Last month, I was lucky enough to be asked to be the special guest at the biannual SylvaC collectors’ event in Peterborough. After a thoroughly fascinating day with friendly, warm and dedicated collectors, I was presented with a thank you gift of a piece of SylvaC for my collection – how incredibly kind! I had […]
One of my favourite places to browse on a Sunday afternoon is Oxfam Books. What people turn off their bookshelves and out of their homes is endlessly fascinating for me. It’s always the pamphlets and booklets that I am drawn to first, from exhibition catalogues to more esoteric publications. A few years ago, I found […]
Visiting the ‘OstBerlin‘ exhibition in the Museum Ephraim-Palais in Berlin last weekend, I was impressed by the quality and quantity of period paintings, drawings and prints of the developing East German part of the city, dating from the 1950s-80s. So, when I stumbled across an etching of a notable West German building from the same […]
The discovery of a group of architectural sketches by the Arts & Crafts architect Philip Webb in Bogota leads antiques expert Mark Hill to consider why they are there as he walks around the city.
This Christmas and New Year (December 2018 & January 2019), the banker and I decided to continue the holidays we’ve taken in South America over the years and cashed in our air miles to make a trip to Colombia. Despite what you may think, and the large numbers of policemen and soldiers on many streets, […]
I didn’t want to die at 36, but to a young art history student living away from home for the first time, Amedeo Modigliani’s life (1884-1920) seemed dramatic, charismatic, exciting and bohemian. I loved (and still love) his art and set myself a challenge of one day owning something directly connected to it and him […]
I love finding a piece with its original label or sticker still attached, as it can yield a lot of useful information, especially if the piece is otherwise unmarked. Most labels were washed off, or otherwise removed, by the original owner when they got home, so survivors are scarce. Obviously, the first indication a label […]
Anyone who has seen glass being made will know mesmerising the process is, from the silent dance of the skilled glassmaking team to the transformation of a blob of hot, orange glass into a three dimensional artwork. My good friend and colleague Graham Cooley recently told me about a fascinating film produced in 1980 by […]
When I was pulling together my ‘Design At Home‘ 20th century design auction for Dawson’s Auctioneers earlier this year, a vendor contacted me wishing to sell a group of British postwar furniture owned by his uncle, who had sadly recently died. His uncle had bought all the pieces brand new in 1961, and had looked […]
The third Bruton Decorative Antiques Fair will be held from the 19th to 21st October 2018, near the beautiful and deeply trendy Somerset town of Bruton. I’ve been attending since it began in 2016, having been a fan of its big sister, the Bath Decorative Antiques Fair, which was first held in 1989! At the […]
When I attend the Antiques For Everyone fairs in Birmingham, or the Art, Antiques & Interiors Fair in London’s ExCel, I generally tend to give a short afternoon talk. In these, I always say that these fairs are great places to buy – which they are. I believe in practising what I preach, so I […]
Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA & Antiques. An unholy trinity? Last weekend a man died whose name is known to few, but whose influence can be seen in hundreds of millions of homes across the world. Ingvar Kamprad (1926-2018) was perhaps the single most influential force over the way we decorate our homes, and ought to be […]