We buy Antiques, collectables & interesting items.

Buying at auction We have all seen auctions on the television, remember Dell Trotter fainting on the sale of their watch worth millions? Can you buy a bargain at auction? Yes, you can, you can also waste a lot of money and end up paying a lot more than you were expecting though. After over 40 years in the antiques business here are my tips on how auctions work, how to buy at them and a few memories. Research If you have the time and are new to auctions, go along to the auctio

Second World War Medals Dealing in antiques is odd. Antiques do not have a definite retail price, two pieces of furniture of the same model, made in the same workshop at the same time may vary by up to 99% in retail price. The price will vary due to where a piece is being sold in the country, its condition but most importantly who is selling it. The dealer with the posh shop in the Cotswold’s is able to charge a lot more than the man at a car boot sale who has a house clearan

Visit any antiques market or shop and you will probably see a writing slope, sometimes called a writing box. What we now know as writing boxes date to the middle of the 18 th  century, it was a practical piece of furniture used by officers in The Royal Navy; in fact, there is a famous painting of Nelson at his desk using his writing box. Oddly for a piece of 18 th  century British furniture the writing box was never linked to or named after an individual, the Davenport desk f

About 25 years ago I knew a numismatist (coin specialist) who was in the same antiques centre as me. He had just turned 50 and decided that he was now of an age that he could be eccentric. We will call him Dave for in reality that was his name, oddly we shared the same birthday, and he was one of my two antiques mentors, the other being an ex-County Councilor in his 80’s, Peter, who had been a RAF pilot in the war. Peter would advise me in auctions; he was a furniture expert

Dodgy antiquities dealer or dodgy seller or dodgy both? Many years ago, I worked from one of the largest #antique centres in the south of...

Some people make a living from antiques, but very few. #Antiques dealing looks easy, in the U.K. we have been brought up with it from the...

This was a nice find and it literally was a find. Leafield potteries vessel After serious flooding in the Upper Thames a few years ago I found this pot in about two feet of water, sat in the middle of a B road. Well, it must be Roman, it must be but how do you find out? The best and most responsible thing to do is to make a note of where you found it (a 12-figure grid reference is ideal but nothing less than 6) and then contact your local Finds Liaison Officer (FLO). A Finds

Just in this week a stunning example of a 19th century Meerschaum smoking pipe. Meerschaum has been called as White Goddess, Venus of the...

This is a piece of First World War trench art and we can date it to exactly 100 years old give or take 60 days. Trench art was originally...

We have all seen the “experts” on the television look at a piece of British silver and proclaim from the hallmark that it was made in...

An interesting article in the “Money” section of #Times of Saturday the 10th of August 2019 states that two thirds of people in the UK...

Ever wondered about treasure you find? We do not deal in coins before 1600 or any antiquities and there is a reason for that. The...

Although just about everyone in the business thinks that the antiques trade is the best in the world, sitting in a village hall for...

We have all heard the term “Bramah” which refers to something of quality. The term seems to have originated in South London in the early...

Only about twenty years ago many town and city high streets would have had at least a couple of antique shops but slowly they have...

Sometimes in life you must step back and review things. I often forget what a fantastic job I have dealing in antiques. We buy some...

Have you ever heard of the #auction ring, do you understand how it works and why the seller loses? It is illegal but I have seen it in action many times . It sounds like a work of Sunday evening TV fiction but believe me when I say it has been going on for years. It is a rainy Tuesday morning and Fat Dave, Barry, Michael, Julie and Brenda are chatting by the coffee machine at Willowbridge auctioneers, they are antique dealers and the coffee is free. The sale room is packed w