Antiques Information Service

A guide to Auctions (with a database of last year's results) and Fairs, specialist dealers, restorers, valuers and associations. Full access is restricted to members.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Click on Free Web Services to view the parts of the website that are open to all. Fairs and Auctions offer lists for the coming week throughout the UK, though even with that limitation on dates the number of events listed is considerable.

News Service is densely informative and seems to be kept well up to date, warning about such things as recently stolen items and fakes, as well as giving more general news such as information about Sotheby's new saleroom at Olympia, and details of recent auctions, forthcoming events, courses and the like. Prize Competitions offers a monthly prize crossword and a £50 first prize, with smaller runners-up prizes, or a single question to answer to win a year's subscription (worth £24) to the Gold Service. Advisory and valuation services are only available to Gold Service members, and the relevant button appears on every page.

The blueMagazine button does not appear on all pages. Clicking on it leads to a page headed Antiques Info Magazine, describing it as 'the leading informational source on the UK antiques and collecting industry.' Reading the list of typical topics covered, and the few readers' comments alongside, might encourage you to click on How to Subscribe, the only live link on the page. Here, some sample covers are shown, various offers on the basic subscription of £15.60 for a year (six issues) are made, and an online subscription form is given.