UK

THE Graham Rickett Collection of rowing ephemera offers a unique opportunity for collectors when it comes up for sale as part of Bonhams’ annual sale of traditional rivercraft and marine ephemera on Saturday, July 19 at the Boat Tents, near Leander Club, Henley-on-Thames.

Highlight of the June 24-2 Neal Sons & Fletcher was this Regency green marble-topped table. With brass scroll supports decorated with swan heads and a trefoil base veneered in burr walnut, and with ebony stringing and mouldings, the 2ft 2in (66cm) diameter, 4ft 4in (1.32m) high table had been ensconced in a local country house for many years.

FROM August 21 to October 26, The Wallace Collection in Manchester Square will host what they bill as the first ever exhibition in London devoted entirely to Regency and Victorian glass.

LOOKING for the next big thing in art? You can choose from over 350 hand-picked artists, in a variety of media, whose wares are on show this month at Fresh Art, at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London N1.

JUDGING by the sales of photographic images at the recent artLONDON, the public appears to be warming to the genre as a serious art form. A further test of its acceptability may be gleaned until July 26 at Cork Street’s Hirschl Contemporary Art, with the showing of 10 or so photographs (£1000-1800) by Sian Bonnell, whose work is represented in the V&A and Houston’s Museum of Fine Art.

Lisa Watson is one of the young silversmiths featured in Silver Sparks, an exhibition of 47 examples of cutting-edge silver and jewellery made by students and former students of the Bishopsland Workshops in Oxfordshire that are on show at the Gilbert Collection in Somerset House, London WC2 until August 31. Her silver and felt jewellery and accessories can be seen at the show but like several of the other participants, examples of her work can also be bought at the Gilbert Collection Shop.

LONDON: Police are urging London’s silver and jewellery dealers to be particularly vigilant after a spate of thefts, or attempted thefts, in the West End. In the space of ten days at the beginning of June three shops were hit by thieves including Kenneth Davis Works of Art of King Street who had a Russian gold box by assay master Dmitrii Il’ich Tverskoi stolen by a man at about 4.15 pm on Friday June 13.

A watercolour and drawings sale held by Bonhams on June 10 included a small group of E.H. Shepard illustrations from the estate of the late Jean Ames, who as Jean Gourlay had befriended the artist during the late 1930s and early 1940s, prior to his second marriage, and though the saleroom was non-committal on the matter, it is possible that these versions were specially made by Shepard for Miss Ames.

Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg have opened a new London office in Mayfair to replace their recently vacated Grosvenor Street premises. The new premises at 26-27 Albemarle Street are, say the company, a more cost-effective alternative to Grosvenor Street.

Netherhampton House, a wonderful Queen Anne home in Salisbury, was the venue for Duke’s English Country House sale on 16 June. Rented from the Pembroke estate since 1990 by dealer and collector John Parnaby, the elegant stone property operated as both a home and a showroom for Mr Parnaby’s business, Victor Mahy Antiques, specialists in 17th and 18th century furniture and works of art.

ONE place nowadays where the decorator regularly meets the antique dealer is in the garden, and as more and more decorators look outdoors, an increasing number of antique dealers are also tripping down the garden path.

ONCE again Fran Foster of Centrex, the Birmingham NEC’s organising arm, has proved there is plenty of fair business in Scotland if the quality and mix of stock is right. Her fourth Antiques For Everyone – Glasgow, held at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre from June 20 to 22, proved a success for the great majority of the 80 or so exhibitors and it was commented upon that this Scottish fair has outshone many events further south.

On July 21 and 22, Sotheby’s will be holding a house contents sale at Wormington Manor near Broadway. This was the Worcestershire home of interior decorator, Christopher Rowley whose shop in Lower Sloane Street, Belgravia was a familiar meeting point for his large circle of friends and clients until his death in April this year.

Even as the million-pound Impressionist and Modern pictures were being knocked down in their King Street saleroom last week, Christie’s were reconfirming their commitment to the currently troubled middle market sector.

Highlight of the remainder of the Roy Mickleburgh collection sold by Bristol Auction Rooms on June 24 was this rare monkey band automaton, c.1870. The nine-piece chamber orchestra includes no fewer than 43 separate movements operated by a French mechanism and is housed in a rosewood veneered two-part case with a 48-note German-made crankwind barrel organ below playing a choice of seven tunes.

TUCKED away through an archway next to wine merchants Berry Bros & Rudd in St James’s Street is Pickering Place, home of Nevil Keating Tollemache – formerly Nevill Keating. Pictures until director Angela Nevill formed a new company with Michael Tollemache, a past chairman of the Society of London Art Dealers and a specialist in Old Master and 19th century paintings.

IT’S not all Mod Brit, the modern art market in Britain – there are still buyers who want their heroes and their gardens and during May, Oxford auctioneers Mallams (15% buyer’s premium) were able to supply both markets, albeit at different price levels.

MAYFAIR Orientalist Roger Keverne is offering more than 100 objects in his current Summer Exhibition of Fine and Rare Chinese Works of Art and Ceramics at his gallery at 16 Clifford Street, London W1.

IN what they are billing “the beginning of a new era” in the firm’s fortunes, Stuttgart auctioneers Nagel are moving to grand new premises in the old quarter of the city next month.

There was plenty of evidence of buyers’ appreciation of the sculptural qualities of white-glazed porcelain figures from both English and Continental factories. Early, 1750s English examples are particularly sought after and the June sales offered examples from Chelsea and Bow, while on the Continental front Christie’s had an entire collection of white biscuit and porcelain pieces to sell as part of their single-owner Boulle to Jansen sale.Some of the most expensive are shown here.