East Midlands

A house visit in north Derbyshire unearthed a treasure trove, with every room cluttered with porcelain figures.

Works of art by architect-designer William Burges (1827-1881) are extremely rare – but serendipity has seen half a dozen pieces emerge recently in the regions.

The popular ‘Antiques & Home Show’, held six times a year at the Lincolnshire Showground, is to change from a three- to a two-day event.

A unique ceremonial key for opening Victoria Bridge in Kuala Kangsor, Malaysia, is one of the more unusual items coming up at JP Humbert of Towcester’s September 26-27 sale.

Several items stolen from Derby Museum and Art Gallery’s storage facility have been recovered and two arrests have been made.

The multitude of television shows devoted to antiques are rarely popular with the antiques trade as a whole – in a well-worn argument some credit them with the disintegration of the dealing community itself – but auctioneers are ready participants both for the publicity and the prospect of a decent consignment.

Coins, medals and watches worth over £50,000 have been stolen as a series of museum break-ins continues.

Flick through the pages of an issue of ATG in the 1980s and there are many references to the rising market for Royal Doulton character jugs.

Antiques Roadshow and Midlands auction house Gildings have conspired again to find a second William Burges brooch.

David Stanley Auctions offered the second part of the collection of woodworking tools formed by David R. Russell, renowned for the rarest and finest Norris planes.

On May 26 Golding Young & Thomas Mawer will offer for sale the contents of a Lincolnshire antique dealer’s home.

This silver inkstand made by William Robb of Ballater, assayed in Edinburgh in 1910, is one of ten items by the silversmith to be included at Batemans sale on May 5 in Stamford, Lincolnshire.

WHILE London auctions saw a 25% rise in value for 2011, sales outside the capital have also been growing.

A WELL-PRESERVED James Hammond typewriter from the 1880s is itself a rare item, but the example offered for sale by Gildings in Market Harborough in Leicestershire on February 21 attracted greater interest on account of its first owner, Lewis Carroll (1832-98).

Hansons Auctioneers have opened a new permanent saleroom in Etwall, five miles from Derby city centre. The inaugural sale in the new premises will take place on Thursday, January 19.

A GOLD button which links the two most significant military figures in the foundation of the United States of America – George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette – will be sold in Leicestershire on November 1.

ANTIQUES fairs will be able to continue at Swinderby for some time, despite the site’s prospective development as a gravel pit.

THE owner of a tearoom in Horncastle, Lincolnshire claims he is a victim of bureaucracy after he was told he could face prosecution for selling antiques from the premises.

A SET of four George II silver salts by the celebrated Huguenot silversmith Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751) sold for a double-estimate £19,000 at Hansons' latest sale at the Mackworth Hotel in Derby.

CHURCHILL impersonator Derek Herbert was in Towcester on March 16 to aid Northamptonshire auctioneer Jonathan Humbert in the sale of a pair of acetate tortoiseshell-effect reading glasses that belonged to Sir Winston.