East of England

THE imminent smoking ban and the government’s attempts to tackle binge drinking wouldn’t have gone down too well with the Reffley Brethren.

MISSING Book Fairs, named after the fairs’ eponymous organiser, Chris Missing, are moving one of their six events from one stately home to another.

DAN Godfrey is opening an antiques and collectables centre at the Grade 2 Listed late-18th century watermill at Barton Le Clay, north of Luton in Bedfordshire.

The highlight of the Lowestoft porcelain sale conducted by enthusiast Russell H. Sprake at The Beaconsfield Club, Lowestoft on the evening of October 27 was this rare blue and white birth tablet.

OPENED on August 26 by Tim Wonnacott is the new £1.2m Peterfield Antique Village in Gosfield, Essex where £20,000 of trade was done on the day by the 236 dealers working at the centre’s 12 shops and from the cabinets.

It’s not difficult to see how Dunhill ‘fish tank’ lighters got their name. Not only do these 1950s perspex and electroplated lighters resemble miniature aquariums, but most were decorated with aquatic subjects.

In June 1941 an 18-year-old apprentice cabinetmaker, L.F. Gillet of Stratford-on-Avon, won first prize in the prestigious Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers annual competition. The prize was a dovetailed steel and rosewood rebating mitre the ASW had specially commissioned from the Norris factory.

THIS year's RICS conference will be in Cambridge from Friday to Sunday, September 15-17. More details to follow, but block out the dates in your diaries now.

EAST Anglia's top fairs circuit, Lomax Antiques Fairs, has been sold to John Harbottle, a regular exhibitor at Lomax events.

“This bureau was bought by my Great Grandfather, John Stuart, at the sale of Deacon Brodie’s stock in trade after his execution, W.M. Stuart, the Hummel, Gullane, 18.10.28.”

A Bedford woman who was downsizing homes decided to enter this piece of family silver into her local auction house. It proved to be the stellar entry in W&H Peacock’s April 7 antiques sale when, after generating considerable pre-sale attention from the London silver trade, it far outstripped the saleroom’s unpublished expectations of around £3000-5000, selling to one of their number for £28,000 (plus 12.5% premium).

Essex centre to be environmentally friendly

Works by Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) are only very occasionally seen on the market. So when this evocative watercolour Salt Marsh was offered at Sworders (15% buyer’s premium) sale in Stansted Mountfitchet on April 11 it attracted at least seven interested parties.

TWO provincial salerooms have been revived and another is under new ownership as the UK auction scene enters the traditionally busy spring season.

The highlight of a strong £500,000 sale conducted by Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchet on February 14 was this Fabergé silver-gilt and cloisonné enamel box. It had been given to the vendor's husband by his grandfather who had lived and worked in St Petersburg until the time of the Revolution and had met Carl Fabergé in person.

This medieval bronze jug was the talking point of Sotheby’s sale of the contents of Easton Neston last year when it was bought by London dealer Daniel Katz for a premium-inclusive £568,000 against expectations of £60,00-80,000. The rare jug is cast with a slew of insignia including the Royal arms as used between 1340 and 1405, a maker’s mark and the inscription To My Lord Wenlok.

GROWING Essex auctioneers Sworders have expanded their reach into Suffolk with the acquisition of the venerable Sudbury firm Olivers. Plans are also underway for a new auction centre situated on a brownfield site just north of their current location in Stansted Mountfitchet.

Auctioneers in Essex are being asked to exercise extra vigilence after Colchester auctioneers Reeman Dansie had an unwelcome visitor return to their salerooms on August 9.

Horners Auctioneers in Acle, near Norwich lost half the lots for their auction when thieves broke in the night before the sale.

For obvious reasons the Royal Doulton 'Norfolk' pattern is avidly collected in East Anglia.