South-east England

UK: FOLLOWING a meeting with LAPADA last week, Kent trading standards officers have agreed to arrange further discussions in early August between trade representatives and those who actually drafted the Kent Bill.

UK: GROWING concern has led to calls for action among dealers in Kent faced with a new law which would make it a criminal offence not to register and keep detailed records when buying and selling secondhand goods in the county.

UK: THOSE decorative pieces worked by amateurs using seashells have always come low down in the art world pecking order but of late their attractions have become more and more appreciated as seen when an Irish pair of shellwork botanical studies took £26,000 at Mallams, Oxford, on February 3.

UK: OVERTLY Continental pieces of furniture are not the most commercial proposition in the current trading environment (the strength of sterling have limited the overseas presence for many months now), but Bellman’s West Sussex rooms had no difficulty in selling a fine example of Dutch/Flemish cabinetmaking at their April sale.

UK: THE threat of well-meaning but potentially damaging measures to curb crime in Kent has spurred the trade to set up a national association for grass roots dealers.

UK: AT this two-day, 1112-lot sale in East Sussex auctioneer Mark Hudson was pleased to see a broader buying base than has been the case at many rooms of late saying: “Middle-range furniture featured at the beginning of the furniture section was easy to sell.”

UK: WHEREAS auctioneers in less densely populated areas of the UK such as Scotland, Wales and the West Country, consistently lament the dearth of good quality consignments, this is not a common complaint at Hamptons’ Surrey saleroom.

UK: AS two of the wealthiest and most densely populated of the Southern Counties – housing large communities of former expats, retired professionals and alpha-class commuters – it is hardly surprising that West and East Sussex have a multitude of salerooms.

UK: ESTIMATED at a lowly £700-900, this Aesthetic movement armchair sailed to £21,500 (plus 15 per cent premium) at the Banbury salerooms of Dreweatt Neate on March 17.

UK: THE art trade generally classifies pictures as being either “commercial” or “academic” and it was generally the later term which best described the quality on offer at Phillips’ (15/10 per cent buyer’s premium) March 19 sale of The Lloyd Collection of pictures in Oxford.

UK: A GEORGE III shell-inlaid oval knife box and a 19th century oak and 7ft 6in (2.29m) high mahogany crossbanded longcase clock with a painted face signed Rogers, Dudley, each attracted a trade bid of £1600 to jointly lead this monthly catalogued sale of 504 lots in Hampshire.

HAMPTONS Auctioneers of Godalming will change their name to Dreweatt Neate this month. Having become part of The Fine Art Auction Group earlier this year, the saleroom will be rebranded under the Dreweatt Neate banner in time for the Surrey firm’s April 13 sale.