West Midlands

FOUR centuries of contact with the North American continent – exploration, trade, settlement, war and missionary activity – mean that, just occasionally, spectacular Native American art objects are found in the United Kingdom.

THIS outstanding Louise Rayner (1832-1924) watercolour, depicting the Butter Market at Ludlow, Shropshire, posted a new house record for Louis Taylor of Stoke-on-Trent at their latest sale.

THE two museums hoping to provide a home for the Staffordshire hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold will be asking arts charities and other funding bodies to pay for it.

DUDLEY Council are to scrap plans to close the Broadfield House Glass Museum and relocate the renowned glass collections to the nearby Cone site.

IT was the talk of the week in the print and broadcast media. The Staffordshire Hoard is being billed as the biggest collection found in England and the most important since the celebrated Sutton Hoo discovery of 1939.

POLICE are on the look out for two people following the theft of a pair of 19th century Coalport vases from an antiques centre in Shropshire.

A STOLEN chequebook has been used to purchase items from at least two antiques shops in Ludlow, Shropshire.

THE former premises of Wolverhampton auctioneer Walker Barnett & Hill have reopened again under new management.

HUDDERSFIELD Town may not feature on Sky Sports as much as Manchester United nowadays, but back in the mid-1920s it was the Terriers rather than the Red Devils who were the team to watch.

STAFFORDSHIRE auctioneers Richard Winterton are to move all their operations to the purpose-built Lichfield Auction Centre at Fradley.

BRITISH Art Market Federation chairman Anthony Browne is fighting a rearguard action against the unexpected news that the Export Licensing Unit is to move to Birmingham.

On May 14, Malvern auctioneer Philip Serrell will sell this 3.5oz silver floral engraved snuffbox marked for Nathaniel Mills, Birmingham 1836.

POLICE are urging churches to review their security measures after 20 pieces of valuable silver were stolen in raids on three churches in Warwickshire villages in under a week.

JAMES BRINDLEY lies amongst these Rocks,He made Canals, Bridges, and Locks...

AN outcry from interest groups has bought more time to save the Broadfield House Glass Museum at Stourbridge, which was earmarked for closure by Dudley council.

BIRMINGHAM auction house Biddle & Webb are to open a Wolverhampton office later this month.

A major new conference for antiques and fine art auctioneers will take place at the Hilton Hotel, Birmingham, NEC on Friday, April 24.

Shrewsbury auctioneers Halls will have a new format for their weekly sales in the new year.

Staffordshire auctioneers Cuttlestones have announced that they will not be selling any lots consigned by troubled West Midlands auctioneers Walker Barnett & Hill until further notice.

Cheshire fairs organiser Patricia Hier is to sell her company Specialist Glass Fairs to Cambridge-based Paul Bishop of Oxbridge Fairs.