WriteAntiques

The auto traders weren’t happy. One had paid £800 for his pitch, another £1,000 for a slightly bigger area, but the dealers in the area set aside for an autojumble had laid out just £200 apiece for arguably a more prominent position. “That’s because they’re selling old stuff, collectables and that,” said the harassed organiser [...]

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This story is a bit convoluted, so you’ll have to bear with me. We were visiting one of those grand, two-day collectors’ fairs, a bit like the ones you see on the telly where people buy things and then try to sell them for more than they cost. That’s not why we were there, but [...]

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When I wrote here about collecting antiques from Scotland, I didn’t anticipate seeing a collection of glass like the examples pictured here up for auction recently in my local saleroom. They were made in a glassworks in Perthshire and such is the universal appeal of antiques and collectables, I felt I needed no excuse to [...]

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I’m not fond of salt, unless of course it’s stuck to the rim of a glass of tequila. The news from health watchdogs that I might unwittingly be eating pounds of the stuff in my daily diet does my appetite no good at all. But there was a time and we couldn’t get enough. Before [...]

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by Christopher Proudlove©Daniel Swarovski was a pioneer who invented the first machine to cut crystal glass in 1892 and soon his crystal gems set a fashion trend by enhancing the femail form. eBay power-seller Berliner Marion von Kuczkowski, 40, has hit on a scheme already dubbed “a gem of a strip show” – to stick [...]

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by Christopher Proudlove©The paperweight sitting on my desk is something of an excuse for one. It’s a cheap Victorian novelty job with a picture of an elephant stuck on the bottom, the distinctly odd-looking creature with its trunk wrapped around a zoo keeper. But its appeal lies in its oddness. Clearly the man who drew [...]

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by Christopher Proudlove©Español | Deutsche | Français | Italiano | Português The UK drinks industry is going through tough times and corporate collections of fine art and antiques are suffering as a result. First, Allied Domecq, makers of Harveys Bristol Cream sherry, auctioned off the contents of its renowned museum in Bristol city centre and [...]

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Español | Deutsche | Français | Italiano | Português By Christopher Proudlove©There was a time when the antiques trade with the United States was one-way: everything from valuable fine art and antiques to container loads of junk that was unwanted here at home were exiting our shores on a daily basis. To some extent that [...]

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