Antique Collection

A look into the social conditions of a particular age can sometimes give us a better understanding or its products.
The Victorians were a serious people and believed in hard work. Their prodigious engineering feats have never been equalled considering their resources. Their military arrogance was insufferable, their characters were diverse. In this period we had [...]

There are courses available on china repairs and porcelain restoration. Anyone who is interested in this subject and has a little time on hand, should consider them. A high standard of efficiency can be achieved in a relatively short period by those who have a natural bent for this work. Mastering the skill can open [...]

Pottery and porcelain objects have been made for so many years, in so many cultures and in such a multitude of types that it is impossible to describe all the signs of falsification in any short essay. Generally speaking, however, the detection of a fake depends upon aberrations in manufacture, style and materials—as in any [...]

SALTS, CASTERS AND CRUETS
In the past, salt was valuable and kept in elaborate containers. Beautiful medieval salts rarely appear on the market, but early 18th-century trencher salts are still quite common. These are small oval, circular or oblong salt cellars with a dished centre. However, most are now in poor condition as they were generally [...]

Once mistakenly regarded as funfair kitsch, carnival glass — charged with brilliant colour and a rich lustre — is now a worthy collectable.
By 1905 art nouveau was all the rage. Expensive ‘art‘ glass was in vogue, and American factories were soon mass producing affordable substitutes sold under exotic names such as Etruscan and Venetian.

With the advent of mass production, decorative glassware could be seen on almost every table — and it now provides striking items for modern collectors on a budget.

Camera collecting is an increasingly popular field, with a wide range of both upmarket and run-of-the-mill models still to be found. Optical toys are rarer, and can offer rare delight with simple moving pictures.
After LOUIS DAGUERRE developed the first practicable method of photography in 1839, the taking of pictures quickly became a hobby among the [...]

The variety and decorative nature of vases and bowls, combined with their practical uses, make them doubly appealing objects to collect.
It is over 200 years since the first glass vases and bowls were made, but most older items are so rare and expensive that they are virtually all museum pieces. Collectable pieces date from the [...]

Bedpans, drug jars, eye baths and shaving bowls are just a few of the mundane household ceramics that have survived the centuries.
Relatively few everyday ceramic items for personal use — ranging from pap-boats for feeding the sick to discreetly shaped chamber pots for women to use in church or when travelling — have survived to [...]