Print Edition

MADAM – Re: Anthony Carter’s enquiry about his painting of the Mill Stream and Willy Lott’s cottage which he thinks might be by Lionel Bicknell Constable (ATG No 2451), might I suggest he takes the picture to the Victoria and Albert Museum, which reopens on August 6.

Leicestershire saleroom Gildings is offering an extensive single-owner collection of large-scale model locomotives in an auction which will benefit a life-size steam railway.

A second tranche of works from the estate of Tony Venison, the long-serving gardens editor of Country Life, lifted the latest Modern British and 20th century art auction at Sworders (25% buyer’s premium).

The first version of this map of London was issued by the Southern Railway in 1938. It was designed by Kerry Lee (1902-88) who brought it up to date for British Railways in the 1950s.

MADAM – We have read, with great interest, your reports about the problems encountered by so many antiques dealers since the start of the Covid-19 crisis.

The fortnightly Saturday afternoon TV show Whirligig was the first children’s programme to be broadcast live from the BBC studios in Lime Grove, Shepherd’s Bush.

The maxim that major names and top quality will always sell was underlined in the biannual specialist clocks sale at Dreweatts (25% buyer’s premium).

Cedric Morris (1889-1982) is now a major name in the Mod Brit market whose most bountiful flower paintings can sell for over £100,000. While Sworders has a strong track-record with the artist-plantsman, works depicting two rather different subjects were offered at the latest sale in this category.

'Cliffs Edge, Porth Dafarch' by Martin Llewellyn is featured in an upcoming online exhibition on the artist at Panter & Hall.

It’s not often that an antiques fair is likened to a Led Zep reunion, but bear with us…

MADAM – The Transferware Collectors Club, the US-based international non-profit organisation dedicated to the study of British transfer-printed ceramics, is pleased to announce the launch of its newly designed website: transferwarecollectorsclub.org.

Toys from the Attack Force range are not the earliest of the Airfix models, but they are perhaps the most desirable.

From the house clearance of a deceased estate, a small collection of Arts & Crafts metalwork triggered an estimate-demolishing response from dealers and collectors at Fieldings (20% buyer’s premium).

Edward Bawden (1903-89) is an artist whose work appears frequently at Sworders.

'Roseveor' (1985) was carved by British artist Denis Mitchell (1912- 93) out of yew, an unusual material for him used in just one other sculpture.

Two hundred eagerly awaited examples from Brockhaus collection generate suitable response.

There is a phenomenon known in Germany as Ostalgie, which is a nostalgic feeling for the now defunct East German state (GDR).

Stephanie Castell, owner of The Secondhand Warehouse in the Herefordshire town of Leominster, resorted to an extreme measure to make social distancing easier when the centre reopened: she took a wall out.

Underlining the nostalgic appeal of the 1970s-80s toys that today’s collectors once played with as children, this group of Action Man uniforms estimated at £40-60 sold for £1300 at the Keys (20% buyer’s premium) Toys auction on July 7.

Estimated at £150-200, this Georgian dial clock stormed to £4800 at Charterhouse (25% buyer’s premium) in Sherborne. Two collectors made much of the bidding.