UK

ATG’s weekly selection of items on sale at auctions and dealerships.

Latest in a number of outstanding pieces of English furniture to surface and succeed at provincial auctions was this pair of satinwood inlaid demi-lune card tables, above, offered at Stride & Son (20% buyer’s premium including VAT) at Chichester on March 31.

A week before their new joint space opens, dealers Charles Wallrock and David Brooker stand in the shell of their gallery sipping cups of tea, admiring the fresh paint job and speculating on how long it will take to lay the carpet.

Not so much in demand as they once were, Royal Doulton figurines still have their devoted following, particularly when they are rarities such as the Lady Jester (HN1222) piece offered at Michael J Bowman (17.5% buyer’s premium) sale at Chudleigh on March 25.

If you are interested in Chinese mother-of-pearl gaming counters then it’s a pretty good bet that the name Bill Neal will also come up.

The time has come for the second of Robert Young Antiques’ three annual events. The Exhibition of Antiques Folk Art is the only one to take place in the dealer’s Battersea gallery and this year runs from May 11-20.

Antique dolls supremo Judy Bebber has been organising the biannual Kensington Doll Show at Kensington Town Hall for 20 years.

In the continuing series looking through the keyhole of ‘bricks and mortar’ shops in 2017, ATG talks to Stuart Watson who runs St. Reatham Antiques.

A now-postponed plan by HMRC to require businesses and the self-employed to file tax returns quarterly rather than yearly “would create havoc” if it was imposed as scheduled in 2018, dealers have told ATG.

The Antiquarian Bookdealers’ Association is to rebrand its young booksellers’ apprenticeship scheme as a training programme following a change in employment law.