webb saw it estimated at £300-500 so it came as rather a surprise when it soared above this.

“In light of the current situation...” this is, understandably, now a well-worn phrase in provincial salerooms and Roger Williams was yet another auctioneer to utter them after his October sale on 10-11 October at Brightwells, Leominster.