The following articles have recently been written by our fine art experts. We intend
to keep these articles online for reference. As our archive grows, you will be able
to search for them by topic and author.
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Michael Snow (1930-2012)
By Daniel Goddard (12th February 2021)
Daniel Goddard writes about Michael Snow (1930-2012), an artist born in Manchester,
who moved to St Ives in the 1950s.
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This Little Piggy Went to Market
By Nic Saintey (10th September 2020)
Nic Saintey provides a brief history of a Scottish Pottery with a strong Devon connection.
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Rolle Up!
By Nic Saintey (10th July 2020)
Nic Saintey writes about the surprising connection between a plate and a bottle.
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Tankard or Mug
By Martin McIlroy (12th June 2020)
Martin McIlroy (Head of Silver) writes about the difference between tankards and
mugs, which are popular amongst silver collectors. He explores their development
from an early period through to more modern times.
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Donyatt Pottery, Somerset
By Nic Saintey (7th April 2020)
Nic Saintey (Head of Ceramics), a Somerset resident, writes about an iconic Donyatt
plate that commemorates an unusual birth and the tragic story behind it.
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Collectables
By Brian Goodison-Blanks (27th March 2020)
Brian Goodison-Blanks (Joint Head of Collectables and Toys) reflects on some of
collectable artefacts that he has encountered in recent years, many of them having
been almost forgotten in attics, which prove to be not only fascinating but also
valuable.
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Georgian Jewellery
By Lucy Marles (13th December 2019)
Lucy Marles (Jewellery Valuer) writes about what to look out for when buying Georgian
jewellery at auction and introduces some of the different metal works employed by
Georgian jewellers.
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Coins
By Brian Goodison-Blanks (29th November 2019)
Brian Goodison-Blanks (Joint Head of the Collectables and Toys Department) considers
coin and token collecting, which has been undertaken since early times. He looks
at three examples that illustrate the items that attract buyers.
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Musical Boxes
By Martin McIlroy (22nd November 2019)
Martin McIlroy (Head of the Works of Art Department) investigates the development
of musical boxes from their origins in the 1800s through to their decine by the
First World war.
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Fred Yates
By Daniel Goddard (1st November 2019)
Daniel Goddard (Head of the Picture Department) delves into the life of the artist
Fred Yates (1922-2008), recalling the various factors that had an influence on
his work, and considers what it is about his work that appeals to many.
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Fat Cow
By Nic Saintey (4th October 2019)
Nic Saintey (Head of the Ceramics and Glass Department) comments on how the cow
was viewed through a series of Georgian and Victorian artefacts.
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Georg Jensen Jewellery
By Lucy Marles (20th September 2019)
Lucy Marles (of the Jewellery Department) looks at the work of the Danish jewellers
Georg Jensen who are renowned for their fine quality and Art Nouveau jewellery.
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Polar Exploration
By Brian Goodison-Blanks (6th September 2019)
Brian Goodison-Blanks (Head of the Maritime Department) looks at Polar Exploration,
which continues to attract considerable interest. This is particularly so when there
is great provenance behind the pieces concerned.
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Taking Tea
By Martin McIlroy (23rd August 2019)
Martin McIlroy (Head of the Silver Department) traces the quintessential English
characteristic of drinking tea, looking at its origins in London society
through its formative period in Georgian England where sugar and then milk were
introduced and on to its rise as the popular English drink. In particular, he discusses
how silversmiths have adapted their wares as taking tea has evolved over the last
few hundred years.
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Mark Rothko and 20th Century Art
By Daniel Goddard (26th August 2019)
Daniel Goddard (Head of the Pictures Department) has a look at the life of Mark
Rothko in a reflective piece that poses the question whether this artist changed
the course of art, culture and social history and further asks how the work of more
contemporary artists might be explained.
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Donyatt: A Pottery in the Middle of Nowhere
By Nic Saintey (26th July 2019)
Nic Saintey (Head of the Ceramics and Glass Department) delves into the historical
record relating to Donyatt pottery to get a glimpse of its past. The village, in
central rural Somerset, produced its distinctive wares for nigh on a thousand
years. It was similar to many other provincial pottery centres up and down the country
that have now disappeared from collective memory.
