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OFFERED as part of a March 28 sale held by Pacific Book Auctions was a set of six porcelain plaques painted by John Tenniel with characters from Alice in Wonderland.

...in Massachusetts: START your engines… there’s just time to race over to America for a chance to own one of the smartest little sports cars around.

Royal Doulton and Moorcroft collectors are always in abundance at these sales in the heart of the Potteries, and if their specialisms within their subjects sometimes make for hard going at the rostrum, the increasing demand for Royal Albert pieces was well catered for.

USA: New York may boast the nation’s glitziest antiques fairs in terms of snaring top-tier collectors and socialites, but The 41st Philadelphia Antiques Show tops virtually every single fair when it comes to choice Americana and folk art. Even dealers who participate in New York’s Winter Antiques Show praise the Pennsylvania event. “It’s the best show for Americana,” says Edwin Hild of Olde Hope Antiques based in nearby Bucks County.

SOLD at £1200 to Jarndyce in this sale of photographs, historical documents, autographs and ephemera was an 1838 manuscript of The Student, a play by Frederick Bate.

SWITZERLAND: A mammoth four-day mixed sale of just under 2700 lots was held in Zürich by Galerie Koller (18%/16%/12% buyer’s premium) from March 19–23. This comprised furniture, carpets, decorative arts, jewellery, clocks, fine art and books and the auctioneers felt that the results confirmed the stability of the market for material of the best quality.

A pair of ornamental blue and gold vases made by the Manufacture Impériale in St Petersburg (c.1825-30) soared to €520,000 (£335,000) at Beaussant-Lefèvre on April 10.