One of our favourite shows on TV is the UK's antiques roadshow. And we had our own version of it Armidale this weekend ... but minus the TV crews and interviewers. Each year antiques dealers from all over the Eastern States, NSW, Victoria and Queensland come to town to exhibit their wares and over the years we've bought a heap of stuff. In past years, I acquired a throne, a late 19th century filing cabinet with marble top and 16 leather fronted boxes each in its own slot, a lovely c. 1930 Art Deco display cabinet, a hall stand, a dinner gong, a nude Coalport figurine, a metal tea-caddy from Sheffield, a century-old silver condiment set from Birmingham, a Victorian padded chair for the bedroom - useful for sitting on while trying to tie shoe-laces, and so on.
Well, we visited the show early yesterday morning and spent maybe 90 minutes wandering around all the usual stuff one finds in an antiques show, with most 'stuff' dating from the early 18th century onwards. Australia has very little 'stuff' dating back to Elizabethan times or before. I, in particular, like looking for unusual pieces of furniture and one caught my eye. The item shown here was advertised as a music stand and on looking at it I realised that it would make a lovely drinks stand with room down below for my many bottles of whiskey and ageing red wine, a drawer down below that could house coasters, corkscrew, and so on, while the beautifully inlaid top could be home to our dinner gong and a tray containing glasses and jugs. So here it is installed in our dining room. I like it!
If that was my purchase, Dot was very much taken with a large collection of Moorcroft vases - items that commentators on the Antiques Roadshow often drooled over. I can see why, and Dot fell in love with a piece called "Whoot", one of a numbered edition designed by Rachel Bishop. It's a very attractive vase with owls painted on it, as shown here. You can just see my throne on the left edge of the pictures.
So, we keep on adding to our collection of interesting furnishings a little a time, but the house is getting crowded. To locate the 'music stand' we had to relocate my antique book-case to the study and that took an hour. I say 'antique' because I made it what seems like aeons ago and by the time I expire in maybe 30 years time it will definitely have gained antique status! What will it be worth at auction given that it was constructed by someone of my reputation. I only hope there's room for the kids who inherit all our 'stuff' to display and use them in their own homes.
And I've forgotten to mention the 54 works of art, including original paintings, numbered drawings, Japanese wood block prints, etc.. We have on top of this a variety of objects like wooden clubs and spears from NZ and Pacific Islands, a Korean wall hanging, some English pottery hanging on the wall, not to forget embossed metal plates from such unusual places as Tabriz in Iran and somewhere called Moscovskii Kreml, which bought on the spot in 1966. Heck, that's 51 years ago! I wonder if I'm recorded in KGB files making the purchase. That reminds me. We've also now got two small statuettes of Swiss or Austrian guys with hiking or climbing gear. All this explains why we've just about run out of space to hang things. I hate to think what we're going to do if we downsize at some stage.
AS
Well, we visited the show early yesterday morning and spent maybe 90 minutes wandering around all the usual stuff one finds in an antiques show, with most 'stuff' dating from the early 18th century onwards. Australia has very little 'stuff' dating back to Elizabethan times or before. I, in particular, like looking for unusual pieces of furniture and one caught my eye. The item shown here was advertised as a music stand and on looking at it I realised that it would make a lovely drinks stand with room down below for my many bottles of whiskey and ageing red wine, a drawer down below that could house coasters, corkscrew, and so on, while the beautifully inlaid top could be home to our dinner gong and a tray containing glasses and jugs. So here it is installed in our dining room. I like it!
If that was my purchase, Dot was very much taken with a large collection of Moorcroft vases - items that commentators on the Antiques Roadshow often drooled over. I can see why, and Dot fell in love with a piece called "Whoot", one of a numbered edition designed by Rachel Bishop. It's a very attractive vase with owls painted on it, as shown here. You can just see my throne on the left edge of the pictures.
So, we keep on adding to our collection of interesting furnishings a little a time, but the house is getting crowded. To locate the 'music stand' we had to relocate my antique book-case to the study and that took an hour. I say 'antique' because I made it what seems like aeons ago and by the time I expire in maybe 30 years time it will definitely have gained antique status! What will it be worth at auction given that it was constructed by someone of my reputation. I only hope there's room for the kids who inherit all our 'stuff' to display and use them in their own homes.
And I've forgotten to mention the 54 works of art, including original paintings, numbered drawings, Japanese wood block prints, etc.. We have on top of this a variety of objects like wooden clubs and spears from NZ and Pacific Islands, a Korean wall hanging, some English pottery hanging on the wall, not to forget embossed metal plates from such unusual places as Tabriz in Iran and somewhere called Moscovskii Kreml, which bought on the spot in 1966. Heck, that's 51 years ago! I wonder if I'm recorded in KGB files making the purchase. That reminds me. We've also now got two small statuettes of Swiss or Austrian guys with hiking or climbing gear. All this explains why we've just about run out of space to hang things. I hate to think what we're going to do if we downsize at some stage.
AS
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