South-west England

The Bovey Pottery Company, closed in 1957, would have passed into collecting history without incident had it not been for the ‘Our Gang’ collection of figures.

No fewer than 840 lots were offered in the bumper April 5-6 sale held by Dominic Winter (19.5% buyer’s premium). The most successful of them, at a record £32,000, was a presentation copy of a pioneering work that has been described as “the first practical statement of socialist doctrine”, Robert Owen’s A New View of Society… of 1813-14.

Keeley Harris is so pleased with the way her vintage home shows are going that she is expanding them.

Ahead of IACF’s popular Shepton Mallet antiques and collectors’ fair from May 5-7, with up to 600 standholders, the organisers have announced that the March event showed an impressive increase in buyers’ attendance.

Lawrences of Crewkerne is co-sponsoring a major new exhibition of works by the Camden Town Group which runs at the Museum of Somerset in Taunton until July 8.

Nick Arkell is one of the owners of Walton House Antiques, a shop in Mere, Wiltshire, which specialises in furniture, fine art and antiques. He is exhibiting at the ADFL Petworth fair.

The collective noun ‘petroliania’ may be unfamiliar to some readers, but it’s a useful and profitable one as evidenced at the biannual sales held by Chippenham Auctions’ sister-auction house Richard Edmonds (20% buyer’s premium).

A piece of Russian porcelain and an Asian painting raised most interest at West Country auctioneers Tamlyns (18% buyer’s premium) on March 8. However, a 13in long (34cm) gouache scroll painting of magpies and prunus was considerably more of a surprise.

The rivière – one of the most popular and enduring styles of necklace to come out of the Georgian period – features an endless line of matched or subtly graduated gems set within inconspicuous collets. However, as Marielle Whiting at Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury points out, seldom are they equals.

The Charterhouse saleroom must be under doctors’ orders. Two private collections included in the Dorset April 20-21 auction come from consignors with ‘Dr’ in front of their names.

Early children’s books and games provided some of the highlights of a March 15 sale held by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (21% buyer’s premium).

A record sale total, the trade in buying mood and traditional furniture selling well – all further evidence that 2017 so far is proving rather less catastrophic than some had forecast.

With the major names of the pioneers beyond the purses of most admirers of Cotswolds School furniture, works by Sir Gordon Russell are steady sellers and 16 pieces offered at Mallams (20% buyer’s premium) all found buyers on March 16.