Auctions: A silk sash from Syria

PRIVATE collections - of lace, stamps, cameras and jigsaw puzzles - are giving a spirited start to the autumn season.

The textile designer Margaret Simeon, now in her eighties, is selling her comprehensive collection of lace and embroidery. She began collecting during the war, buying fine but unrecognised pieces from Red Cross shops. The collection, at Phillips West Two, Wednesday (11am) has plenty in the pounds 80- pounds 120 range, including Syrian ivory silk sashes, fans and shawls.

Phillips' Thursday (11am) sale of stamps of Great Britain includes two private collections with plenty of clean, sought- after high values of the kind snapped up by speculators in the late Seventies. The stamp market is perking up after 12 years in the doldrums, so this sale could be an interesting market indicator. Sotheby's sale of world stamps Thursday (2pm) also has some GB high values, including a fresh, unused, unmounted set of the 1929 Postal Union Congress issues, est pounds 200-pounds 300.

An English private collection of good Kodak cameras is at Christie's South Kensington, Thursday (2pm). Art deco-style cameras are est pounds 80- pounds 120. There are albumen prints and cartes de visite.

The private collection which comprised the British Jigsaw Puzzle Library is for sale at Bonhams Chelsea, Thursday (2pm). Five historical and romantic scenes by Dinn, of Spondon, Derbyshire, are est pounds 100-pounds 150. Nine by the better-known Tuck of London, of 1920-30, are est pounds 50-pounds 80 but they could go through the roof.

REPRO MEN

Sales 'without reserve', such as the liquidation sale of a London reproduction furniture shop at Bonhams, Wednesday (11am), are a sign of the times.

Some flamboyant, stagey pieces.

SMALL CHANGE

Glendinings sale of English and world coins coincides with the London Coin Fair next Saturday (9.30am-5pm) at the Cumberland Hotel, Marble Arch - an addition to the usual calendar of three fairs a year. More than 80 dealers are expected. Entry pounds 2, concessions pounds 1 (081-989 8097).

SNIPS

Icons at Christie's South Kensington, Wednesday (10.30pm), silver at Bonhams, Tuesday (11am), quarterly sale of European ceramics at Phillips, Wednesday (10.30am).

COUNTRYWIDE

Warrington: Excess stocks of garden ornaments - tubs, pots and ornaments next Saturday (10.30am). Littons, Guardian Street (0925 572199).

Ludlow: Principal contents of Yonder Wyken House, Shropshire, plus good quality bronzes, silver, ceramics, carpets, paintings, furniture from two other estates, Tuesday (10.30am). Ludlow Antique Auctions, 29 Corve Street (0584 875157).

Nantwich: Two-day sale. Wednesday (10.30am): collectors' items, furniture and decorations. Thursday (10.30am): fine art and antiques, including a William IV plum-pudding mahogany work table est pounds 750-pounds 1,000. Peter Wilson, Victoria Gallery, Market Street (0270 623878).

Birmingham: New and nearly new televisions and videos, Monday (7pm) at Biddle and Webb, Ladywood, Middleway (021 455 8042). Also in Birmingham: pawnbrokers' unredeemed pledges, Thursday (10.30am). Fellows & Sons, 19 Augusta Street, Hockley (021 212 2131).

Stoke-on-Trent: Two-day sale: Monday (10am) more than 670 lots of English, continental and oriental ceramics by known makers (Doulton, Moorcroft, Goss, Copeland and others). Tuesday (10am): 350 lots of furniture, paintings, silver, clocks, toys, artworks. Louis Taylor, Britannia House, 10 Town Road, Hanley (0782 214111).

Ringwood: View and test computer hardware, software, printers and accessories from 9.30am before sale 12.30pm tomorrow at the Recreation Centre. Mascot Computer Auctions (0202 823933).

Bletchingley: Three-day sale: antique furniture, oriental carpets, collectables, effects Tuesday (10am). Ceramics and glass (2pm). Wednesday (9.30am) silver and other metalware. Books (2pm). Thursday (10am): antique and reproduction furniture. Lawrences, Norfolk House, High Street (0883 743323).

Market Harborough: Police lost and recovered goods next Saturday (10am). Gildings, Roman Way (0858 410414).

Countrywide Auctions supplied by Antiques Trade Gazette (071-930 4957) and Government Auction News (071-734 8291/4).