Monday 21 October 2013

MYSTERY OBJECTS

What is THAT?

Where is it from? What is it made of?  How old is it? What's it worth...?
Rarely a week goes by when we don't scratch our heads and wonder about at least one of our finds - even after 30 years in the antiques trade we are sometimes uncertain. Usually we soon have the answer - stacks of reference books and old saleroom catalogues are a health hazard chez nous, but very useful. But sometimes the only sure way to solve the mystery - at least the "What's it worth?" part - is to sell the thing, then watch the happy buyer dance merrily into the distance, punching the air!

I found this beautiful hand-embroidered cushion recently, depicting Adam and Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden. It has age though I'm pretty sure it isn't as old as it purports to be - but is it Georgian, Victorian or Edwardian?

This piece is definitely early - each of these silk thread patterned petals and leaves has been embroidered with a tiny needle on linen as fine as tissue paper. But how early is it? The only work I've found that resembles it was made by German nuns in about 1300 - could it possibly be that old?

We also have a dusty shelf of probably worthless, but who knows, odd little oddments.

Made of bone - could this be some sort of tribal calculator?

We found something similar to our brass blade identified in an antiques magazine - a 17th century page turner, or so it said. The trouble was, nobody believed us! 

I think it's a bat. It looks like a bat, it's as big as a bat - it is a bat! A washing bat for beating the filth out of ones dirty linen. Very useful!

Sometimes the answers we find are interesting and educational. Another recent mystery  purchase was this pretty child's plate in Arts and Crafts style.
I'm no ceramics expert but I love this - its style and colours remind me of the things I saw in William Morris's Kelmscott Manor, earlier this year. The seller told me, "Frances Richards, Highgate Pottery..."

...which didn't mean a great deal to me, though there on the back was inscribed, FR and 1917. She wasn't easy to find but, luckily, I'm a blogger and I follow FIRED UP, Marshall Colman's interesting blog about pottery and the arts. He generously offered me a few ideas which set me on the right track. It seemed there were two lady potters called Frances Richards in the early 20th century - a time, by the way, of quiet revolution, when lower middle class and even some working class girls sometimes went to college, becoming freelance artists and craftswomen, often working from home.
One Frances Richards was the wife of the Welsh artist Ceri Richards, but in 1917 when the plate was made she would have been just 14 years old. The right Frances Richards was a Londoner and a cabinet-maker's daughter. She studied pottery at the Royal College of Art, exhibited regularly with the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, sold her work through Heals and never married.
As for the "Highgate Pottery" - Frances lived at 178 Archway Road, Highgate, now the Milano Pizzeria...


...and had a kiln in her back garden.

***

17 comments:

  1. The little bone piece looks like a cribbage board. I love antiques but never see things this old where I live now. In fact there are very few antique shops to trawl.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It does look like a cribbage board, doen't it but they aren't holes - just round black dots, so the mystery remains.

      Delete
  2. I rather like the bat! And that fine embroidery is incredible, regardless of its age - it's amazing to think it is hundreds of years old. You certainly have some fascinating pieces and lots of mysteries to solve...I can't think of anyone better to be doing this excellent detective work and thank you so much for sharing your findings - I do enjoy the glimpses into times and lives past. Axxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes - I'm a bit of a Miss Marple cliche I think. I bought something today at my favourite antiques fair in Mytholmroyd & the seller said, "I thought of you when I bought that! You love things with history and mystery!"

      Delete
  3. I too have an oddities stash, I love it more than any of the "worth a lot" stuff!
    xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It niggles me a bit I'm afraid - not because of worth, but just my need to solve a mystery.

      Delete
  4. I know exactly what you mean. I have a few things that I haven't a clue about.... One is a glass 'vase' with three balls of glass at the base. Someone told me it was an ink well...but there is no sign of old ink, another idea was a perfume bottle, but my favourite idea is a "tear catcher" . Popular with well to do Victorian ladies. When a family member died they would collect their tears and seal it with a stopper. A year later, on the anniversary of the death they would sprinkle the tears on the grave.
    I was told this by a very old lady and would love to believe it... Just for the sheer romantic sadness of it all!
    Julie x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wonder if it was only "special" tears that were saved? Or, perhaps, if you were a bit of a cry-baby like me, you'd have to label each bottle and line them up in a special "tear cupboard"!

      Delete
  5. I adore the cushion, is it for sale please? Hope you don't mind me asking. My email is hestanesta@hotmail.co.uk.
    Jo xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not at the moment Jo, but I will contact you via your lovely Facebook page if I decide to sell.

      Delete
  6. Ooh how much and how vintage...If you don't know Nilly then who would...I love the silk cushion too..I like to think it doesn't really matter if you love some thing..But I'm a romantic, am afraid.
    wonderful nostalgic items as always, Nilly! hugs Maria x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know what you mean Maria, but my nickname is Miss Marple - I love to get to the bottom of ALL mysteries.

      Delete
  7. Those contraptions in the old Japanese photo are acoustic aircraft locators - basically an air defense network to detect the sound of aircraft engines - this was before the use of radar, so before WWII.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you - enormous ear-trumpets then!

      Delete
  8. Hi, Love your blog and I also love your cushion and your silk on linen fragments. Like Hesta, do you plan on selling them and if so please can you contact me at steve_c44@btinternet.com

    Many thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much! At the moment I am keeping these items but I will remember your interest.

      Delete
  9. This was just like looking at the odd things competition in the Homes and Antiques magazine where you have to guess 'what is it?' I'd never have guessed what the things in the Japanese photo were for.
    Would certainly have wanted to buy the plate if I'd come across it, it's lovely.x

    ReplyDelete