This year’s dates for the Antiques Roadshow have now been published, and are listed below. Those in bold are the events I will be attending as a specialist on the Miscellaneous or Collectables tables. Dig out your treasures and I hope to see you there! Thursday 19 March – Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln Wednesday 25 March […]
They say radio is growing in popularity, and it’s certainly been an increasing part of my life recently, with three interviews in the past two weeks! Up today was BBC radio Cambridgeshire, with another phone-in valuation that also helped promote the excellent Cambridge Glass Fair this Sunday, at Chilford Hall. Here I am in the […]
I’ve just got back from an extremely enjoyable one-and-a-half hour long phone-in valuation for BBC Radio London. Hosted by the lovely Lesley Joseph, I was invited along as a guest with my friend Tracy Martin. Lesley is best known for her character Dorian in hit BBC TV sitcom ‘Birds of a Feather’ but, unlike her […]
With things a little tighter for most of us this year, it’s great to find a place where we can still feed our addictions without breaking the bank. That place is certainly Alfie’s Antiques Market in north west London, where I have just spent an extremely enjoyable and fruitful two days. Whatever it is that […]
Now there’s a name you don’t hear every day. But it is one that you might hear more of in the future. Frantisek Zemek (1913-60) is arguably one of the lost great names in 20th century glass design, and was key to the development of hot-worked glass in Czechoslovakia. Starting his career as a glass […]
It’s true – one of the greatest antique and collectables events in the South of England has returned. Early last year, long-standing event organiser Pig & Whistle held the last of their immensely popular fairs at historic Alexandra Palace in London. With the venue looking set to become a casino, it was curtains for this […]
In mid-January, I heard from a reliable source that the dastardly Dudley Council is proposing to close this museum in Spring next year. For those of you who don’t know it, Broadfield is a national treasure and is, to my knowledge, the only museum dedicated to glass in the country. It’s also one of the […]
…buy vintage! The market for vintage clothing has boomed over the past few years, even entering the ‘mainstream’ with high street stores such as TopShop and TopMan even stocking vintage lines. We’ve certainly become a lot more ‘individual’ in our tastes for interior decoration and the way we dress. One of the best sources I […]
No, not something found under a bed in a students’ halls of residence, but ancient Chinese jam tarts, buried as a tribute alongside a nobleman over 1,300 years ago. The decorative tarts (not like the ones shown here, which I have now eaten), are part of a travelling exhibition that opened at Bristol’s City Museum […]
The bottle of champagne I mentioned in my last entry has now finally sold – for £350! Congratulations Steve, I hope that you and your team have a great night out. I wonder if the lucky winner of the auction will be drinking it to toast his success? Good on him, whatever.
I’ve just got back from the BBC where I took part in an interview for BBC Radio 5 Live about the value of the large amount of Woolworths memorabilia that has come onto the market since the sad closure of the chain at the beginning of the year. The spark that set the market alight […]
It’s always nice to find out that friends are doing well, especially those that you have sadly lost touch with. Reading the ‘Style’ section of the Sunday Times over breakfast this morning, I spotted a large article on my old colleague and friend Sara Covelli. Sara, and her friend Janie Tennant, have founded Covelli Tennant […]