Yorkshire and the Humber

Private bidders were overtaken as dealers found warmth in the best traditional furniture and chattels offered at auction.

Riots broke out in Bury and Blackburn in May 1878 as cotton mill workers protested their low wages. The initially peaceful action escalated as employees attacked the factory and local constabulary, eventually looting and destroying the mill owner’s house.

A selection of highlights from the Chorley's auction on July 24-25 and the Tennants sale on July 21 (also see main Auction Reports story this edition).

“My granny used to say, if you get stuck sell the French table,” the vendor told Harrogate auctioneer Elizabeth Pepper-Darling.

With the Meteorological Office showing that roasting temperatures are ‘here to stay’ at the beginning of July in the UK, and people sweltering on packed beaches, cooling off in the sea is essential. And what better than in a vintage swimsuit?

An early 17th century work on …the Whole Practise of Artillery made a record sum in sale held by Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) of Leyburn.

An Edwardian Carlton House satinwood desk of the type which was once a best-seller at auction, but an early casualty of the furniture slump, was back in favour at the Hartleys (17.5% buyer’s premium) summer sale in Ilkley.

Pitched at £100-150, a small North American Native woven pouch attracted interest from London, Continental and US specialists at Tennants’ (23% buyer’s premium) Militaria & Ethnographica offering at Leyburn.

Designer Vicki Ambery-Smith is regularly selected to show at the prestigious annual Goldsmiths Fair at Goldsmiths Hall in London.

"He had taken a taxi from Heathrow to Easingwold. After fierce bidding on the phones and internet he bought it, put it in his suitcase and the taxi was still waiting outside the saleroom with the meter ticking to go back to Heathrow.”

Trading as Rose & Brown, organiser Caroline Brown’s 50-stand vintage home and fashion fair takes place on Saturday and Sunday, June 23-24, at the Victoria Hall in Saltaire, West Yorkshire.

“The open road, the dusty highway, the heath, the common, the hedgerows, the rolling downs!”

A plaster plaque of a mother and child drew multiple bids when it was offered at Hutchinson Scott (20% buyer’s premium) in Skipton, North Yorkshire.

The Northern Antiques Fair is anticipating a “significant” rise in exhibitor numbers as it moves to an earlier date this October.