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Art Deco Jewellery
By Lucy Marles (14th June 2019)
Lucy Marles (of the Jewellery Department) discusses the Art Deco movement in jewellery,
which has re-emerged as one of today's most popular antique jewellery styles.
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What Would Val Barry Think?
By Nic Saintey (6th June 2019)
Nic Saintey (Head of the Ceramics Department) looks at the back story to Val Barry
as a studio potter and poses the intriguing question about what the artist herself
would make about the contents of her studio being sold at auction.
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Magic Lanterns
By Brian Goodison-Blanks (31st May 2019)
Brian Goodison-Blanks (Joint Head of the Collectables and Toys Department) delves
into the highly-paid Victorian world of the Magic Lantern Projectorist. Their 'magical
slides' brought animation and scenes far removed from the day-to-day experiences
of those people who first viewed them.
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Collecting on the Grand Tour
By Martin McIlroy (20th May 2019)
Martin McIlroy (Head of the Works of Art Department) looks at the 'grand tour' that
many young aristocrats and gentlemen engaged in from the end of 17th Century as
an important part of their cultural education and the items that they might typically
collect that now find their way into modern works of art auctions.
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Picture This! The Importance of Portraits
By Daniel Goddard (4th May 2019)
Daniel Goddard (Head of the Pictures Department) contemplates the importance of
portraits and portraiture in a contemporary world where the boundaries between reality
and imagination are blurred, distorted and jumbled, largely by Social Media and
the Internet.
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Val Barry: Probably the Best Potter You've Never Heard Of!
By Nic Saintey (12th April 2019)
Nic Saintey (Head of the Ceramics Department) looks at the work of studio potter
Val Barry, whose has become largely forgotten, but may yet find reinvigorated favour
in the current post-Leach environment.
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Buying Diamond Jewellery at Auction
By Lucy Marles (29th March 2019)
Lucy Marles (of the Jewellery Department) explains the ins and outs of buying diamond
jewellery at auction.
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Hester Bateman - Queen of Neo-Classical English Silver
By Martin McIlroy (1st March 2019)
Martin McIlroy (Head of the Silver Department) retells the remarkable story of Hester
Bateman (d 1794), a renowned female silversmith in the male dominated silver trade
of 18th Century London.
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Picture This! St Ives Artistic Schools
By Daniel Goddard (16th February 2019)
Daniel Goddard (Head of the Pictures Department) conjures up the Cornish Coastline
that has inspired artists of the St Ives Schools, particularly Robert Borlase Smart
(1881-1947) and Julius Olsson (1864-1942).
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Carpet Bombing
By Nic Saintey (14th January 2019)
Nic Saintey muses on a carpet which isn't magic, but is certainly unusual.
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Fifty Shades of Brown
By Nic Saintey (28th November 2018)
Nic Saintey provides a brief overview of the Studio Pottery movement from its 'brown
and oriental' roots through to its current rebirth.
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Austrian Cold Painted Bronze Cats
By Martin MacIlroy (28th July 2017)
Martin McIlroy, Head of the Works of Art Department, looks at Austrian cold painted
bronzes of cats. He examines why cats became such a popular subject for artists
such as Franz Bergman (1838-1894).
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Political Commemoratives
By Nic Saintey (15th June 2017)
Nic Saintey suggests that politically themed pottery might not be as dry and uninteresting
as it sounds if you are prepared to scratch beneath the surface.
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What a Load of Rubbish! Pot Lids: How Proto-Advertising
Made Packaging 'Art'
By Nic Saintey (19th May 2017)
Nic Saintey examines how proto-advertising made the humble Victorian pot lid used
as part of daily packaging into 'art' that is widely collected today. The fascinating
story of their transformation from the utilitarian to the collectable starts over
150 years ago.
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Commemorative Ceramics - Memories Are Made of This
By Nic Saintey (2nd May 2017)
Nic Saintey charts a brief history and the motivation behind commemorative ceramics
starting with the London delft potters who produced some of the earliest pieces
to celebrate the Restoration of Charles II in 1661.
