Antiques, collectibles and the recession (1)

THE MOUSE IS BACK! LONG LIVE THE MOUSE
Where has he been for the last year? "Busy of course", he says scratching one of his ears. "I have had a couple of websites to sort out, making videos and various design projects. But now I am back, especially now times are hard". He is going to start with a series of thoughts about the recession. It goes without saying times are tough. This comes on top of a general malaise in the antique business. He is in a very outgoing mood, it is the cider and chocolate, I've told him they don't mix, but there you have it. Of course buy what you like, now more than ever.

1. He wants to get across a simple message. It is the same for both dealers and collectors, he thinks. He's said it before and he'll say it again. Quality sells. That does not mean expensive he says, but one of the best examples of the type.



This was a very competitively priced Parian Copeland bust by Hale. It is a neglected collecting area. You can pick up quality pieces at small fairs, something that has been difficult for sometime. But now these pieces are emerging

2. He does not think the collectible market is finished either. "Rarity matters.", so for example if your area is Beswick figures, then go for the special; he particularly fancies the the 'Banded Angus' for example. Or like a Beswick mouse, I say joking. He sniffs derisorily. "If you're a collector take this chance to grab the special pieces." That's easy to say, but with such uncertain times is it wise. "Well it is a matter of judgement and personal economics of course" he concedes. "But if you are brave, you have a unique opportunity to pick-up those items which will become unreachable, and all too soon".



This came from a classy car boot sale. Ayrshire Ch. Whitehill Mandate is a beautifully figured piece from a very knowledgeable dealer. Some real life livestock prices are healthy at the moment. This price strength is often reflected in the market strength of antiques with a rural link. Long live our farmers, the country's lifeblood.

3. Mouse is in full flow now, "and the beautiful and the ugly". He continues "Beautiful things will always perform regardless of fashion, I am with William Morris on this" he says with a wink. But what about the ugly I foolishly ask, "Some things are so beautifully ugly that there will always be a home for them".


The Cheshire Cat. Beautiful, ugly or beautifully ugly? Dated from 1911, she's a cat that is a friend to Mouse, a rarity indeed.

4. "We should all recognize the challenges, so collectors leave dealers some profit or they won't be there next week. And dealers lets get the stock flowing by competitive pricing." Not easy I say to Mouse.

His attention is wandering, "perhaps it's a good a time to buy shares in UK banks too" he mumbles. Is Mouse crazy? Not usually...

Antique blogs - one worth reading

Mouse has read a great antique blog. Although focussed at the higher end of the market there is much of interest here. So give Newel's Antique Blog a read. Mouse is very much of the same mind as the author.

Crystalline Glazes - Great buys for the future

Mouse has never concentrated purely on antiques. He has always been keen on modern artists and craft workers. One area he especially admires is ceramics and crystalline glazes. These are stunning he has often been heard to remark. Without doubt one of the past masters of recent times is Theodore Deck. Working for Sevres, directing their output, he produced some marvellous pieces. It is now almost impossible to find his work in this area, at least at any reasonable price.
There are a number of modern exponents of this glaze in the UK. There are an interesting collection of potters in Wales and the West. Firstly, Margaret Shotton based in Bristol. An interesting point about her pieces are the form. She is not inclined to stick to the more normal shapes and this makes some of her pieces especially decorative.
A vase by Margaret ShottonClose up of the glaze

A different approach is used by Mark and Patrizia Walford in Wales. This pottery has produced glazes with remarkably deep colour. They have also produced jewellery.

Mark Walford pottery with very rich colours. In this case only a few crystals. The beauty is in the colour.
A close up of the glaze

Another potter from this part of the world is Avril Farley also producing rich colours. Arguably one of the most interesting of the current potters is Simon Rich based in Narbeth in Pembrokeshire. He has real fun with these glazes and throws remarkably well. He plays games with the existing forms and styles, and this makes his pots rather special. The thing about Simon is the way some of his crystal glazes do not appear like crystal glazes. An intentional deviation.

