Harrogate

When dealer Ian Walker was a child, his father gave him £5, which he promptly spent on a small, signed watercolour by Yorkshire artist George Weatherill (1810-90) he found in a Whitby antiques shop.

A selection of paintings by Yorkshire artist Owen Bowen (1873-1967) is exhibited on the stand of Walker Art Galleries at this month’s 'The Pavilions of Harrogate Decorative, Antiques & Art Fair'.

The Northern Antiques Fair looks set to move permanently from Harrogate following a successful first outing at the new venue of the Tennants auction house complex in Leyburn.

This earthenware charger was painted by Catherine Sparkes (1842-1910), a genre, flower painter and illustrator who made a significant contribution to the development of faience pottery at Doulton Lambeth.

Measuring over 7ft long, this 18th century work, below, is believed to be one of the longest engravings produced in the past 300 years.

Swallow Fairs’ first three-day Decorative Home and Salvage Shows this year is the biannual event running at the 14th century Ripley Castle, near Harrogate, from noon on Friday, May 7, to Sunday, May 9.

The best of 13 Mouseman pieces that sold at Morphets (20% buyer’s premium) for a total of £41,000 was a classic early adzed oak and burr oak sideboard made in Robert Thompson’s Kilburn workshop c.1928-30.

Long unseen material from the country home of an ancient English family brought some estimate-demolishing five-figure bids at Morphets (17.5% buyer’s premium) including a genuine sleeper.

The first event of the year for Galloway Antiques Fairs is its local event in Harrogate.

The final instalment of the three annual Pavilions of Harrogate Decorative Antiques & Fine Art Fair includes this small naive hedge or country chair, c.1820, from Ireland’s County Antrim.

As an alternative to shopping in the high-street chains, a group of independents have set up a hub at 53 Bo’ Grove in Grove Road, Harrogate, with 20 traders selling art, antiques, decorative salvage and Mid-century pieces.

The Northern Antiques Fair, run in association with the British Antiques Dealers’ Association (BADA), takes place during Frieze Week, meaning buyers can snap up top objects in North Yorkshire as well as London in early autumn.

Given that the sale ran to a huge 1139 lots, the April 2-4 dispersal in Harrogate of the first part of the library of Robert James Hayhurst may be considered to have done well in achieving a selling rate of 85% at that gathering of Elzevir and other early printed works.

This pair of 19th century Arts & Crafts low oak chairs is available from Elaine Phillips Antiques at the next edition of The Pavilions of Harrogate Decorative Antiques & Fine Art Fair priced at £1150.

The first of four sales scheduled by Morphets of Harrogate for the dispersal of a single private library will take place on April 3-4.

Janice Kehoe of Solo Antiques offers a French Art Deco vase signed 'R Lalique' at this month’s Pavilions of Harrogate Decorative Antiques & Fine Art Fair.

The Northern Antiques Fair, an annual Harrogate event, is a chance for connoisseur buyers in the north to shop a little closer to home.

Riots broke out in Bury and Blackburn in May 1878 as cotton mill workers protested their low wages. The initially peaceful action escalated as employees attacked the factory and local constabulary, eventually looting and destroying the mill owner’s house.

The Northern Antiques Fair is anticipating a “significant” rise in exhibitor numbers as it moves to an earlier date this October.

The first of Arthur Swallow Fairs’ Decorative Home and Salvage Shows this year kicks off on Friday, May 11, and runs to Sunday, May 13, at Ripley Castle near Harrogate.