Random Treasure

Usually a book is just a book, but sometimes it is a rare and special object in itself, regardless of the meaning or significance of the words inside it. It might be old, or rare, or a first edition, or with special provenance, or a fine binding, or any combination of the above. Here are two very special books for your inspection. Both are editions of the Book of Common Prayer, one from 1760 and one from 1850. Both are exceptional examples of quality and innovation in printing and design, important landmarks in the development of the printed book. Which book – or perhaps I should say which artefact – do you like better? … More The Book as Artefact

Ten thousand years from now, interstellar archaeologists are exploring Old Earth for scant remains of early human civilisations. In the ruins of a primitive computer server facility they find a single memory card which has survived the ravages of time. It contains the Random Treasure blog. They begin to read. It’s the Great Lockdown of 2020 and the blogger’s got the blues … … More Blue and White Blues

I’ve brought home this teacup made by Lucie Rie. Wow! It must immediately be placed in the central position in my collection. Make a space there, Bernard Leach, Alan Wallwork, Emmanuel Cooper, Richard Batterham, Alan Caiger-Smith, Janet Leach, Lisa Hammond! Clear the middle of the best shelf! Lucie is incoming! But here, of course, is the problem. My example of her rare and treasured output is nothing but a teacup without a saucer. It’s monochrome, matt black glaze outside, glossy grey-white tin glaze within, plain and featureless. It is so unpretentious and minimalist that you can barely see it. Put it in the middle of a shelf and it disappears. It’s a black hole… … More An Anomalous Pot – Episode 2: Lucie Rie

Have you ever heard of a studio potter called Carolina M Valvona? No, I hadn’t heard of her either, until a large quantity of her pottery turned up in my local saleroom. There must have been more than a hundred pieces, and they were sold over the course of at least three weekly sales. … More An Anomalous Pot – Episode 1

A few weeks ago, two Italian maiolica salts appeared in my local auction room. You know what’s coming. Yes, of course I had to buy them. … More Salt

This object is a squat lekythos. Or that’s what it was until it lost its neck and its handle. It was made in Athens around 400 BC, and it was bought recently at auction for just 54 pence. … More Squat Lekythos: 54 pence

Here’s a Strange Coincidence. I was looking online at a painting by Johan Zoffany that I hadn’t seen before. The very next day I saw the same picture again in a TV programme. What were the chances and who’s in the picture? … More A Strange Coincidence

A carved oak panel depicting the Nativity hangs on the wall in my kitchen. I’ve recently been doing some research on it and this new blog piece sets out my findings. … More Nativity update

Very recently, in a small saleroom in Edinburgh, I bought a genuine Old Master. It’s a seasonal object, too, and an ideal subject for my Christmas blog piece. … More Old Master

If I ask you what’s your favourite colour, it is very unlikely that your answer will be orange. In the UK and USA, only 3% of people choose orange. In other countries it’s about 6%, but orange invariably comes in way behind the world’s favourite colours of blue, red, green and, yes, purple[1]. If you … More The Colour Orange