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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'.

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

This week, I'm going to talk about a subject that I've wanted to talk about for a long time, but have felt too nervous to because of the divisive nature of the subject.  Yes, that's right, I'm talking about 'Brexit'.

I should stress that this post is NOT about whether it was right or wrong for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.  Quite simply, this post is about the effect that Brexit has had on your antiques business, whether that's positive or negative.  I will be sharing my own personal experiences with you and I hope to encourage you all to share yours too.

So, as always, get that kettle on and buckle yourselves in because this could be quite the ride!

It's Monday and it's blog post time! 

What a Sunday I had!  I spent the day at the fantastic antiques fair at York Racecourse, a fair that never fails to deliver!  Always well organised event and I have to say, in my own personal opinion, this one was the best yet!  I had to quite literally drag myself away before I sold a kidney to buy more mind blowing antiques!  

So, let this week's instalment serve as a tempting little insight into this fabulous triannual event, York Antique Home & Vintage Fair, everybody...!

Welcome once again to 'Blog Post Monday'!  I hope you're all keeping well.

I read recently about a guy called Nelson Molina.  Molina is a retired refuse collector in New York.  He collected trash for over 30 years and during his rounds, he would keep an eye out for treasures within the trash and let's just say, he collected quite an amount!  In total, Molina has collected around 40,000 pieces and he's now turned his collection into a museum.

This got me thinking... How much stuff, is too much stuff?  I'm always fascinated to see the kind of things people collect.  I've seen people collecting all sorts during my 37 years of living.  The outright weird, the rather wonderful and the damn right dangerous!  In this week's blog post we're going to be talking about collecting.  I'll share a few of my stories and I want to hear yours too!

So, as always, get that kettle on, take a seat, if you can find one underneath all those collectibles, and let's find out, how much, is too much...?