Colin Gleadell on provincial salerooms
If you thought a country saleroom was just a sleepy old place content to knock out goods and chattels for almost any price, the odds are that you'd be wrong. As the sleepier ones go out of business, Britain's liveliest provincial auctioneers are busy building brands and shaping up aggressively for an intriguing tussle not just with London, but between themselves.
The battle is for a share of an annual estimated art and antiques trade of between £150 million and £200 million...