Antique Collection

A layer of dark oxide will form easily on a pewter surface as a result of chemical pollutants in the atmosphere, especially in our cities. Both public and private collectors have sought to prevent such oxidization by covering the freshly cleaned surface with a thin film of transparent lacquer, but they have found that a [...]

The collectors of early pewter from time to time pick up some very fine pieces at the auctions and second hand shops and many find it a fascinating subject. Pewter was introduced into Britain in Roman times and was widely used in the 14th century. Much of the contemporary church plate was in this metal.

Strong “stone chinas” are earthenwares reinforced with ingredients such as pounded iron slag and flint, and were indeed stronger than the simple earthenwares which preceded them. These earlier pieces could only be fired to a temperature that was high enough to harden the basic material, but not to fuse it together to make it nonporous. [...]

BRONZE IS A RELATIVELY EASY MEDIUM TO CAST AND WORK WITH, BUT IT DOES CORRODE, AND DESPITE ITS APPARENT STRENGTH, CAN BE EASILY DAMAGED THROUGH MISHANDLING.
Bronze has a fairly low melting point, and when it is molten it flows into complex shapes more easily than other metals, which makes it particularly suitable for casting. It [...]

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 [...]

The technique of tin-glazing earthenware came to Europe with the Moorish invasions of Spain in the 8th to 12th centuries, and 15th-century Hispano-Moresque armorial lustre ware chargers are considered among the finest examples of the potter’s art. Tin glaze soon spread to Italy where it was called `maiolica’. From the late 15th century, potters in [...]

Apart from imported Oriental pieces, vases were virtually unknown in Europe before the 17th century. Then they evolved an astonishing range of decorative forms.
Any flower arranger has been frustrated at the seemingly unsuitable shapes of vases for holding cut flowers. In fact, in the world of antiques and ceramics, that is not their main purpose. [...]