Collectors delight at Tennants as Northern Antiques Fair returns to Yorkshire

So collectors and dealers alike are celebrating this week as the Northern Antiques Fair returns to the region after being cancelled last year.

The fair is being held until Sunday at Tennants auction house, in Leyburn, for the first time, after being hosted in Harrogate for many years.

And with over 35 exhibitors bringing collections of paintings, furniture, jewellery, rugs and carpets worth anything from £100 to five-figure sums, collectors who have been

itching to choose their latest treasure will have plenty to contemplate.

Ingrid Nilson, the director of the Northern Antiques Fair, said: “There really is pent-up demand both from exhibitors and the general public to have face-to-face interaction, and we had a tremendous turnout just in the first hour of the show.

“It’s a very positive event and a great restart of the fair given it’s two years since it was last held.”

Of particular interest to collectors will be a stunning pair of 1940s or 1950s bookends, with a pair of squirrels carved expertly into the wood. They were made by ‘Mouseman’ Robert Thompson, who hailed from Kilburn, North Yorkshire. He is famous for carving mice into his creations which can fetch up to high four-figure sums at auction.

Ms Nilson said: “They’re a very, very good example of a really unique piece.” Other pieces include a sculpture of a pair of hands, The Origin of the Question, by Dutch artist Margot Homan, and a miniature portrait of Laurence Sterne, inset.

“The sculpture comes from a high-end specialist dealer from East Sussex, Garret and Hurst,” Ms Nilson said.

“Normally they specialise in 19th century Romantic sculptures, but they do have a few contemporary items and this is a particularly fetching example.” The antiques market in the UK is the second largest in the world after China, so there has always been a demand for collectable, unique pieces.

But Ms Nilson said the past 18 months of restrictions have rejuvenated the sector as many people turned back to interior design and decoration as a hobby.

She said: “Smaller high-end items such as jewellery, people normally buy to treat themselves.

“But of course, they have spent a lot of time in their homes.

“Anything that enhances an interior – a painting, a sculpture, Oriental rugs, furniture, ceramics to display, glass – is something that people are genuinely keener on at the moment than they were two years ago.

“There’s a rekindled interest in anything to do with your own home and environment.”

Other items on sale include a rare Toby Jug produced in Mexborough, South Yorkshire dating from 1800.

Handled by Roger de Ville Antiques, it is expected to sell for £1,475.