SalvoNEWS has moved to salvoweb.com

In 2010 we moved SalvoNEWS from this blog to its own purpose built site, and in 2017 we moved it to salvoweb.com  All 1,200 stories from 2000 to 2010 will remain live on this website for the time being. 

The SalvoNEWS team from 2000 to 2010 was Thornton, Ruby and Colleen

Salvo Fair 2010

Above: Stained glass and garden seat on Neil Phillips stand.

Glorious weather, a record number of exhibitors from as far as Hungary, Germany, France, Belgium and Scotland, and plenty of buying visitors from as far as New Zealand, USA and Japan, added up to another successful Salvo Fair on June 26th and 27th.

The trade morning on Friday 25th started well with a buyer from Portobello Road so keen to be in at 9am that he paid £92 for a small pitch to get an exhibitor pass, and had merrily spent spent several thousand pounds by the official opening time of 11am. After 1pm public were admitted, which meant that many of the smaller mixed stands had recouped their fair costs by Friday evening, when Florian Langenbeck and Thomas Knapp kindly invited exhibitors to a soiree featuring German beer, bread and sausage.

The Saturday was very busy with long queues before opening and a few thousand visitors through the gates during the day. (We will not know the official visitor numbers until Knebworth's accountant has checked everything next week.) That evening the exhibitor get together, sponsored by Salvo, and kindly organised by Peter Watson of Cox's Yard was deemed a great success.

Sunday was, predictably, less busy with the world cup England v Germany match at 3pm, which was shown in a few places live on the fair field. Even so, several stands reported constant sales throughout the match.


The next Salvo Fair is scheduled for June 24 - 26 2011.

Next year we plan to beef up the Friday trade day, making it trade only and increasing the ticket price, with no public allowed, but with free invites to international dealers and specifiers in architecture, construction, landscaping, interiors, set creators, hotel and pub trade from around the world. We will also ask exhibitors to bring larger items and more reclaimed building materials samples, and we will once again have an exhibitor cap and reduce the amount of new and repro on the site, which had been noticeably cut down this year.


Above: Florian Langenbeck from Historische Türen in Freiburg, Germany


Above: Sam Coster (left) of Mongers of Hingham, Norfolk, and Peter Watson of Cox's Yard, Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire


Above: Guy Trench from Antiques By Design, Maldon, Essex


Above: Damian and Lou Cronin of Woodstone, Cronins Reclamation and The Original Home Store, Little Bookham, Surrey


Above: Ed Pearce (left) of V & V Reclamation, Hertford, Nadine and Jason (right) Davies from The Architrectural Forum, Islington, London, and Matt Davies (hat) of Premier Fires and Floors Restoration, London







Salvo Fair

'No Reserves' success at Great Northern Architectural

Tattenhall, Cheshire UK

Auctioneers Richard Winterton held a sale on Tuesday 29 June on behalf of Penham Excel Bailiffs. The sale consisted of 800 lots of architectural items from Great Northern Architectural Antiques, who have recently gone into liquidation.

Cataloguer and auctioneer for the sale Neil Grenyer said, "As pretty much everything was in without reserve, from an auctioneers point of view it was very successful with very few lots not finding new homes. Viewing was steady throughout Monday and Tuesday morning and around 150-200 people registered to bid either in person, on the telephone or left commission bids. There was a good mix of private and trade buyers including from the USA and Canada. The highlight of the 220 lots that were outside in the courtyard was a sandstone portico that was chased to £4,600 by a private buyer and a member of the trade, with the private buyer winning. Elsewhere, a series of carved stone keystones made between £350 and £500 a piece, a wrought iron weather vane made £450 and a fairground barrel organ 'The Mermaid' sold for £500 where the retail asking price was less than £350!

"Inside, the best sellers were the stained glass panels and vestibule arches with many pieces selling to buyers over the telephone, although a couple of Arts and Crafts style doors with leaded and coloured glass took £500 a piece from buyers in the room. A large Art Nouveau leaded and stained glass vestibule complete with french doors sold in the room for £1,500.

"The areas where this sale struggled were the cast iron fire inserts, probably due to the shear quantity being offered, and the mixed lots of odds and ends which sometimes struggled to raise a bid. The last section of the sale was the brass door and window furniture which was sold in large quantities. Although much was genuine reclaimed old pieces, many of the knockers and door knobs were brand new, with the owner of the foundry bidding to buy them back - unfortunately for him, the bidding was so strong that they were often selling for more than the retail prices he would normally charge!"

The sale was attended by a number of trade buyers.

Drew Pritchard said, "Hot hot hot . . . boiling conditions and mainly trade buyers. Total bedlam as lots were pulled from the sale at the last minute, mainly the star pieces due to ownership issues. A superb stone entranceway was bought for £4,600 plus commission by the wife of the owner of a major home builder for their Cheshire house.

"Myself, Rupert from Leominster Reclamation, and Beeston Reclamation were the big buyers of the day. Also in attendance were Colin Scull, Laurence Green from Insitu, and numerous other Salvo dealers. I bought the massive cupola that has graced the car park for the last 20 years and a collection of carved friezes from a Manchester hospital. Prices were all over the place, which is typical for this type of auction, and the auctioneers acting for the bailiffs took no prisoners. Lots of items sold for £1 to £5 for complete pallet loads."


Above: A sandstone portico, after a long bidding war between a trade and private buyer it was eventually brought by a private for £4,600.


Above: some of Drew Pritchard's items from the sale being collected from Tattenhall.







Richard Winterton

Drew Pritchard

Spencer house excitement

South Kensington, London UK

The potential thrill of the unexpected and the serendipitous defines the house contents sale. The Althorp Attic sale is to be held at Christie's on July 7-8 at South Kensington rooms with over 760 lots from the famous Northampton seat of the Spencer family.

Christie's have scored the house, attic, cellar and outhouses, the result is a house contents mix ranging from the typical family silver, brown furniture, curtains, decorative paintings, to more distinct Spencer associations, like the duplicate family portraits and horse drawn carriages.

Estimates for some of the more rarified pieces reach into the five-figure bracket, but there is much more that is affordably guided, including plenty of lots estimated at under £1,000. Christie's have managed to piece together interesting provenance for many individual lots, often aided by the inventory produced by Albert Edward John Spencer, the 7th or 'curator' Earl.

The sale includes a number of grand architectural mouldings. Some fragments which are guided at £1,500 - £2,500 are attributed to James Athenian Stuart.


Lot 1002: A George II mahogany, parcel-gilt and painted door, circa 1758-65, attributed to James Athenian Stuart, estimated at £2,000 - £3,000.

Catalogue