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THERE were very few books in the September 9 antiques sale held by Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchett, but one of them was a copy of Charles Dickens’ The Chimes that was signed and inscribed to a man with whom Dickens was later to become involved in a tiresome and disagreeable round of threats of litigation – an episode that was categorised in the title of a 1996 American book on the subject as The Charles Dickens-Thomas Powell Vendetta.

ONE of the Home Counties’ longest running vetted, quality events, the Surrey Antiques Fair, will be held for the 36th year from October 2 to 5 and it will be the end of an era as this is the last staging at its original venue, the Guildford Civic Hall.

The Lewes auctioneers Gorringe’s (15% buyer’s premium) experienced one or two pleasant surprises in the third-day picture section of their September 9-11 sale. Alan Windsor’s Handbook of Modern British Painting and Printmaking 1900-1990 describes the Wakefield-born, Slade-trained Mark Senior (1862-1927) as an artist whose “early painting was influenced by Clausen whilst later work reflected the techniques of Steer, Whistler, Boudin and the Impressionists”.

The energetic organisers of ART COLOGNE, Koelnmesse, have beefed up their team with the appointment last week of Gérard Andrew Goodrow, 39, as fair director, a new post. He should be happily settled in by the end of October when the next ART COLOGNE opens.

Online auctioneer eBay will create up to 800 new jobs in Dublin as they expand their European operations. The San Francisco-based company will locate the European headquarters for their PayPal Internet payment unit in west Dublin and will also open a second European customer support centre.

Edinburgh-based auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull are set to expand out of Scotland, having made appointments in London, Devon and Newcastle. The bold move – claimed as a first for a Scottish auction house – comes close to the fifth birthday of an ambitious vision that has grown into a £5m business.

After 42 years as one of the American Midwest’s leading auction firms, Frank H. Boos Gallery have downsized operations, prompting a former employee to launch his own business in Detroit.