By the time you get some experience out there in the wild under your belt, if you see something that you haven’t seen it before, it’s worth considering. The longer and broader that experience becomes, the more it’s worth buying something that you haven’t seen before – if you like it and can afford it. […]
There are some things in my collection that I don’t really know about. In fact, it’s these things I’m drawn to – and buy – the most. The world has enough experts and dealers in Royal Worcester, Meissen, and such things that have been heavily researched for decades, even centuries. If it’s highly unusual and […]
The world hasn’t really been very kind to paperweights lately. We’ve used heavy objects to hold down papers on our desks since the dawn of paper in China in around 105AD. All manner of stone, wood and other weighty materials were used, but it wasn’t until the 1840s that the decorative glass paperweight as we […]
What goes on in my head when deciding to buy or not to buy… There’s so much scope with small sculptures. In my experience, unless a sculpture looks something like a Henry Moore, is clearly Art Deco, or looks like some fine 18thC Classical marble, it’s often ignored. Most people focus on ‘flat art’ for […]
I adore costume jewellery pins, and I do love a good crown pin. Forget the precious metal and gemstone ones, especially with gold being at the heights that it is now. Costume jewellery designs are just as eye-catching, and the story behind them can be a ‘crowning glory’. There’s one pin in particular that always […]
I don’t usually buy blue and white transfer-printed pottery. If I did, I guess it would be to use. And that’s what it was made for – solid, workaday dinner and tea wares for ordinary homes, inspired by the ever-present fashion for Chinese blue and white porcelains. Just much less expensive, and much more resilient. […]
I’ve long been a fan of studio glass – glass made from the mid-1960s onwards when the studio glass movement finally freed the medium of glass from factories to be used by individual artists. Glass could finally become a medium for art. It’s a seriously major turning point in 20th century design, art and decorative […]
I’m a huge fan of antique prints. Yes, I know most dealers or auctioneers groan when presented with one unless it’s by an internationally known master, but I think they’re an undiscovered treasure trove. Partly because they are typically extremely affordable and allow us to own an original work by a major artist, or they […]
I’m not much of a fan of bar brooches, if I’m honest. But I know that those once-reviled Victorian silver bar brooches engraved with names have become popular once again, driven by the recent revival of girl’s names from that period. Still, not for me. At all. However, one bar brooch kept gently waving at […]
To use common parlance among the kids, “Oooh, sick!” It’s a penis bone! Quite literally, and it always catches eyes gazing over the cabinet of curiosities that is my desk. It makes muggles smile when they want a tour of my office – antiques aren’t dry, dusty and boring at all. ‘Oosik’ is the word […]
We all know that feeling, that frisson of excitement as you enter an antiques shop that you haven’t been in before. What will I find? Will I come out empty-handed, or is there treasure within? The thrill of the hunt! Walking along a London street last weekend, I popped into an antiques shop that I […]
A few weeks ago, I was helping a dear friend go through some ephemera he had collected into a folio over the years. As a thank you, he kindly gave me two small mounted Victorian prints that I had rather taken a shine to. He knows I’m a fan of antique prints – an undisputed […]