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Diamonds
By Lucy marles (21st April 2017)
With diamond prices riding high, Lucy Marles, one of our jewellery experts, explains
the difference between modern round brilliant-cut and old brilliant-cut diamonds.
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The Silver Claret Jug
By Martin McIlroy (1st March 2017)
Martin McIlroy, Head of the Silver Department, charts the rise in popularity of
the silver claret jug from Queen Victoria to the Art Deco movement. He also traces
the English love of claret from the 12th Century to modern times.
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Best in Show - A Potted History of Cow Creamers
By Nic Saintey (10th May 2016)
Nic Saintey writes about cow creamers, covering their introduction in the first
half of the Eighteenth Century through to their fall from grace, implicated in the
cholera epidemics that affected Sunderland and East London from the early 1830s.
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Grave Concerns About Death
By Nic Saintey (24th February 2016)
Nic Saintey, Head of the Ceramics Department, looks at three thousand years of Chinese
funerary statues from the Shang Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty and explores how these
ceramics evolved over time.
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Digital Age Auctioneers
By Brian Goodison-Blanks (12th February 2016)
Brian Goodison-Blanks reflects on how the Internet is changing the fundamental dynamics
of the auction market. While there is no doubt that online technologies have been
highly disruptive, the auctioneer has not fallen in the digital age. Indeed, by
embracing the new technologies, Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood are reaching many
more buyers world-wide, often for items with very niche appeal.
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The Art of the Narrative
By Daniel Goddard (24th January 2016)
Daniel Goddard, Head of the Pictures Department, discusses the art of the narrative
by looking at two exponents of the genre: the 19th century Dutch artist Johann Bernard
de Hoog (1867-1943) and the English painter George Goodwin Kilburn (1839-1924) of
the same period.
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French Palissy Ware - Rustic Pottery inspired by the Natural
World
By Nic Saintey (4th December 2015)
Nic Saintey looks at the rustic pottery of French Huguenot Bernard Palissy (1510-1589)
and the rebirth of Palissy Ware in the mid 19th century in Tours in the Loire Valley,
which saw rivals spring up in Paris and influenced the Majolica Wares of those such
as Minton and George Jones.
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Hidden in Plain View - The Enigma of Blanc de Chine Porcelain
By Nic Saintey (26th October 2015)
Nic Saintey ponders the enigma of Blanc de Chine porcelain and concludes that while
produced in huge quantities, the daily use of the ceramics fired in the Dehua kilns
made this genre of porcelain almost invisible, essentially hidden in plain view.
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Wristwatches
By Brian Goodison-Blanks (29th September 2015)
Brian Goodison-Blanks takes the time to look at wristwatches from their early appearance
at the Court of Elizabeth I through watches used to co-ordinate military operations
to those of modern times, looking at classics from well-known watchmakers such as
Rolex and Omega. He decides he will shun the most recent technological innovations
for his trusty wristwatch.
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Toying with the Past
By Brian Goodison-Blanks (5th August 2015)
Brian Goodison-Blanks, an expert in collectables, toys with the past as he recalls
British toys made in the mid-20th century, recollecting such names as Britain's,
Lesney, Corgi and Matchbox. He nostalgically remembers how enthralling they were
then in his childhood as they are to him now today.
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Canton Porcelain - The Rose Medallion family 1840-1880
By Nic Saintey (16th June 2015)
Nic Saintey, Head of the Ceramics Department, writes about Canton Porcelain and
its decoration as well as the export economics that shaped its development.
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Blue and White Painted Pearlware and Creamware
By Nic Saintey (1st May 2015)
Nic Saintey, Head of the Ceramics Department, turns his attention to blue and white
painted pearlware and creamware, which he likes for its somewhat varied and quirky
qualities that lend naive charm to such pieces which is often lacking in porcelain.
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Chess Sets
By Martin McIlroy (16th February 2015)
Martin McIlory, Head of the Works of Art Department, discusses the evolution of
chess sets and the various patterns commonly found from various parts of the World.
