We all need a break. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Sort of like when you eat too much chocolate! Every morning, I count my blessings and think how lucky I am to be able to work in the world of antiques and collectables that I love so much. However, it […]
Last month I was given £200! Of course, there’s no such thing as free money, just as much as there’s no such thing as a free lunch. I had been asked by BBC Homes & Antiques magazine to spend this princely sum on collectables of the future at the UK’s biggest and best antiques and […]
It seems I can’t get away from Czech things this year. Wandering through Shoreditch this weekend, a fantastic new discovery was made. Hidden between the usual cheapo take-away shops and newsagent is a small, anonymous door that leads into a dark and mysterious newspaper covered corridor leading to a stairwell. Curiously following these down takes […]
It came around far quicker than expected, but the 12th July saw the launch of the long awaited ‘Hi Sklo Lo Sklo exhibition at the King’s Lynn Arts Centre, in King’s Lynn Norfolk. And what a weekend it was! Arriving late Friday afternoon, I my breath was taken away by the incredibly colourful display of […]
You know when you keep reading things about an area, and it looks like a ‘head of steam’ is rapidly building up? I think exactly this is happening with British metalware of the 1950s-70s. Interest in, and prices being paid for, exotic silver and gold pieces by the likes of Stuart Devlin and Gerald Benney […]
For those of your who are familiar with the excellent Crafts magazine, published by the UK’s national Crafts Council, check out this month’s issue. The eminent curator and 20thC design author and expert Lesley Jackson has written an eight page, fully illustrated preview of the forthcoming ‘Hi Sklo Lo Sklo’ Czech glass exhibition. Offering a […]
Just in case you were wondering, the copy of Hi Sklo Lo Sklo that I was selling for charity on eBay this week sold for twice its retail price – £40. What’s more, it sold to the Rakow Library, part of the world-famous Corning Museum of Glass in New York. Illustrious indeed! Do we think […]
The more perceptive of you will note that I haven’t bought much yet, having only spent the parsimonious sum of £14.75. Well, to be honest, I have been clutching my wallet close and saving myself for the highlight of my trip – a visit to the famed Esceri flea market. Billed as ‘the biggest and […]
After enjoying the blazing sun, wonderful warmth and success of the previous day, I was up and out early, being for more. The second stop for anyone visiting the city must be the street called Falk Miksa in the north of the city, and near the Elizabeth bridge. This really is ‘antiques central’ with at […]
Loathe as I am to leave the comfort of Hill Towers, I do enjoy travelling. Particularly when it allows me to spend time touring the antiques, collectables and junk shops of my destination. Today I find myself in the 30 degree warmth of the Hungarian capital of Budapest, celebrating a friend’s pre-wedding jaunt. While I’ll […]
To celebrate both the forthcoming ‘Hi Sklo Lo Sklo’ exhibition and the accompanying catalogue on postwar Czech glass design, I have decided to auction the only spare advance copy of the catalogue on eBay. Having unusually watched quite a bit of TV lately, I’ve been appalled by the situation in Burma, so I have decided […]
Why, oh why, are people obsessed with adding a ‘z’ to a name to make something seem more fun, cool or zany? Annual accounts cannot and will not be made more fun just because the software package is called ‘Accountz’. When will they learn?!