Staffordshire

After more than 50 years as a designer for international stamps and banknotes printer Waterlow & Sons, Leonard Douglas Fryer (1891-1965) retired to enjoyable obscurity at his home in Ilford.

Discoloured, stained and in a crudely restored old binding, a scarce hunting work of 1704 was sold for a much higher than expected £1400 at a recent Hansons (20% buyer’s premium) sale.

Barewall Art Gallery in Burslem recently sold 'Chapel' by Arthur Berry (1925-94), raising £2170 for the British Heart Foundation.

A fine example of a dirk, without which no Highland formal dresswear is complete, was among the stand-out lots at Cuttlestones’ (17.5% buyer’s premium) sale at Penkridge on November 22.

Testament to a vibrant market for vintage Tudor wristwatches, a very scarce Oysterdate – the reference 7031 or ‘Homeplate’ – proved the star of Hansons’ Christmas auction at Bishton Hall, Staffordshire.

IACF’s antiques and collectors’ fair held in the Bingley Hall at the Staffordshire Showground in October fielded around 140 stalls, according to the organiser.

The last-minute discovery of a 1776 first edition of Adam Smith’s '…Wealth of Nations' was a magical, unforgettable moment for a Derbyshire saleroom’s book specialist.

Found in a garden shed during a house clearance, this unrestored version of a classic c.1950 pedal car, below, attracted bidders online, on the phones and in the Wolverhampton rooms of Cuttlestones (17.5% buyer’s premium) on June 22.

Most of the UK may be going through a heatwave, but even if the clouds appear IACF’s new three-day antiques and collectors’ fair at the Staffordshire Showground will shine through.

The morality laws of pre-liberal Ireland added to the allure and market value of this Goldfinger poster offered by Richard Winterton (17.5% buyer’s premium).

A typically moody oil by the Scottish painter James Pryde (1866-1941) was among the star lots at Cuttlestones (17.5% buyer’s premium) in Penkridge, Staffordshire.

IACF is to take over the running of the antiques and collectors’ fairs held in Bingley Hall at the Staffordshire County Showground.

Graham Beech will be one of the new standholders among the 220 exhibitors at the three-day Bowman Antiques Fairs event at the Stafford County Showground from March 23-25.