Yorkshire and the Humber

With the heroics of ‘the few’ in the Battle of Britain more or less guaranteeing auction interest, it is easy to overlook the incredible bravery of bomber crews.

Want to recreate an authentic Georgian Christmas? Head to York for inspiration.

Galloway Antiques Fairs holds its first event of the season on January 6-8 at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate, known for being the scene of Agatha Christie’s retreat during her 1926 disappearance. Here we show a number of objects likely to disappear from the Old Swan over the course of the weekend, but for less mysterious reasons…

Medals won by former Everton winger Cliff Britton (1909-75), who later went on to manage the club in the 1950s, are being offered at an auction in East Yorkshire.

The Yorkshire Museum has acquired the Wold Newton Hoard after receiving funds totalling £44,200.

A new record for an empty English medicine bottle was set by BBR Auctions in Elsecar, North Yorkshire when a Victorian flask of ‘Dr Sibley’s Solar Tincture’ took £8200.

This late medieval marriage ring, unearthed by a metal detectorist last year in North Yorkshire, has been sold to London dealers Wartski for a five-figure sum after a private deal was negotiated by independent valuer Mark Littler.

The Osbourne family have snapped up Black Sabbath memorabilia ahead of a planned auction in Sheffield.

This week’s York National Book Fair hosts the most exhibitors ever to feature in its 42-year history.

Forty-two ceramic artists have been chosen from 100 applicants to exhibit at the three-day Ceramic Art York event which opens tomorrow at the city’s Museum Gardens.

Ozzy Osbourne is famous for not only fronting the trailblazing heavy metal band Black Sabbath but also drink and drugs and wild antics such as biting the head off a bat on stage.

A new record for a Star Wars production figure was established at Vectis' latest sale when a French issue of Boba Fett, the memorable bit-part character in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, sold for £21,000.

The Rocket Firing Boba Fett has assumed legendary status among Star Wars collectors. Modelled in grey-blue plastic in advance of mass production by the Kenner factory in Ohio, it would forever remain a prototype figure.

Tennants are staging a single-owner sale featuring a collection of Grosvenor School prints that come fresh to the market after they were found stored a family home of Edith Lawrence’s (1890-1973) great nephew.

With the weekend fast approaching, ATG picks three antique and vintage fairs worth visiting if you’re up near the Yorkshire dales over the next two days.

A conference on the history of UK dealers opened in Leeds yesterday with delegates hearing how the practices and identity of British antique dealers have changed during the past century.

A Russian malachite and ormolu chimney went on show last week at the museum at Cliffe Castle in Keighley more than half a century after it left the property.

Dr Mark Westgarth, lecturer in history of art and cultural studies at the University of Leeds, is confirmed as the keynote speaker at the upcoming Antique Dealers Project Conference, which will take place April 14-15 at Temple Newsam House, Leeds.

Size and value often have an inverse relationship in the antiques world where small can be beautiful.

Nigel Smith, the Harrogate-based valuer and auctioneer, has joined Morphets of Harrogate as a director after 16 years at Tennants running their Harrogate office.