Beautifully Battered Bears – A Steiff Worn By Time & Love

1920s antique Steiff Bear

Antiques expert Mark Hill looks at a battered antique 1920s Steiff teddy bear bought in Berlin. Worn by love but still full of character, think about the stories he holeds within him.

William Staite Murray – A Rediscovered Painting

William Staite Murray Painting

Mark Hill examines a newly rediscovered 1930s Modern British painting by studio potter and artist William Staite Murray.

A Glass Painter’s Goblet – A Rare 19th Century Discovery

Antiques expert Mark Hill examines a rare 19th century German or Bohemian enamelled glass painter’s advertising or promotional goblet.

Is This The Earliest Commercial Iridescent Glass?

In 2013, I wrote a blog post on the origins of iridescent glass. Despite credit usually going to the hugely successful Art Nouveau iridescent glass produced by Tiffany and Loetz from the 1890s onwards, the origins of iridescent glass actually date back to 1856 and a Hungarian chemist and technician called Leo Valentin Pantocek. You […]

But it doesn’t even look like glass! Sèvres Lithyalin.

Sevres Lithyalin Vase

You’ll no doubt know that I’m a more of 20th century boy in terms of my personal collecting habits. My tastes are much broader, however, but even I was a little surprised when I bought the piece below from my friends the top French and Bohemian art glass dealers M&D Moir at the always-amazing Battersea […]