I’ve just been drawn to this article in the Daily Mail published on the 28th January 2010:
Elderly couple discover vase used as umbrella stands is a 270-year-old Chinese masterpiece worth £500,000
It would appear – according to the newspaper report – that this couple were given this large and imposing vase as a present around 50 years ago and it was currently being used as an umbrella stand in the spare bedroom.
Spotted during a routine valuation it is said to have a crack and a few spots of emulsion paint on it. However, considering its age – believed to be from around 1740 it hasn’t fared too badly!
After some research it is said to be called a Chinese lantern vase with mainly under-glaze blue decoration.
This vase has now been catalogued by the auction house, Duke’s Auctioneers, for sale on the 11th February 2010. It will be interesting to see what it realises.
Click here to visit Duke’s Auctioneers website
If you’ve been buying pottery and glass for your collection or even for someone else and are now thinking of visiting an auction house having seen them on television you might like to look at our guide:
Buying Antiques & Collectables At Auction
It’s not as easy (or cheap!) as you may think and it’s always worth knowing a few things before you start.
In this guide we cover most things from viewing goods at auction, registering to bid, all the way through to actually bidding and then paying for any successful purchases!
If you have any comments or experiences at auction you want to share then do drop us an email or leave a comment, we’re always interested in hearing from people.
Anyone with an interest in Art Deco ceramics might want to consider making a beeline for Stourbridge at the end of May.
Well-known Stourbridge auctioneer Fieldings is putting on an exhibition of work by designers such as Clarice Cliff, Keith Murray, Poole’s Carter, Stabler & Adams and Lenci at its auction house on Mill Race Lane from Thursday 29th May to midday on Saturday 31st May.
The exhibition has been planned to coincide with Fieldings hosting the first official Clarice Cliff Collectors Club auction ever to take place outside London – something of a coup for the auctioneer. The sale at Fieldings has nearly 300 lots and will begin at midday on Saturday 31st May, allowing plenty of time for anyone needing to travel to the auction.
Fieldings’ auctioneer Will Farmer will be known to many as one of the experts on the Antiques Roadshow. He’s excited about the exhibition and says: “It’s going to be a really rare exhibition, we’ve been building this for five months. Collectors will be coming from all over the country and everybody in Stourbridge can come and see this.”
The Clarice Cliff auction promises to be exciting too and it will be interesting to see how prices are holding up in the current market.
Full details of the Clarice Cliff sale catalogue will be available on Fieldings’ website nearer the time.
Following on from my recent post about eBay Australia forcing its users to use PayPal, it seems that eBay’s users aren’t the only people who are unhappy about this decision.
eBay Australia is being investigated by the Australian Competition Commission to see if it is abusing its near-monopoly position in the online auction market to gain an unfair advantage in the online payments market (eBay owns PayPal).
If eBay get away with this in Australia, it seems highly likely they will extend the policy worldwide – we wait with baited breath…
More details here.
From travelling around the various antique and collectors fairs and auctions we attend, it has become apparent that some dealers own and some dealers rent.
I refer of course not to their stock but to their means of transporting it – the indomitable van.
It’s a choice we’ve been faced with in the past, as it gradually became completely impossible to fit all our stock, shelves and tables into even a large car. This left us with two realistic options:
- Sell the car and buy a van
- Hire a van whenever we needed one and keep the car for everyday use
In the end, we decided to sell the car and buy a van. This had two advantages – unlimited usage and lower costs. The question was question of cost was determined by considering whether the extra fuel costs of a van would exceed the costs of renting one when we needed it. For us they didn’t – making it cheaper to buy a van and run it as our only vehicle.
Of course, this does have some restrictions – car parks with height barriers are out, it only has three seats (including the driver’s) and it’s a bit thirsty and agricultural to drive compared to a car.
These downside – plus the sometimes thorny issue of residential parking – are probably the reasons why some dealers obviously just rent a van to use when they are standing at a fair and manage without the rest of the time.
Sometimes I’ve felt tempted by that path too – but for now, I’m going to stick with my trusty Transit. What do you do?
Note: If you are not sure where to start with vans, these links might be useful:
An interesting article in The Guardian on May 19th (got a bit behind and only found it today!)… It seems that HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs – the UK’s taxman) is starting to look in more detail at online auction activity. According to this article, tax inspectors will be trawling through many thousands of online auction sales and looking for any UK eBay sellers who are especially busy. They will then investigate whether these sellers should be classed as traders or not.
The article provides a detailed set of examples explaining who qualifies as a trader and who does not, but in essence it depends whether you are buying to sell or whether you are simply selling surplus possessions. Capital Gains Tax can also come into play on larger sales.
The article is here and is well worth a read for anyone who trades on eBay.
Perfect Pieces has been featured in print again – this time in Collect It! magazine with a detailed guide to buying and selling ceramics at auction. “Making auctions work for you”, by Roland Head, includes illustrated examples of crafty restoration and concealed damage, as well as a breakdown of the true costs of buying and selling at auction.
The article is in the June 2007 issue of this popular collectors’ magzine and is in the shops now!
I came across this article today. It is all about the restoration of a late Victorian house in the American city of St. Louis, Missouri.
It seems that the city authorities would like the house to become a tourist attraction, illustrating how one of the leading local families of the 1880s would have lived. Unfortunately, the antique dealers charged with fitting out the house have managed to spend $83,000 of tax payers’ money on antique fittings, only to have a local historical expert describe the interior as looking “like a 1930s brothel”.
The antiques are now all to be sold at auction – presumably to fund a second attempt…
Read the full article on the St. Louis Today website here.
It seems that Wareham auctioneer Cottee’s recent Poole Pottery auction was every bit the success that was hoped for – for pictures and an interesting write up see the Poole Room blog. This blog also has an interesting account of the recent Poole Pottery open day, organised at the factory shop by new owners Lifestyle and featuring well-known Poole artists from past and present such as Carol Cutler.
It seems that the factory is definitely closed for good, but that the shop will be retained and is to move to new premises as soon as a suitable location can be found.
The Poole Room sells a wide range of Poole Pottery and other work by former Poole artists from their website.
Poole Pottery’s current troubles have raised interest in the pottery, according to auctioneer John Condie of Cottees in Dorset. The well-known auction house holds two specialist Poole sales each year at its Wareham saleroom, and is currently preparing for its April 28 Poole sale, at which more than 600 lots will be on offer.
The lots on sale range from early Carter, Stabler & Adams (CSA) wares right through to pottery produced shortly before the factory’s closure. Amongst the most desirable pieces are a model of the distinctive “Harry Page” galleon – designed by Harold Stabler and instantly recognisable as a symbol of the Poole Pottery.
Full details in this Bournemouth Echo article.