Kent

SPRING may not seem the optimum time to be selling rocking horses but two Victorian-style examples did well at the March 4 sale held by Hobbs & Parker (10% buyer’s premium) at Ashford, Kent.

DEMAND for good-quality, period stools continues unabated and one led Mervyn Carey's (10% buyer's premium) February 25 506-lot Kent outing. A Queen Anne walnut example, with drop-in, upholstered seat and scrolled cabriole legs, it sold at £3200, while a slightly lesser quality George I walnut stool, also with cabriole legs, managed a winning £950.

A 100-LOT collection of Meissen, Derby and Cont-inental porcelain figures, together with some furniture and works of art from a local Thanet private vendor, formed the backbone of Canterbury Auction Galleries (15% buyer's premium) February 24 outing which attracted a large number of private buyers, many of whom secured the top ceramic lots.

Four police forces in the south of England are investigating a series of deceptions that have hit at least half a dozen dealers for high-value items. Thames Valley, Kent, Hertfordshire and Metropolitan Police are now convinced that what first looked like a series of isolated incidents is in fact part of a systematic con being perpetrated by three runners using a number of modus operandi.

LONG a convert to selling shows, Kent rug dealer Desmond North holds another of his regular marquee sales in the grounds of his home, The Orchard, Hale Street, East Peckham, near Tonbridge, on the weekend of October 5 and 6. But even in specialised worlds the market has to be pursued and Mr North, who says he is baffled by what new homeowners use for decoration and furnishings in their ever-more valuable properties, is aiming at this area.

KENT rug dealer Desmond North has been successfully holding “rug-ins” for the past 30 years and on that wisest of maxims, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, he continues this dealing tradition twice a year and over the Bank Holiday weekend of May 4 to 6 holds his Spring Rug-In.

THE Roberts Holy Land offered in the 120-lot book section of this Kent sale at Mervyn Carey on 20 February, a six-vol. 1855 quarto edition, had been kept in a barn and had virtually disintegrated over the years.

The second Detling fair of the year (February 23-24) indicates that the trade is not being put off by the Kent Act.

TRADING Standards are taking a softly, softly approach over the enforcement of the Kent Act, as dealers found at the first chance to test it at a major fair – Detling – on January 26-27.

A large collection of theatrical, character costumes and accessories provided the Canterbury rooms with an out-of-the-ordinary offering which attracted surprisingly wide interest.

FOR a long time now, Kent antique prints dealer Ingrid Nilson, who is a member of and director of LAPADA, has been a well-known figure in the antiques trade, but in recent years her highly decorative stock has been sought after by interior designers.

FURNITURE brought the biggest money at the Northern and Southern branches of (at this point) Phillips’ provincial empire with Leeds taking the honours netting £146,000 from 250 lots against a Sevenoaks total of £100,545 from 886 lots.

UK: Nineteenth century brown furniture under £2500 was the trade staple of this monthly sale at Phillips' Sevenoaks in Kent, where the fiercest bidding contest was joined for a 20th century set of 22 mahogany balloon back dining chairs.

THE star of this 476-lot Kent sale arrived late and direct from a tractor shed where it had languished for a decade.

UK: CONFUSION reigned this week as to exactly what measures will be introduced with the adoption of the Kent County Council and Medway Council Bills.

UK: THE current market for anything by L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) was highlighted on January 6 at Cranbrook Auction Rooms (10 per cent buyer’s premium) by this rather uncharacteristic signed crayon drawing, right, The Fat Man.

THE parliamentary committee assessing the merits of the Kent Bill have called on the Government to introduce public legislation to cover the whole country instead.

DEALERS in the Dover area have contacted the Antiques Trade Gazette to complain about a local police initiative asking them to fingerprint their customers.

UK: FOUR weeks of expert evidence and deliberation has ended with the Parliamentary Select Committee needing the chairman’s casting vote to keep the Kent Bill from being thrown out.

EXPERT evidence on the Kent County Council Bill will go into select committee session for an unexpected third week on Tuesday, November 7 as almost every clause in the proposed Bill is closely examined.