Chamberlain & The Beautiful Llama

One of the many joys about working on the Collectables and Miscellaneous tables on the Antiques Roadshow is that you never know what the next person in the queue will have. It could, quite literally, be anything – it’s a little like Christmas! At Seaton Delaval (above) last week, I saw something that I thought […]

A Visit To Leominster Reclamation Yard

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll no doubt know that my partner and I are renovating a late Georgian house right now. it was quite a wreck when we bought it, and required considerable rebuilding. I won’t bore you with the details, but will simply say that a month or so ago we were […]

A New Member For The Arts Scholars

I’ve been a Freeman of the Guild of Arts Scholars, Dealers & Collectors for a couple of years now. A charitable organisation formed as part of the City of London’s ancient network of professional guilds and livery companies, its aim is to promote the study, curation, collection and trade in antiques, antiquities, decorative arts and […]

Antiques Roadshow at Hartland Abbey

On Thursday I attended what must have been one of the busiest Antiques Roadshows I’ve experienced since Hopetoun House. Our location was the beautiful country house Hartland Abbey (above), near Bideford in North Devon. The abbey was built in 1157, and was the last monastery to be dissolved by Henry VIII, in 1539. Its royal […]

Rave Reviews for Caithness Glass Book

I’m delighted that my new Caithness Glass book has received some great reviews lately. Lesley Jackson, the eminent design historian, curator, and author, has just reviewed it for the Crafts Council‘s prestigious ‘Craft’ magazine and said ‘”Mark Hill has done the design world a valuable service in recording the history of Caithness Glass and the […]

Antiques Roadshow in Aberystwyth

Last Thursday my fellow Roadshow specialists and I converged on the sunny seaside town of Aberystwyth in Wales for another day of filming for the Antiques Roadshow. Perched on a hill, the renowned Arts Centre was our host, and what a delightful day we had. Sunny skies (yes!), incredibly warm and welcoming visitors, and a […]

I’m Never Drinking Coca Cola Again…!

Well, that might be an over-statement, as it has its moments, and I ought to be celebrating it after last night. This weekend I bought a mid-19thc Copeland Late Spode stoneware bottle vase in a junk shop in Edenbridge. Yes, just the one, not a pair. And, I know, it’s not my usual thing at […]

1951 Festival of Britain Celebrations

The clever, or observant, amongst you will have noticed that 2011 is the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain. A landmark event that buoyed up the nation after the war, it celebrated our culture, developments in technology, manufacturing and design, and looked forward to ‘the world of tomorrow today’. The main event was held […]

New Fat Lava Exhibition in Amsterdam

Since Graham Cooley and I launched the first ‘Fat Lava’ exhibition and bookalogue in 2006, West German pottery has gone global. We certainly weren’t the first to appreciate this quirky and often much-maligned pottery from the 1960s & 70s, but the combined event crystalised the market, which has grown and grown like Flopsy since then. […]

New FREE Antiques, Retro & Collecting Magazine

Earlier this year, I was delighted to be invited to write for an exciting new magazine called ‘Antiques, Retro & Collectables‘. Especially as the roster of writers included talented specialists I worked with on Collect It! magazine, which had very sadly ceased publication a few months earlier. The opportunity of working with the much-loved and […]