Yorkshire and the Humber

MAKING it even more of an antiquesfest than usual in Harrogate, running at the same time as Louise Walker’s fair (but closing one day earlier on May 2) is local organiser Galloway Antiques Fairs’ The Old Swan Hotel Antiques Fair in Swan Road. The hotel is just a short stroll from The International Centre.

THE importance of colour to collectors of saltglaze ceramics was emphasised at BBR's (10% buyer's premium) March 7 500-lot specialist sale near Barnsley when the orangey-brown hue and unusual subject matter made an Ugly Woman saltglazed inkwell one of the most desirable entries.

“ANOTHER glorious array of items from our railway heritage with many record prices,” was Ian Wright’s verdict after Sheffield Railwayana Auctions' (no buyer's premium) specialist March 13 sale, and certainly a sale total of £427,000 with only 16 of the 550 lots unsold would be the envy of most auctioneers, some of whom must be wondering if the railwayana market is ever going to run out of steam.

IS there currently a more buoyant sector of the ceramics market than Beswick animals? Malcolm's No. 1 Auctioneers (12.5% buyer's premium) March 29 sale, held at Trustees Hall, Boston Spa, attracted what Malcolm Dowson estimated to be his largest ever attendance in over 20 years of auctioneering. The primary reason? A private collection of Beswick horse figures entered without reserve by a local resident who has decided to live in Spain.

WHETHER it was coincidence or whether they were reaping the benefit from their new marketing strategy, David Duggleby (15% buyer's premium) noted a definite rise in business at their 347-lot quarterly outing on February 23 when buyers were found for 85 per cent of entries.

IN April 1912, Miss Lenox-Conyngham was travelling with three relatives from Southampton to Cherbourg, but though this was just a short channel crossing, she decided that it was worthwhile dashing off a letter to a nephew on the ship’s notepaper.

ESSEX organiser Robert Bailey travelled North at the end of December and saw the new year in at Harrogate where from January 2 to 4 he held his Harrogate Pavilions Antiques and Fine Art Fair.

Despite the unpredictable trading conditions of the last 12 months, Tennants posted record trading figures for 2003. Aided by a bumper £1.62m autumn catalogue sale, total sales at The Auction Centre, Leyburn from January to December 2003 were £8.44m (not including premium), a substantial improvement upon the previous year when the North Yorkshire operation posted hammer sales of £7.4m.

Over recent years the market for classic railway engine nameplates has shown itself to be as solid and reliable as the great engines they once adorned. It is 40 years since the Beeching Report condemned a third of the British rail network to the axe and effectively ended the glorious age of steam, but even then there were enthusiasts who cared enough to preserve what they could.

As York silver becomes both too hard-to-find and too expensive to buy, there is increasing interest in early wares from the Sheffield assay office. The manufacture of silver in Sheffield did not begin until the second half of the 18th century – a direct offshoot to the Old Sheffield Plate and the cutlery industry.

NORTH Yorkshire organisers Galloway Antiques Fairs have events coming thick and fast this month and less than a week after shutting up shop at Dunscombe Park in their home county, they head north for The Scone Palace Antiques Fair, Perth from November 14 to 16. The popular Scottish fixture has been fully booked for some time with 33 exhibitors.

NOT far from their Harrogate base, Galloway Antiques Fairs mount their Duncombe Park Antiques Fair in the stately home of Lord and Lady Feversham in Helmsley, North Yorkshire from November 7 to 9.

WITH an exhibitor list well down on last year, Essex organiser Robert Bailey’s 53rd Northern Antiques Fair at Harrogate from September 17 to 21 did not enjoy a vintage staging, with a number of exhibitors expressing disappointment at the attendance and general level of business.

Bailey, BADA and local firm all in action making September a month the town will remember: Well-used to antiques as they are, the citizens of Harrogate will be spoilt for choice this month with two major fairs in different parts of town, mercifully with a five-day gap between them.

IF his 34th Cheshire Autumn Antiques and Fine Art Fair at Tatton Park over the weekend of September 4 to 7 was an indicator then Robert Bailey’s Harrogate fair should turn over nicely.

As the many people in the trade who remember Joan Eyles will know, the Yorkshire dealer was a cat enthusiast. So when pieces from her own collection were offered at Tennants’ Leyburn rooms on 17-18 July it was no surprise to see the occasional accent on the feline.

One weekend every summer, this quiet South Yorkshire village is overwhelmed by enthusiasts, collectors and dealers of antique bottles, pot lids and advertising, who converge to participate in the collector’s fair, Elsecar National, and to bid in BBR auction’s major sale hosted on an adjacent site.

HARROGATE-based organisers Galloway Fairs do not have to leave their home county of North Yorkshire for the summer staging of The Duncombe Park Antiques Fair, which will be held this weekend from June 13 to 15 at the home of Lord and Lady Feversham at Duncombe Park, Helmsley.

It seems that in terms of arriving in numbers after none has been seen for ages, novelty lighthouse cocktail shakers are to Yorkshire what No. 9 buses are to central London. In Antiques Trade Gazette No.1589 dated May 17 we illustrated just such a silver-plated shaker which took £1250 at Andrew Hartley’s Ilkley, West Yorkshire sale on April 9-10.

MURMURS around the trade indicate that business at fairs is easier out of London than in the capital, which bodes well for one of our top provincial events, The Harrogate Antique and Fine Art Fair held from May 1 to 5 at the Harrogate International Centre, bang in the centre of town.