Shropshire

Angling and fishing fans will be familiar with the firm Hardy of Alnwick. In 1872 William Hardy set up shop as a gunsmith.

Handed in by miners at the start of a shift in exchange for a Davy lamp, colliery tokens, tallies or checks provided vital information in the event of fire or explosion.

The eclectic collection of Alison Barker (1951-2021) of London and Chichester was sold by Trevanion in Whitchurch, Shropshire on January 12.

Bid to to £400 in an October 6 sale held by Halls (20/12% buyers premium) of Shrewsbury was a simple, partly printed receipt in the sum of three guineas with autograph additions and signature that date it to April 24, 1806.

Pictured here are two early English pottery tankards – both of them documentary pieces.

Excellent selection of the artist’s wildlife works had been wrapped up and kept pristine.

Among the Charles Tunnicliffe works drawing the most attention at Halls’ sale on September 15 (see main story) were pictures bought by the vendor directly from the artist’s family, with whom they were acquainted.

This ventriloquist’s dapper dummy was one of the surprise star turns at Halls’ (23% buyer’s premium) Shrewsbury auction.

It was when the book was in the process of being catalogued by Bretells (19% buyer’s premium) of Newport, Shropshire, that a second impression copy of Tolkien’s The Hobbit was seen to bear the author’s signature.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

Illustrated with 76 hand-coloured flags, a 1794 Signal Book for the Ships of the Line sold to an online bidder for £11,000 in a Shrewsbury sale.

Shropshire is a fertile county for antiques centres and shops.

Organisers prepare for events in Worcestershire and Shropshire including new fairs.

Believed to date from the mid-17th century, this double portrait is a fascinating painting on many accounts.

Halls’ (23% buyer’s premium) Summer auction in Shrewsbury on June 16 included a private collection of nine pieces of Boucheron jewellery.

Two very different ceramic objects illuminated The Spring Auction at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) in Shrewsbury on March 17.

This coming Easter weekend may be quieter than usual but many of us can plan to meet up with family and friends again in the coming weeks and months as lockdown restrictions ease around the UK.

Reappearing in the same saleroom after a six-year interval, a landscape by Edmund Morison Wimperis (1835-1900) attracted attention at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) of Shrewsbury.

Offered with moderate estimates, two Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) etchings from the Vollard Suite drew demand at the recent timed online sale of Modern & Contemporary art at Halls (20% buyer’s premium).

This Chelsea dish moulded as a vine leaf and painted with polychrome fruit is a textbook production from the Red Anchor period c.1755-58.