You know you are in a foreign country when you bite down and enjoy your first rooster testicle soup. Okay the rest of the rooster is in the soup too. But my host generously, having gobbled up ( pun intended ) the first one passes the second to me. Gasping,...

New York is not London. As soon as you queue up at immigration you know you are not in London. It smells distinctive, it looks distinctive. It acts in every way distinctive. The dread of a massive line, the TV broadcasting news, the size of everyone and everything, it all...

Last week was all about the joys of dogtastic Battersea. This week was about Masterpiece and tidying up.

It's Sunday and I am dragging my suitcase along the seemingly endless corridors of Green Park underground station as I am 'tubing' it to Heathrow en route to New York. I...

It is the penultimate day, Saturday. I am standing in the corner of my 5 m by 2.5 m grey painted stand. My feet are on the sisel carpet that got laid down a week ago. The mortadella, cheese and chutney sandwich in sourdough that I have just bought is...

On Monday I was in Paris, with Giles from Mallett.We had run round the auction rooms at the Drouot, which they are sadly renovating, cunningly destroying an immaculate 70's interior just when it is becoming the height of cool. They are replacing it with a ghastly confection of chrome and...

Spring has finally sprung. Admittedly there is the worrying, nagging doubt that another cold wet snap lurks like some mugger round the next corner. But heh, let's enjoy the aroma of warmth and the effulgent budding of the trees. That killer blossom moment is upon us and sap city will...

It began on Thursday with a photograph in the paper. A sale in France on Sunday was offering a pair of Chinese coromandel lacquer armchairs. They looked 18th century and though that is quite late for Chinese things it is the golden age for European furniture.

I booked the...

Two short flights and an hour in a hire car and the hurly burly of TEFAF is a long way away. Not before the ghastly Ryanair have managed to add a new twist to their reasonably priced torture. The wretched fanfare they play on landing now, I realise, is also...

How can I admit this? How can I publicly admit to such an emotional betrayal? But I must! I must confess to a venial sin. I have discovered another Sjiek. I am back in Maastricht for the final weekend of TEFAF, and I have strayed.

TEFAF is 260 exhibitors, seemingly miles of corridors and countless objects, pictures and jewels to admire. But behind all of this sparkle lies a delightful human drama. It is the people that make this show happen, it is the daily flow of passing crowds and hurried meals and chance encounters...

TEFAF (The European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht) beckons and is everywhere. Bond Street and all the streets around Mayfair are jammed with shippers. Paper, bubble wrap and enormous wooden crates clutter the pavements and galleries.

A little further out of town and every restorer is being rung up to...

I am sitting in La Caleche on the rue de Lille in Paris. The waiter, who is also the owner, hums as he works. There is a bar and a few tables at the lower level. Two steps up and you have a further half dozen. The decor is mainly...

The day began too early. It was still dark. I was in NY and jet lag had tricked my body into being wide awake at 4.30am. My body is so stupid. Doesn't it realise that when it's dark and the brain says sleep, which is what it should do. It's...

The early morning flight to Budapest is a killer. You rise at 5am and then get the first tube up to Tottenham Hale then the over ground train to Stansted. It is cold, dark, misty and wet. Simon (my architect friend), Louise (Mrs Woodham Smith), and I exchange many glances...

January in London with its gruesome cold and darkness, gives way to the warmth and watery generosity of Miami. I arrived in Florida on what was essentially a dealers charter flight. Almost every dealer I know was on board. Fat cats up front. Healthy cats in premium and skinny cats...

Following a manic day of moving pieces of furniture left and right, backwards and forwards, and generally wasting time, we finally arrived at an arrangement of furniture and objects on the Sungoose stand at the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair, Battersea that all parties were happy with. Sharing is a...

This Monday was one of those big Mondays. You know the ones which are expected and you feel slightly nervous about and the result is uncertain. Well it was one of those. Monday was Nazy Vassegh's first day. Who is she, you ask? She is Masterpiece's first CEO. It is...

The first flight of the year took me to the astonishing maelstrom that is the city of Naples. I have been coming here since I was a teenager. Coming out of the railway station bleary eyed after a sleepless night travelling in a carriage with noisy fragrant fellow travellers. Stepping...

The world is rising slowly this morning of 2013. Last year was an awesome party. We had it all. All the usual food and drink but it was expanded by so many feasts that no wonder we all are slouching around in our pyjamas.

The funny thing is that...

During the feast, effulgent gift giving and general excess that is Christmas the art trade tends to go to sleep. With a few notable exceptions. France does not stop. The auction catalogues keep flopping on to the doormat and the email alerts ping into the inbox. Rather than being annoying...