West Midlands

The start of May is likely to be a busy period with outside fairs and markets opening up around England and Wales after a protracted lockdown hibernation. Here is a snapshot of a few of them.

Tony Wittridge is so smitten with the antiques business he is opening in the grounds of Kyre Park, a large country estate at Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire, that he is planning a move to the county from Essex.

More than 20 LAPADA dealers have signed up to take stands at The Game Fair this summer.

Kingham & Orme’s (23% buyer’s premium) first-ever specialist auction of Jewellery & Watches took place on February 19 with just over 200 lots.

A recent Fine Jewellery sale at Fellows (23% buyer’s premium) in Birmingham included an unusual Victorian necklace.

A note penned in December 1963 by Mary Elizabeth Smith from The Mendips, Menlove Avenue, Liverpool, to a Miss V Stoker of 54 Pirton Road, Hitchin, sold for £1300 to a UK online bidder at Wolverhampton saleroom Cuttlestones (17.5% buyer’s premium) on March 19.

While the Grand Hotel, Birmingham, may not have the same ring as Hotel California, in the Sixties it was the place to check in. And even leave afterwards.

This rare Bow figure was spotted by English porcelain specialists at Kingham & Orme’s (23% buyer’s premium) two-day auction of Fine and Decorative Arts.

The work of French designer Fred Brouard (1944-99) is not uncommon at sales in France and the US but seldom appears at auction in the UK.

Two very different ceramic objects illuminated The Spring Auction at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) in Shrewsbury on March 17.

This image of children swinging along a watch tower was part of Banksy’s ‘Walled Off’ project that relates to the West Bank barrier between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

This coming Easter weekend may be quieter than usual but many of us can plan to meet up with family and friends again in the coming weeks and months as lockdown restrictions ease around the UK.

“I’m counting the days,” said a happy Mike Collins, director of market operator Sherman & Waterman as he ticks off the reopening dates for his antiques and vintage markets, centre and car boot.

Stained glass windows by Morris, Marshall and Faulkner impress at auction

An auction titled Richard Dennis: 50 Years Promoting British Ceramics (1971-2021) will be held next month.

Rolex made the reference 6150 Oyster Perpetual Explorer for around two years after the 1953 Everest expedition. It is believed that Tensing Norgay wore a prototype of the watch, the first Explorer model to have the Mercedes hands, while completing the ascent.

Although Thomas Tompion (1639-1713) is often referred to as the Father of English Clockmaking, his talents were not just limited to clocks.

Although the elegant lines of the Cartier Tonneau Curvex wristwatch are the antithesis of today’s macho tool watch, many were used by soldiers in the First World War.