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The UK’s art and antiques trade is bracing itself for challenging times as the impact of coronavirus takes hold.

One of the highlights of a busy week in the salerooms came at Dreweatts’ auction of the Sir William Whitfield (1920-2019) collection.

Leading auction houses around the UK told ATG last week that their sales calendars will continue as planned, with sensible precautions being taken in the saleroom. Many reported strong sales last week but some expressed understandable concern about future consignments. Here is an edited selection of their comments.

A taxidermy Adélie penguin collected by scientists during the Terra Nova Antarctic Expedition from 1910-13 drew strong interest at an auction in Essex last week.

Salon du Dessin, Art & Antiques for Everyone and Chelsea shelved but TOAF to go ahead

Representing around 25 years of the artist’s output, the ceramic creations of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) represent a popular collecting field.

Suffolk town where the TV rogue ducked and dived experiences an antiques revival. Plus, details of the Long Melford fairs scene.

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including a prototype of the Nintendo PlayStation selling for $300,000 at Heritage in Texas.

A pair of Chinese carved officials’ chairs offered at Ramsay Cornish (20% buyer’s premium) in Edinburgh were typical of the furniture made at the end of the Qing period, some of it for local use, much of it for export.

Offered very early on in the books section of the Travel & Exploration sale at Bonhams (27.5/25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium), a 24-lot collection relating to George Anson amassed by the late Colin Paul, a descendant of the admiral, attracted considerable interest.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

MADAM – The priest or Boatswain Starter, with string knotwork at each end, which is probably weighted with lead, and waxed (Letters, ATG Nos 2432 and 2433), is also called a Life Preserver, suggesting a defensive – as well as a proactive, attacking – weapon.

This flag offered at East Bristol Auctions (18% buyer’s premium) carries inscriptions for HMS Swiftsure – British Pacific Fleet – 1945, and the Japanese cities Sasebo and Tokyo.

Mark Goodger specialises in antique tea caddies, boxes and other accessories and works of art.

A copy of Sylvia Plath’s 'The Bell Jar' in a well-preserved dust jacket sold for £3000 in a recent Surrey auction may have set a record for any uninscribed or association copy.

Dealer Ashley Gray of Gray MCA in Bath, which specialises in original fashion illustration from post-war 1940s to present, was over the moon when he discovered an exhibition he is involved with appeared on prime-time TV in the US.

A First World War medal fashioned from a Mexican eight reales coin was an unusual feature of a group sold at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (23% buyer’s premium) on February 19.

Four military maps encompassing Siam (Thailand), Hong Kong, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia took an unexpected £3700 at the Peter Wilson (22% buyer’s premium) Arms, Militaria, Medals & Firearms auction earlier this year.

London became the training ground for many young South African artists during the inter-war years. Among them was Cape Town painter Freida Lock (1902-62) who attended Heatherley School of Art and the Central School of Art where she was introduced to the works of post-Impressionists such as Van Gogh, Cézanne and Braque.