Maastricht in March. It’s difficult to think of anything other than TEFAF within this setting, but one local dealer has established his own tradition, coinciding with but apart from the fair.

In the continuing series looking through the keyhole of ‘bricks and mortar’ shops in 2017, ATG talks to Lucinda Silcock who runs St Martin’s Antiques Centre in Stamford.

Nick Arkell is one of the owners of Walton House Antiques, a shop in Mere, Wiltshire, which specialises in furniture, fine art and antiques. He is exhibiting at the ADFL Petworth fair.

Petworth has faced some speculation about its future as a hub from members of the trade during the past few years. Once a celebrated spot for art and antiques, the closure of several local shops led to fears that it was losing its footing as a destination for collectors.

The apparent decline in passing trade is a subject occupying the minds of many shop-owning dealers. But some, such as Brentford’s Hill House, have taken matters into their own hands by staging promotional events to encourage attendance.

Charles Hunt’s evocative painting All the Fun of the Fair was among the major sales at the recent Antiques for Everyone fair in Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre (NEC).

Waterhouse & Dodd’s upcoming exhibition focuses on the influence of David Bomberg’s (1890-1957) paintings on a wide circle of artists.

A ground-breaking Mayfair exhibition takes a rare focus on first examples of the maiolica technique.

A judge has ruled against a London gallery over the seizure by UK Border Force of a Chinese silver tea set containing a tiny quantity of elephant ivory.

Justin Evershed-Martin is the former director of Mallett who has launched a business specialising in 20th century decorative art and furniture. This week he exhibits at the Decorative Art Antiques and Textiles Fair in Battersea with a selection of privately sourced pieces all priced under £8000 (see right).