Of course it had to be a chequered flag – a stylish and perfectly suitable opening to the Antiques Roadshow at Brooklands motoring and aviation museum in sunny Surrey today. As soon as it was dramatically swept down, thousands of visitors, excitedly clutching their antiques and collectables, made their way to the tables of waiting […]
…before we move on from Fat Lava. Many collectors choose one shape, and then try to find as many different glazes as they can on the same shape. In the past year, Graham Cooley has found 136 different glaze treatments on the popular Scheurich 401 jug vase – he and independent filmmaker Nigel Edwards of […]
If you’re into Fat Lava, the crazy and unique ceramics produced in West Germany from the 1960s-70s, you simply must take a trip to Reading this month. I’ve just got back from the grand opening today, and my jaw is still on the floor. Eminent private collector Graham Cooley and progressive dealer Al Baynham of […]
It’s finally here! The second, revised and expanded edition of Fat Lava has finally arrived! After a couple of glitches, a long lorry drew up outside today to deliver a palette of boxes. The moment it did this, the clouds opened and the rain poured down. With no trolley, each and every box had to […]
…and I inadvertently saved the best for last. Before I travel anywhere, I always spend an evening trawling the web for places to visit. This time I found a new gallery, Gallery 567 on Benczur Utca, which I hadn’t come across before and looked right up my street. Open by appointment only, it’s well worth […]
Spurred on by yesterday’s success, I went once more into the sun to find more bargains in Budapest. I spent quite some time doing this in Summer last year, and you can read about my experiences by clicking here. One of my first targets today was the chain of state-owned ‘BAV‘ stores that sell secondhand, […]
This bank holiday weekend, I find myself in Budapest, where it’s very warm (32 degrees) and very muggy. A quick lunch after touching down left me ready to hit the shops. First stop was Kiraly Utca, where I had been into a truly superb (and also truly tiny) shop specialising in 20th century ceramics and […]
Browsing around my favourite hunting ground, Past Caring in Islington, with a TV film crew today, I stumbled upon this incredible photograph. Although it might not look like much, the rather strange piece of glass the young man is looking at is a postwar Czech masterpiece. Simply titled ‘Object’, it was designed in 1960 by […]
On my many visits to Canada, I’ve always been delighted by the enormous level of interest in West German ceramics of the 1960s & 70s. The country was a major export market for makers such as Bay, Scheurich and ES Keramik, and Fat Lava has become a firm favourite amongst collectors there. My good friends […]
The Mdina Glass ‘Crizzle Stone’ signed by Michael Harris – rightly dubbed the Holy Grail for many Mdina collectors – being offered by Artius Glass on behalf of a collector has sold. And it stormed home, selling for a staggering £3,400! Representing the apex of collecting, less than a dozen are currently known to collectors, […]
Founded by the indomitable Pat Hier in 1991, the National Glass Fair rapidly grew to become a firm favourite fixture on the calendar of any glass collector worth their salt (or sand). When Pat retired last year, the event was unsurprisingly taken over by glass fair supremo Oxbridge Fairs, run by my good friends Paul […]