UK

Brexit uncertainty. Tick. A weak pound. Tick. The ivory ban. Tick. Some of the themes that will permeate 2019 are already clear. But what else might the next 12 months bring for the art and antiques trade and its buying audience? ATG does a little crystal-ball gazing...

“Every specialist has an object that they dream of having in their sales,” says Matthew Rubinger, Christie’s head of handbags and accessories. “For me, it’s the aluminium Explorer trunk by Louis Vuitton. The market is full of silver-coloured metal trunks, but this piece is their inspiration.”

Estimated at £40-60, this unusual Chinese scholar’s object took £32,000 (plus buyer’s premium) at a recent auction at Rogers Jones in Cardiff.

Posters covering band or artist appearances during the embryonic days of their development are proving very popular at auction – a trend underlined by a group of 1966 Pink Floyd designs.

Organised for more than 20 years by aviation enthusiasts Dave Sutton and Alistair White in conjunction with the Croydon Airport Society, the annual Croydon Aviation and Military Fair is run on a charity basis aiming to keep the history of Croydon aerodrome alive.

Early works from artist known as Marevna is key feature of family collection sold in London.

The 'London Antique Rug & Textile Art Fair' (LARTA) is held alongside the 'Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair' at the beginning of the year.

"In 2018 we have not seen a great deal of movement in the price of gold and silver, but things could change considerably as we move into 2019," says precious metals dealer Michael Bloomstein of Brighton.

The Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair takes place at Battersea Evolution in the new year, offering a wealth of objects from early oak furniture to fine art to 20th century design.

More female talent emerged at Roseberys in the form of this fiery piece of Abstract Expressionism below by American painter Grace Hartigan (1922-2008).

The Victorian Conservative politician Lord Coventry is believed to have commissioned this portrait of favourite hounds Rambler and Marksman.

Never out of fashion, the best furniture by Robert Thompson is going through one of its periodic surges – as evident at Wilkinson’s Doncaster rooms last month (ATG No 2369) and at Sworders of Stansted Mountfichet (ATG No 2363) in October.

This seasonal watercolour of figures ice skating in the Lake District (below) sold for a mid-estimate £3600 at local Cumbria saleroom Mitchells (20% buyer’s premium) on November 28.