Warwickshire

Vetted fair may be compact in scale but still packs a punch

Mike Collins, the popular director of Sherman & Waterman which runs the weekly antiques markets in Covent Garden and Spitalfields – two of the busiest and best known markets in London – is as ebullient as ever.

Showcase for Cotswolds dealers and guests takes place at arts and antiques exhibitions hub

A brand-new building on the Dodwell Trading Estate outside Stratford-upon- Avon is the home of the recently opened Top Dog Antiques.

The National Vintage Communications Fair has rebranded itself and is now called RetroTechUK.

Grand venues can work wonders for fair organisers helping to get punters through the door while providing an ideal backdrop for dealers to showcase their stock.

Oli Barling began as a collector and is now a dealer from his base in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, and trades as Boula. He focuses on 18th to 20th century decorative antiques, rustic furnishings, curios and folk art from the UK and across Europe.

LAPADA tries partnership with a different kind of fair amid latest trade challenges

This silver salmon corkscrew, hallmarked Chester 1914, can be found in LAPADA’s dedicated pavilion at The Game Fair.

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

Although now known as Gainsborough chairs, generous walnut and upholstered armchairs were often referred to by contemporaries as ‘French’ chairs, as the most elaborate styles were based on French rococo.

Irish artist James Humbert Craig’s (1877-1944) passion for the outdoors and landscape painting took him frequently to Donegal, Connemara and the glens of Antrim.

Delayed for a month by the pandemic, the specialist sewing sale held as a timed online auction on thesaleroom.com at Bleasdales (20% buyer’s premium) of Warwick proved a profitable stitch in time. The sale, which covered the gamut of collectables, closed with only 16 of the 665 lots failing to get away.

From the height of almost impractical luxury to a simple piece of homespun craftsmanship, the full creative range of sewing accessories was on offer at the summer sale of specialist auction house Bleasdales (20% buyer’s premium).

A Henry Clay polychrome tea caddy, c.1785, in the manner of Robert Adam is among the pieces lent by dealer Mark Goodger of Hampton Antiques to be featured in Compton Verney Art Gallery’s exhibition A Tea Journey: From the mountains to the table.

Two upcoming annual specialist fairs both running on Sunday, May 12.

Pictured is a happy customer making a purchase at Arthur Swallow Fairs’ first monthly Monday winter drive-in indoor antiques market held in the Blackdown Building at the Stoneleigh Park Estate, near Coventry, in October.

About a month ago, collector Robert Mulraine launched a website dedicated to the artist Thomas Baker of Leamington (1808-1869). A great enthusiast of the Victorian landscape painter, he has been working with the curatorial team of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery to create an online ‘Memoranda of Pictures’ based on the artist’s five diaries in the museum’s collection.