Wiltshire

A hardstone inlaid scent bottle, c.1905, by Joseph Cook & Son of Birmingham, is among the wide selection of silver available at the next Marlborough College Antiques & Fine Art Fair.

In this group of predominantly Victorian ceramics beloware two 18th century pieces: a typical polychrome delft plate of modest value and a far more commercial early English toby jug.

Coming up on August Bank Holiday Monday (August 26) is an annual event which brings thousands of eager buyers to the grounds of a stately home in Wiltshire.

Top-seller at Richard Edmonds’ (20% buyer’s premium) latest specialist motoring accessories sale was a hanging lightbox proclaiming the virtues of Pratt’s Perfection Spirit.

Estimated at a token £100-200, a large twin fusee wall clock sold to an online bid of £2400 (plus premium) at Wessex Auction Rooms (17% buyer’s premium) in Chippenham.

The complex precision electromechanical pendulum clocks made by William Hamilton-Shortt, engineer for the London & South Western Railway, and Frank Hope Jones, horologist of the Synchronome Company, were the most accurate pendulum clocks ever commercially produced.

A major price for an Old Master in the English regions came in Wiltshire last week when a still-life by Flemish painter Frans Snyders (1579-1657) caught the eye of multiple bidders.

Dealers’ collective now to be run by nearby garden antiques firm after owners retire.

Henry Aldridge & Son will offer items from the Skidmore collection at its May 18 sale – including these pieces of late 19th century Chinese ‘export’ silver.

With a documented provenance and inscribed by the maker Sébastien Garnier, Paris, 1747, a two-manual harpsichord was the top performer at the latest musical instruments sale held by Corsham, Bath, specialist Gardiner Houlgate (20% buyer’s premium).

In ATG No 2380 February 23 I wrote a piece on the annual antiques fair held at Wilton House in Wiltshire from Friday to Saturday, March 8-10. It is worth noting that the Provincial Booksellers’ Association (PBFA) is running an antiquarian and out-of-print book fair at the Michael Herbert Hall in the village of Wilton on Sunday, March 10.

Vintage millinery dealer Claire Powell and textiles dealer Liz van Hasselt are business partners in the long-running Vintage Bazaars in Wiltshire and Somerset.

More than 40 top dealers will set out their vetted stands at the annual long-running Wilton House Art and Antiques Fair.

Textiles represent a wide and varied collecting field, a huge range of which is displayed in the show 'Material: Textile' at Messums Wiltshire, from practical pieces to intricately conceived works of art.

Although ubiquitous for much of the 20th century, electrical masterclocks regulating other timepieces in schools, hospitals, government buildings and factories are as yet among the least researched aspects of horology.