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Sourced from a small church in the West Country but apparently once part of the furniture at William Beckford’s splendid Fonthill Abbey, this George III pair of mahogany hall benches (one shown) were the highlight of Duke’s sale in Dorchester on April 17.

Art Deco 1910-1939, edited by Tim Benton, Charlotte Benton and Ghislaine Wood, published by V&A Publications. ISBN 1851773876 £40 hardback ISBN 1851773886 £29.95 soft back.

Devon auctioneers SJ Hales (15 per cent buyer’s premium) have moved to a wider field than the ceramics, and particularly Staffordshire, on which they founded their reputation but this area remains their strength. The 500 varied ceramic lots and nearly 200 Staffordshire pieces took most of the better prices among the 1500 offerings at the new Bovey Tracey rooms on March 12 and 13.

A number of ivories closed the Oriental ceramics section at Tennants’ sale with some memorable results. A 143/4in (37.5cm) double-handled basket and cover from Canton c.1860, carved with phoenixes and figures in pavilions, made a five-times estimate £2500 and more surprises came among ten Japanese ivories such as an 81/2in (22cm) one-piece carving of a farmer looking at an empty pumpkin cage, a cicada on his head, which made £4000 against printed expectations of £500-700.

Getting Sotheby’s Olympia’s (20/12% buyer’s premium) 288-lot April 2 sale of British and European Ceramics off to a brisk start was a well received section devoted to early Italian maiolica, Dutch Delft and other tin-glazed earthenwares.

Back on March 18, Bonhams (19.5/10% buyer’s premium) held a sale devoted entirely to Export Arts of the China Trade in their Bond Street rooms. Running to 277 lots, it comprised material from both China and Japan, the bulk of it ceramics but also featuring metalwares, ivories, furniture, paintings and other works of art.

THE distillation of a life of taste, dedication to a collecting field and unique expertise. This rare confluence of qualities may be seen this Thursday, May 1, when Neales of Nottingham present the 163-lot single-owner collection of one of their own cataloguers.

CHRISTIE’S, who have postponed their April Hong Kong sales because of the SARS outbreak, have now published a revised list of sale dates for July.

ART collectors in Italy in possession of illegally acquired antiquities may now be able to come clean to the authorities and keep the works concerned.

PHONE calls to the Antiques Trade Gazette over the past two weeks make it clear that the trade is still being targeted by credit card fraudsters from Indonesia.

A NUMBER of dealers and collectors have contacted the Antiques Trade Gazette about notifications they have received concerning the settlement of claims relating to the Sotheby’s and Christie’s collusion case.

Forecasts revised upwards for the rest of the year: eBay’s net profits for the first quarter of 2003 more than doubled last year’s figure, breaking the $100m barrier for the first time. With a turnover of $476.5m for the period, the firm generated $104.2m profit, compared with a turnover of $245.1m and profits of just under $50m for the first quarter of 2002.

The Illicit Antiquities Research Centre at Cambridge University have set out a list of short- and long-term objectives to help restore works to the museums of Iraq.

Netherhampton Salerooms (12.5% buyer’s premium) celebrated their first ever fine antiques sale in Salisbury on April 10 with quite a coup. The quality of this pair of 19th century Chinese lacquer cabinets, right, was such that they were always going to take a respectable price.

Coming up in SYDNEY: THIS table once graced the office of swashbuckling multi-millionaire Australian businessman Alan Bond, but its Australian connections go far deeper. English, and c.1810 it is a library table in the Greek Revival taste inlaid with English oak from HMS Resolution, Captain Cook’s final ship, and with ivory panels inscribed – Part of HMS Resolution – Sacred to the Memory of Captn. Cook – Deriving worth from Cook’s illustrious name – This ship shall live in rolls of endless fame.

Dismissed by some as the equivalent of Clarice Cliff, the brilliantly coloured, Vorticist-influenced linocuts produced by the Grosvenor School during the inter-war years continue to be the most hotly contested commodity at UK print auctions, particularly when they emerge from long-established private collections.

Topping the sale of fine watches held at Bonhams’ Bond Street (19.5/10% buyer’s premium) rooms on April 15, was this 18th century gold pair cased verge watch. This had a signed and numbered movement (562) by Daniel Delander, who was free of the Clockmakers Company in 1699, and was contained in plain gold cases marked for London, 1716.

AMONG all the specialist collecting areas, few can be as specialised or as fervent as the market in items relating to the Titanic. Devizes auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son (15/10% buyer’s premium) have capitalised on the way enthusiasts will pay big money for anything relating to the doomed liner by holding two specialist sales a year, in April and in September.

Pictured right is the highlight of Christie’s South Kensington’s (17.5/10% buyer’s premium) first football memorabilia sale of 2003 on March 26. A Cup Tie at Crystal Palace, Corinthians v. Manchester City, by Charles Ernest Cundall, in oil on panel 231/4in x 2ft 51/2in (60 x 75cm), signed C. Cundall lower right, set a new auction record for the artist when it was knocked down to London dealer Chris Beetles for £42,000, double the upper estimate.

LONDON specialists Dix Noonan Webb (15% buyer’s premium) had their best ever sale of Orders, Decorations and Medals on April 2. Their press releases make things easy for your poor ink slinger. They give all sorts of details offering a view of the actual state of the market – hard facts, not speculative interpretation.