Last week was a busy one again – just how I like it. Wednesday saw me travel up to York to attend the Antiques Roadshow in the city’s ‘Museum & Gardens’ the next day. As ever, we were packed out, it was great fun, and some super treasures were found and filmed. The picture above shows me, and my colleague Andrew Davis, valuing, identifying and chatting on the ‘Collectables’ table under the bright, hot sun that we were blessed with throughout the day.
I managed to find some time the day after to try and find my own treasures in the four antiques and collectables shops dotted across the town. First stop was the highly reputed and reputable Red House Antiques, near the stunning Minster. Housed in a beautiful building, you’ll find room after room of great quality antiques, including silver, glass and ceramics crossing over 300 years of decorative arts. And a very friendly and warm welcome too! It turned out that I wasn’t the first of the Roadshow team in that day, as I was told that Marc Allum, Fergus Gambon, Judith Miller, and others had already been in.
Next, I scooted off to the charmingly cobbled street of Stonegate to look in The Antiques Centre. ‘Wow!’ is all I can say. Five large showrooms spread across three floors contained cabinets that were packed to the gunnels. Take some time out to spend some proper time in this one, if you go. Prices were by and large very keen, and the place was heaving with people of all ages. And they were spending! I bought two Caithness glass vases, which I thought were complete bargains at £20 for a ‘Cadenza’ globe designed by Colin Terris, and £12 for a sandblasted ‘Long Ship’ vase from the very hard-to-find ‘Seascapes’ range designed by Denis Mann.
I then crossed the road to look in the Cavendish Antiques Centre, and found a similar story in terms of size, even if it does focus more on small and affordable jewellery. The world-famous Betty’s tearoom provided a restorative cuppa with my colleague and friend Steven Moore, and it was on with my quest. I went into and out of a large house-clearance warehouse on Piccadilly that looked like a great place for students or starter homes, and on to my final target – Vintage Emporium (above). It was well worth the ten minute walk. The interior is as stylish as the smart black shop front, and bang-on in terms of current trends. It also reflects the stock, which ranges from a great selection of good quality vintage clothes (which don’t smell!) to retro ceramics, luggage, and more. It caters more for women, but there’s plenty here to excite and delight everyone, and prices are very good indeed. The lovely shop owner Keeley tells me that she’s planning to make the stock and overall look a little more 1950s over the next few weeks. If she’s as successful at that as she has been so far, it’ll be truly fab. All in all, a superb afternoon!
