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PABLO Picasso’s Garçon à la pipe boosted Sotheby’s second quarter sales considerably, alone accounting for about 9.5 per cent of the total.

ON view at the Belgrave Gallery, St Ives, these two works by the late Sir Terry Frost represent a gap of some 60 years.

WHILE some painters, such as Jack Vettriano (b. 1954) and Royal Academician Ken Howard (b. 1932), seem to be able to sell their canvases almost before the paint has dried, many other artists are finding it a precarious market. Contemporary art might be the current buzz word, but it remains a fickle business, with buyers far too focused on seeking out the work of a few A-list names.

THE most sought-after and best-performing English factory amongst the more select gatherings of English wares at Sotheby’s Bond Street sale was undoubtedly Chelsea. The auctioneers had 16 lots to offer, mostly consigned from one collection and of the currently fashionable Red Anchor period botanical type either in their painted decoration or shape.

ENGLISH and Continental glassware was also a feature of Sotheby’s June and July ceramics sales. It accounted for just over 30 per cent of the more affordable Olympia offering, where around two-thirds of the 115 lots changed hands, and just under a fifth of their Bond Street sale where around half the 33 lots found buyers.

SOME steady selling of material which has been hard to shift of late provided some encouragement for the trade generally at Lawrences of Bletchingley's (12.5 buyer's premium) July 20-22 sale and among the 2000 lots – which totalled nearly £200,000 – there were enough of those quirky offerings which make provincial British auctions the fascinating events they can be.

IT is frequently the unusual and the decorative that the market craves today. The ‘peach’ of the sale conducted by Kidson-Trigg (15% buyer’s premium) of Highworth, near Swindon on July 22 was certainly both, a group of 14 painted and carved wood and gesso models of fruit, pictured right.