Well, at least the rain held off! It was that that everyone seemed most worried about as the merry band of Antiques Roadshow production crew and specialists gathered in the beautifully manicured grounds of Saumarez Manor on the idyllic island of Guernsey. The photo above shows the event just before the gates opened. What you […]
Paul Atterbury and I talking at the start of yesterday’s Antiques Roadshow in Brooklands Museum in sunny Surrey.
Of course it had to be a chequered flag – a stylish and perfectly suitable opening to the Antiques Roadshow at Brooklands motoring and aviation museum in sunny Surrey today. As soon as it was dramatically swept down, thousands of visitors, excitedly clutching their antiques and collectables, made their way to the tables of waiting […]
If you’re into Fat Lava, the crazy and unique ceramics produced in West Germany from the 1960s-70s, you simply must take a trip to Reading this month. I’ve just got back from the grand opening today, and my jaw is still on the floor. Eminent private collector Graham Cooley and progressive dealer Al Baynham of […]
On my many visits to Canada, I’ve always been delighted by the enormous level of interest in West German ceramics of the 1960s & 70s. The country was a major export market for makers such as Bay, Scheurich and ES Keramik, and Fat Lava has become a firm favourite amongst collectors there. My good friends […]
…and a whole lot of business being done pretty much sums up the London Book Fair, where I have spent much of this afternoon. Hundreds of publishers and related businesses from across the world attend, from the big boys of Hachette and Random House, to smaller one-man bands, and the remainder businesses that feed off […]
I’ve just spent the past four days at the wonderful Antiques for Everyone Spring fair at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. This is the largest quality antiques show in the UK, taking out the higher-end Olympia fairs in London. Living up to its name, there truly was something for the thousands who attended (see […]
With nary a week in between, I have just got back from a trip up north to do the Antiques Roadshow in the sunny seaside resort of Blackpool. I arrived on Thursday afternoon to a tranquil town, and took a constitutional walk along the beach to the location – the legendary Blackpool Ballroom underneath the […]
I’ve just got back from the glorious and spectacular Hopetoun House, outside Edinburgh, which was Wednesday’s location for the Antiques Roadshow. Billed as ‘Scotland’s Finest Stately Home’, it certainly didn’t disappoint, although I’ve always been a sucker for anything with a long gravel drive, Classical columns and a garden with a ha-ha. Arguably even better […]
I had to read the price twice. Then a third time, just to make sure. Yes, Eileen Gray’s Art Deco ‘Dragons’ chair really had sold for £17.7 million! For me, the most surprising aspect of the recent Yves Saint Laurent auction held at Christie’s in Paris was the level of prices being paid for furniture […]
It may have been the 13th Cambridge Glass Fair, but the only people who were unlucky were those who didn’t visit! But there can’t have been many of them, as this fair was amongst the very busiest I have attended – and I’ve been going since the first. The queue began to build an hour […]
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 […]