West Sussex

WHILE auction houses are becoming more aware of the threat from credit card fraud, dealers should also take care over payments, a victim from Crawley, West Sussex has warned.

BILLED as the largest and most important country house auction of the year, Christie's three-day sale at Cowdray Park in West Sussex, netted £6.4m hammer against a £5m top estimate.

THIS fine set of three George II rococo casters by Eliza Godfrey, London 1752 sold for £66,000 at Henry Adams of Chichester on July 14.

Bought at a car boot sale in the Portsmouth area earlier this year for just 40p each, these three opaque twist wine glasses decorated by the Beilby workshop of Newcastle upon Tyne c.1765 sold for £16,000 at the latest sale held by Stride and Son of Chichester.

WEST Dean College are to launch a ‘Conservation for horologists’ course next May.

THREE masked raiders who stole £30,000 of antiques from a Petworth gallery before leading police on a chase across the home counties, have been jailed.

THIEVES have stolen a safe containing £25,000 worth of silver from a church in Woodmangreen, just north of Midhurst, Sussex.

WEST Sussex auctioneer Rupert Toovey was ordained deacon at Chichester cathedral on June 26.

THE original drawings that Edward Lear made for his 1846 A Book of Nonsense are now rare, and those that exist are for the most part held in institutional collections.

THIS Russian icon depicting St George slaying the dragon generated a lively competition when offered on the third day of Bellmans' sale in Wisborough Green, West Sussex.

IN his long career, Leslie Weller of Weller King in West Sussex has handled many varied and interesting commissions, but he now finds himself in a unique position, having been asked by a client in the north of England to find a new home for a complete collection of Arts and Crafts furniture.

JOHAN Ten Hoeve, a professional development diploma student on West Dean College’s clocks programme in West Sussex, has made a replica of a Thomas Tompion clock for the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

TRIBAL Art seems to one area bucking the credit crunch at present. Witness this superbly-patinated Shona hardwood headrest that was unearthed by South Down Auctioneers of Midhurst, West Sussex in a local home.

DMG Antiques Fairs say they have increased security following the theft of £80,000 worth of jewellery at their Ardingly fair on September 3.

MORE than £80,000 worth of jewellery was stolen from the Ardingly Showground on Wednesday, September 3.

West Sussex auctioneers Worthing Auction Galleries and Scarborough Fine Art are no longer to merge.

THE extraordinary spat that has emerged over the existence of artist Pietro Psaier has taken another turn, with auctioneer John Nicholson pledging to publish the catalogue raisonée of his life and work.

A REAL rarity was offered by Sussex saleroom Tooveys of Washington on July 15 when this toll pass from 1744 came up for sale. Beautifully preserved in the original shagreen slipcase, this pass would seem to apply particularly to roads that fell within royal estates or administration rather than to a wider system of turnpike and toll roads.

SOMEWHERE on a shelf in a pub in the Midlands there may be five rare books that could throw a whole new light on the Brontë family.

Summers Place Auctions of Billingshurst, West Sussex, are to host The Glory Of The Garden in aid of St Catherine's Hospice, a Crawley-based charity, on May 16.