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WHAT a nice idea Mayfair dealers Windsor House Antiques have come up with for their March selling exhibition. In an area of London not renowned for its bargain prices, Windsor House, who have rather grand premises themselves, mount from March 3 to 14 a show entitled Antiques Under £5000.

There was high excitement at the Cork rooms of Joseph Woodward & Sons (15% buyer’s premium) on February 11 when what was thought to be the earliest surviving painted view of Cork harbour fetched what is known to be the highest auction price ever paid for a painting in the city.

Proving once again that radially-expanding tables are among the most practical and the most coveted pieces of Victorian furniture, the Hereford Rowing Club received an unexpected cash windfall when their often misused clubroom table sold at Brightwells in early February.

Countless numbers of sardine dishes were turned out by the 100 or so potteries who made majolica wares in the final third of the 19th century but for some collectors the mission is to find an example of each.

A compromise deal has been agreed between rival Paris fair organisers the Syndicat National des Antiquaires – the national dealers’ association, which stages the Biennale and the Salon du Collectioneur at the Carrousel du Louvre – and SOC (Société d’Organisation Culturelle), the commercial company (owned by Paris dealers Patrick Perrin and Stéphane Custot) which stages the twice-yearly Pavillon des Antiquaires et des Beaux Arts in the adjacent Tuileries Gardens.

THERE are a plethora of fairs in March but, as usual, the one that will dominate will be TEFAF Maastricht in the Dutch city’s MECC (exhibition centre) from March 5 to 14, with the famous vernissage on the evening of March 4. Here is a taster of the kind of finds you can expect at the world’s number one art and antiques fair.

In commercial terms ecclesiastical silver is not the strongest area of the market but there is no doubting its social and historical interest, especially when it has retained its links to the church for which it was made.