I make no claims to expertise in any class of antiques whatever. Not enough focus, not enough application, not sufficiently single-minded. But I do like to think that I’m quite good at dating things. This is not a rare skill. Any dealer or auctioneer and most antiques buffs can do it too. Once you’ve looked … More Guess the Date
In February 2012 my local Edinburgh auctioneer announced that he was holding an out-of-town Saturday sale in Aboyne, a charming small town in Aberdeenshire. He hired a hall in the grounds of Aboyne Castle called the Coo Cathedral, a magnificent stone-built Romanesque Revival building originally constructed as a cowshed (Google it if you don’t believe … More Staples
This is awkward. I want to tell you the conclusion of a story, but you don’t know the story. If you have read my book Random Treasure – Antiques, Auctions and Alchemy, you’ll know quite a bit about the one object in my whole extensive collection or hoard “that I’d rescue if my house was … More My favourite thing
In my last posting I mentioned Philip Mernick, who runs a marvellous website about hunting jugs. I had never heard his name until a couple of weeks ago, and have not yet met him, but I would very much like to meet him, because it’s clear that both Philip and his brother Harold are collectors … More Catapulted down Memory Lane
One of the many subjects about which I know virtually nothing is the subject of Hunting Jugs. These jugs: “were very widely produced throughout the 18th and 19th Centuries. They were the most ‘special’ of the utilitarian brownwares, and were found in every home as well as in commercial establishments. The more decorative jugs and … More Hunting Jugs
Question: What’s the difference between the two pieces of pottery pictured above? Answer: Around 30 years. They are both made by the same celebrated studio potter Eddie Curtis, who, with his wife Margaret, has run a pottery at Middle Rigg, County Durham, since 1979. Eddie is recently home from exhibiting his current work at … More From the past but not a blast
This old rug measures 4’10” by 3’7″. It’s in poor condition with all four edges frayed and some fairly threadbare areas. There are no obvious holes but if you hold the rug up to a window you can see some small areas where light shines through. Some diagonal lines in the weave with differential wear at … More Wagireh
Here’s a fat jolly friar or monk, bought (as usual) in my local auction room. He’s simply but nicely modelled in terracotta, with very realistic facial features and a slightly baroque look to the drapery of his robes. He might perhaps have been painted or glazed with polychrome enamels at one time, and you can see some residue … More Terracotta Friar
My wife and I are extremely fortunate to live in a house with five intact Victorian fireplaces. These afford endless more-or-less geeky and more-or-less obsessive-compulsive opportunities for arrangement and re-arrangement of artefacts upon the long shelves above them known as mantelshelves or mantelpieces. The mantelpiece (our preferred term) is inevitably the focal point of any … More Mantelshelfies
The house being full of stuff, I’ve started to buy interesting things for the garden, in the hope of finding more random treasure. One of the first purchases was a fragment of carved stone, won at a local Edinburgh auction for just £24. It’s roughly 50cms across and 50 cms tall and 20 cms thick, … More Walter Mawer’s Stone
Random Treasure 