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Stand by Me
By Nic Saintey (23rd January 2015)
Nic Saintey, Head of the Ceramics Department, considers the so-called Three Friends
of Bamboo, Pine and Prunus that often appear painted in Blue on White on Chinese
porcelain.
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Forging Ahead with Mr Samson - Edme Samson Misunderstood
or Just a Dodgy Faker?
By Nic Saintey (5th January 2015)
Ceramics expert Nic Saintey writes about Samson, Edme et Cie of Paris whose reproduction
pieces (including some rather nefarious pieces) are now faked themselves.
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First Editions
By Richard Bearne (19th December 2014)
Richard Bearne, Chairman and Head of the Book Department, not only writes about
First Editions and what can make them very valuable, but also reflects on how they
can give further insight into the author's lives.
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Arts and Crafts Furniture
By Chris Hampton (28th November 2014)
Chris Hampton, Managing Director and Head of the Furniture Department, writes about
Arts and Craft Movement furniture and its celebrated designers, particularly those
from the Cotswold School.
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Antiques in the Brave New World?
By Brian Goodison-Blanks (30th October 2014)
Brian Goodison-Blanks reflects on whether antiques have a place in the brave
new world and observes how some traditional staples of the saleroom have declined
and been surplanted by mid-20th century space age design.
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The Dragon, friend or foe?
By Nic Saintey (30th September 2014)
Nic Saintey, Head of the Ceramics and Glass Department, wonders why the dragon is
such a popular motif on Chinese porcelain.
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A Return to Devon Pottery - The Artistic Influences of the
Barnstaple Potteries
By Nic Saintey (14th August 2014)
Nic Saintey discusses the artistic influences of the Barnstaple Potteries and another
case of artistic plagiarism.
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Is Imitation the Greatest Form of Flattery?
By Nic Saintey (16th June 2014)
Nic Saintey discusses an enigmatic piece of Torquay Pottery depicting Alexandra,
Princess of Wales (who was the longest serving Princess of Wales). Was it a pretentious
start for a provincial pottery or a risky strategy by a fledgling business?
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Artist and Fly-Fisherman - Samuel John Lamorna Birch
By Daniel Goddard (23rd May 2014)
Daniel Goddard writes about the Newlyn artist Samuel John Lamorna Birch (1869-1955),
who was both a passionate painter and fly fisherman. He became the leader of the
second generation of Newlyn artists and adopted the name 'Lamorna' to distinguish
himself from fellow artist Lionel Birch.
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English Pate sur Pate Porcelain
By Nic Saintey (12th March 2014)
Nic Saintey, Head of the Ceramics Department, writes about the pate sur pate decorative
technique used in England with porcelain from the mid 1850s onwards.
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Amphora - An Often Overlooked Art Pottery
By Nic Saintey (4th November 2013)
Nic Saintey, Head of the Ceramics Department, writes about Amphora, an art pottery
that was responsible for a real diversity of output during its 25 years or so of
existence, ranging from the neo rococo and Secessionist to the strikingly abstract.
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A Flight of Fancy, Daisy Makeig Jones and Wedgwood's Fairyland
Lustre
By Nic Saintey (10th October 2013)
Nic Saintey, Head of the Ceramics Department, discusses Wedgwood painter Daisy Makeig-Jones,
who introduced the fabled Fairy Lustre porcelain.
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Two Centuries of Painters painting the West Country
By Daniel Goddary (25th June 2013)
Daniel Goddard, Head of the Picture Department, writes about two centuries of artists
painting in the West Country, from Joseph Mallord William Turner to Ben Nicholson.
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Russian Silver
By Martin McIlroy (10th May 2013)
Martin McIlory, Head of the Silver Department, writes about the more common pieces
of Russian silver that pass through the major provincial auction houses such as
Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.
