East of England

There were local, or at least county, connections when this large linocut print, ‘Church and Thunderstorm’ by Edward Bawden (1903-1989) was offered by Essex auctioneers Sworders at their spring Country House sale.

POLICE have asked for information about a theft that took place at Cavendish Antiques and Interiors in Suffolk in the early hours of April 11.

A BANKRUPT Suffolk antiques dealer who went on the run to Bulgaria after swindling creditors in a £1.9m fraud has been jailed for ten years.

Among the highlights of the sale conducted by Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchet on February 17 was this William IV patent mahogany library armchair, with carved acanthus leaf sides, turned lobed front legs and outswept back supports.

Today Robert Baden-Powell is best known as the founder of the Boy Scout movement in 1908, but in the Edwardian era his name was synonymous with the Boer War, and specifically the 217 wretched days from October 1899 to May 1900.

Latest results now prompt a rethink in London on English porcelain as East Anglian enthusiasts take pride in collecting local factory’s output.

This japanned lacquer case to this Georgian bracket clock was stolen from a restorer in Norfolk on October 15. The case, which had been restored, is slightly larger than is normal, accommodating a musical movement.

Whilst perhaps better known for selling reclaimed building materials, T.W. Gaze of Diss in Norfolk consistently attract lots of a more decorative nature in their five architectural sales each year. Their August 16 sale included this very fine quality early 18th century marble study of a boy holding aloft a bearded mask.

THE Standsted Mountfitchet saleroom Sworders are to sell the contents of Lancotbury Manor, a timber-framed Tudor manor house near Dunstable that was the former home of David Cochrane and Bernard Gulley.

Around 260 people attended a champagne reception on Thursday, May 8 to mark the official opening of Sworders new saleroom in the presence of HRH Princess Michael of Kent.

Sworders moved into their much-lauded new environmentally friendly saleroom on March 31.

A pre-War fire pump and trailer were among items stolen from a collector at Great Totham, near Maldon, Essex sometime between Monday, January 28 and Friday, February 8.

POLICE are on the look-out for a man who has used cheques to obtain goods from antiques dealers in East Anglia.

ONCE the largest city outside London, Norwich had its own silver assay office during three periods between 1565 and 1702.

North west Essex auctioneers Mullocks Wells are to close by the end of the year. Their Monday, November 19 sale of fine art and antiques will go ahead as planned but is likely to be the last at the Dunmow Sale and Auction Rooms.

COOPER Antique Fairs have a new venue for their latest antiques fair: The Royal Masonic School for Girls, Chorleywood, Hertfordshire.

Cambridgeshire saleroom Grounds & Co has changed its name to Clifford Cross Auctions.

Cambridge auctioneers Cheffins are to offer a recently rediscovered archive of slides that depict the daredevil Malcolm Campbell in his pomp.

“WE’VE got 1700 exhibitors at our March fair at the East of England Showground and we’ve been fully booked for six weeks now, with 1100 stallholders inside three large halls – including the Cambridge Suite with fine quality pieces – and marquees, and 600 dealers outside,” said Chris Hart of Bob Evans Fairs , the organiser of the twice-yearly Peterborough Festival of Antiques.

SPECIAL FOCUS: ST ALBANS ANTIQUES CENTREST ALBANS’ last remaining shop selling antiques may be forced out of business if a planning application for its change of use to a restaurant is approved.