Suffolk

This headstone design of a female nude by the controversial sculptor Eric Gill (1882-1940) was deemed too risky to be realised when he designed it in 1933.

Among the most desirable of all needlework samplers are those associated with pupils at the Ackworth School, founded as a co-educational boarding school in 1779 by the Quaker physician John Fothergill and still thriving today.

Silver across five centuries caught the eye at provincial sales in February.

Kate Lee started the popular biannual antiques street market in the Suffolk town of Beccles 10 years ago and has now taken over a local monthly antiques and collectors’ fair.

Produced by Raphael Tuck & Sons c.1900, ‘Puppies Playtime’ is one of a pair of greeting card see-saws that sold for £140 in the book and ephemera section of a December 15 sale held by Lacy Scott & Knight (20% buyer’s premium).

Thompson’s Gallery in Aldeburgh uses its annual Christmas exhibition to showcase works by historic artists such as John Maclauchlan Milne (1885-1957), whose oil on canvas The Hay Cole (1920), below, is offered for £6750.

Musicians from different generations provided sound results at Suffolk saleroom Bishop & Miller (19% buyer’s premium).

When Natalie Smith opened the Woodbridge Antiques Centre in the pretty Suffolk town 11 years ago, she said she was given a great piece of advice: never compromise on quality and presentation.

A portrait of Thomas Cobley Gent of Buttsford, Colebrooke (d.1844), is believed to portray ‘Old Uncle Tom Cobley’, from the tradition song Widecombe Fair, as a young boy.

A marine scene by Alfred Priest (1810-50) is among the highlights at English and Continental Antiques’ final exhibition of the year.

View of a Garden by Thomas Churchyard of Woodbridge (1798-1865) is offered for £1400 in the exhibition Artist on the Deben, which features 19th century Suffolk artists.

In ATG No 2354, we previewed Christina and Paul Bishop’s new glass fair launching on Sunday, September 23, at Ickworth House, the Georgian Italianate ‘palace’ near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, now owned by the National Trust. Paul, who runs Specialist Glass Fairs with Christina, updates us on the show.

Racing round the banking at Brooklands in Surrey, Sir Tim Birkin is shown to dramatic effect in this oil painting by Dion Pears, below.

'Elements of Foliate Heads' will be instantly familiar to fans of John Piper (1903-92), despite the fact that the picture has not been on the market for more than half a century.

Organisers launch new fair in Suffolk after long-standing event had to be abandoned.

James and Jessica Rawlin of J&J Rawlin specialise in Modern British art and contemporary British ceramics. They are based in rural Suffolk. Here, James talks about their business and how they started it.

Issued by ‘Hunt & Sons, Card Makers to His Majesty’, a ‘Great Mogul’ deck of playing cards of c.1830, the labels that seal the packaging still unbroken after all those years, featured in a recent Suffolk sale.