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Shapland and Petter - Great Value
By Christoper Hampton (3rd April 2013)
The overwhelming support for the opening of a new modern furniture store in Exeter
prompts Chris Hampton, Managing Director and Head of the Furniture department, to
reflect on the lack of enthuisiasm shown at the time in keeping North Devon's leading
furniture makers, Shapland and Petter, in business as he considers one of their
late Victorian/Edwardian wardrobes, which will come under the hammer in the April
2013 Fine Art auction.
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Istvan Szegedi Szuts - My War Book
By Daniel Goddard (19th March 2013)
Istvan Szuts served in the First World War and the reader assumes the drawings and
the titles reflect his thoughts and experiences. The pen and ink drawings are breathtakingly
simple with an economy of line reminiscent of Eric Gill and Keith Vaughan. The published
book is a wonderful read and the printed images moving; but the original drawings
are something else altogether! They make the hairs on the neck stand, the heart
race and the eyes moisten.
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Early History of Derby Porcelain
By Nic Saintey (18th January 2013)
Nic Saintey turns his attention to the early history of Derby porcelain, from its
inception in circa 1756 (but possibly 1753), which is shrouded in mystery, until
the start of its decline at the start of 19th century.
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Majolica Pottery
By Nic Saintey (8th January 2013)
Nic Saintey writes about the development of and influences on Majolica (not to be
confused with maiolica) pottery, from its invention by Minton and Arnoux through
its zenith in the 1860-70s to its decline in the late 19th century.
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Fairyland Lustre - Daisy Makeig-Jones
By Nic Saintey (2nd May 2012)
Nic Saintey wonders whether Devon Pixies may have had an influence on the Fairyland
Lustre designs of Daisy Makeig-Jones, who initially trained at the Torquay School
of Art in South Devon before joining Wedgwood in 1909.
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Furniture Trends
By Chris Hampton (12th March 2012)
In an era where much is currently made of the decline in prices for 'brown furniture',
the British have yet again succeeded in what they do terribly well – that of talking
things down. And yet it is not all doom and gloom – indeed far from it. There is
strong demand for good English furniture from the 17th to the 20th Centuries. A
good example of this was a George III mahogany serpentine fronted serving table
measuring 8ft long which sold for £21,000 against a £6,000 - £8,000 estimate.
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A Kangxi Wine Ewer
By Nic Saintey (8th March 2012)
Whilst Christian communion involves the acceptance of wine, one can't help feeling
more relaxed with the Oriental concept. Chinese porcelain wine ewers, whether in
their original Ming or later Kangxi form, are far more than functional objects as
they were produced to pay homage to ancestors – a toast to the dead if you
like.
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Robert O Lenkiewicz (1941-2002): A Private Collection
By Daniel Goddard (12th March 2010)
Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood are offering a private collection of pictures
by Robert Lenkiewicz (1941-2002) for auction in Exeter on Saturday, 20th March 2010.
The collection represents an outstanding group of pictures which date from the 1950s
to the last few months of the Lenkiewicz's life.
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Bearne's and Hampton & Littlewood Merge
By Richard Bearne (2nd January 2009)
Richard Bearne, Chairman of Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood talks about the merger
of Bearne's and Hampton & Littlewood to form the largest auction house and valuation
business in the West Country.
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The Portrait Miniature
By Daniel Goddard (2nd January 2009)
Daniel Goddard, Director and Head of the Picture Department, considers the portrait
miniature, from its early origins to the more modern forms of the 18th and 19th
centuries.
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Troika Pottery
By Nic Saintey (2nd January 2009)
Nic Saintey writes about the Troika Pottery that was formed in St Ives in Cornwall
in 1963 by Benny Sirota, Leslie Ilsley and Jan Thompson.
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Godolphin House, Cornwall
By Nic Saintey (2nd January 2009)
The Godolphin House Sale was held in July 2008 at our Okehampton Street Salerooms.
This article provides a brief history of the house, which is now in the hands of
The National Trust.
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Antique Wine Bottles
By Nic Saintey (2nd January 2009)
Nic Saintey, the Head of Ceramics and Glass, discusses the history of the wine bottle,
which has now become very collectable.
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Honiton High Street by Alfred Leyman
By Daniel Goddard (2nd January 2009)
Daniel Goddard, the Head of the Picture Department, discusses the life of the watercolour
painter Alfred Leyman (1856-1933), who lived, worked and painted in Devon.
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