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Ahoy there, welcome once again to 'Blog Post Monday'.  I hope you're all keeping well.

Now, I don't know about you, but I do love a good antiques TV show.  From 'Bargain Hunt' to 'Antiques Road Trip', to 'Salvage Hunters' and 'The Bidding Room', I enjoy watching them all.  But having worked in the trade for a while, I have noticed a regular occurrence.  Customers use these TV shows as part of their negotiation techniques, as if they are supposed to lend weight to the discounts they receive, and it proper winds me up!

It got me thinking... Whilst I absolutely adore these TV shows, overall, do we think they have a positive or negative impact on the trade?  I need to be careful what I say here because I have interviewed a fair few legends from said shows, but it is an interesting quandary.  This is the subject of today's blog post and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

So, as always, get that kettle on, pause this afternoon's episode of [enter favourite antiques show here] and let's discuss the pros and cons of having so many antique TV shows...

Welcome to another instalment of 'Blog Post Monday'!

With so much uncertainty still hovering over us in post lockdown life, the majority of Brits have opted for a staycation this summer.  Your usual popular tourist spots are just as busy and some areas are experiencing mini tourist booms for the first time, as people try to avoid the crowds.  Rumour has it that as a result, a lot of antiques shops and centres across the UK have been rather busy and are feeling the financial benefits of this.

Roll back the clock to the beginning of the pandemic and it was the internet that was proving to be the saviour of the antiques trade.  People who had been too frightened to shop online before had suddenly found the courage to give it a go and boom, antique businesses across the world were experiencing an increase in online sales.

There are obvious 'Pros' and 'Cons' for both, and that's what I'll be discussing with you this week.  So, as always, get that kettle on, fire up that dial up and let's see what comes out on top, in the battle of 'Internet' vs 'Shop'...

Ahoy there shipmates!  It's that time of the week again!

Well, I've been a busy boy this week.  I had a special item of mine valued and put in for auction, so I'll be telling you a little bit about that, and I also ventured out for a little bit of an antiques rail trip.  I visited some lovely shops and centres, and a blimmin' awful one, which I'll be venting about too!

So, as always, get that kettle one, hold on to your hats and let me tell you about my antique rail trip... *cue the jingle*

Welcome to this week's instalment of 'Blog Post Monday'.

You might remember that a few weeks ago now, I attended the antiques fair at York Racecourse and purchased a rather fascinating piece of history.  A quite extraordinary WW1 Gallipoli campaign (Ottoman Empire) carved stone trench art set in its original tin.  It consists of a carved Bible stand, a large Bible, a small Bible and some slippers.  The large Bible has an inscription for “Suvla Bay 1915” (one of the 3 landing points for allied troops), followed by “Egypt 1916” and “France 1916”.  The smaller Bible is inscribed with “I Love You” and this sits on the carved Bible stand.  These are all housed within the original tobacco tin that the soldier would have kept them in during his service.

Having had a little bit of free time this week, I finally had the chance to start researching these pieces.  I contacted a few museums and I'm still awaiting a response, but in the meantime, I delved into finding out some more about the Gallipoli campaign itself and what I learnt was quite extraordinary.

So, as always, get that kettle on and let me talk you through this harrowing conflict and how these stone carvings survived one of the most famous battles of World War One.

Welcome once again to another instalment of 'Blog Post Monday'.

I've been chatting to antique dealer and good friend of mine, Claudia, from Wren & Rust, this week.  I popped over to hers for a cuppa and she tested a few pieces of jewellery for me.  Whilst there, I got thinking.  I know a bit about antique jewellery but there is a hell of a lot that I don't know and I'm keen to learn, and I'm sure there are many of you out there in a similar position as me. 

Claudia, however, is a fountain of knowledge because she lives and breathes antique jewellery and has her own business specialising in just that.  With this in mind, I persuaded Claudia to do a little interview with me to not only help me learn a bit more, but to also help those budding antique jewellery collectors and dealers out there who might be seeking a few tips or words of advice, themselves.

So, as always, get that kettle on, make yourselves comfortable and let me hand you over to antique jewellery specialist, Claudia, of 'Wren & Rust'.