A Simon Rich vase with an almost plastic look. The white comes from introducing titanium.
A close up of the glaze

Simon Rich was playing with multiple colours. It has a soft silky sheen.
A close up of the glaze

This remarkable Simon Rich pot was inspired by his mother and her love for ceramics of the 20's and 30's. His aim was to reproduce those soft colour glazes with crystalline glazes. This is just outstanding.
Simon Rich soft glaze vase
A close up of the glaze. Unbelievable!

This Simon Rich vase is part of a series where he was playing with the idea of having a waterfall of small crystals behind some large ones. 

The close up of this glaze is almost fractal.

This last pot is a stunner. Very difficult to photograph. A nickel glaze not made since Deck at Sevres or before that the Chinese potters of many centuries ago. Of course Mouse thinks you may know others in this style, he would love to hear about them.

The remarkable thing about all these potters is that none of their pots are expensive. There is more information here, where there are links to other potters working in the field (not all of these links are live). I cannot help but wonder whom will be remembered as greats. "Well, you have got to look at Simon's work, particularly when chasing down unusual metal salts for his glazes. They may not always be traditional but they are always special".

They all come from a long heritage of this type of glaze. This includes masters such as Arthur Wedgwood, Howson Taylor as well as more commercial endeavours such as Fulper in the USA, basins and commercial bowls by Portmeirion. Below is a pair of vases by Arthur Wedgwood, Mouse thinks these are great fun.

A close up of the crystals in the Arthur Wedgwood vase.

And finally a Fulper vase. It is hard to appreciate it but the lower portion of the bowl is a sea of tiny crystals.

A sea of crystals in the vase above

This is just an arbitrary snap shot of a few workers according to Mouse. Mouse has also said that Portmeirion Starfire bowls are his favorite as they are very convenient for holding chocolate ice cream, "Now that's what a good bowl should be used for" he remarks whistfully or is it wishfully! I see his point.

Mousquay versus Banksy: Tate Modern banks on Street and Graffiti Art

Mouse has been on his travels and has not blogged for a bit and I have plenty of questions for him. What is art? A tired question, but still I find myself asking Mouse after a news article. He seemed a bit reluctant to respond, but topping up his glass of port has a marvelous effect. 'Well, it used to be in the eye of the beholder', he laughs, 'or perhaps not'. I wonder how many glasses of port he has had. 'Take Banksy, he muses, 'the work is creative, but Bristol City Council were happy to eliminate his work, after all, do all manifestations of creativity have to be kept in perpetuity? Then we saw a combination of recognition and consultation back in the Summer of 2006 and Bristol keeps a Banksy near the council offices. And no doubt the council will argue it supports street art in general, and with some justification.'


So what is he saying, that art is not only creative and has to be recognised? Mouse takes another sip from his glass, 'The Tate Modern has invited graffiti artists to decorate the exterior walls of the gallery, a listed building no less. But the images are to be washed away in a few months. Perhaps it only has to be recognized for a time, perhaps it is an advertising gimmick, perhaps it is still all in the eye of the beholder', he says winking and goes on, 'perhaps permanence is not important and a gallery is just another museum once an object is lifted out of context.' But this is specially commissioned work, I think I neatly argue. Mouse laughs, and I can tell I've missed the point. 'All you need is to take a digital image, and the work can be recreated...' He glances at his empty glass indicating he would like the state of the glass from a few moments ago recreated. I head for the port but he has wandered off in search of chocolate biscuits.

The Collector is dead, long live the collector. Antiques and Art are a hit.

Mouse has been a tad busy lately, so he has missed a couple of blogs. He is a cheery type. He has been looking to the future quite a lot lately, it is probably the sunshine I think. 'What we need to do', he mumbles through a mouthful of chocolate biscuits and wiping the crumbs from his whiskers, "is to get an integrated concept of art, design and antiques into our psyche... ". Puzzled, I interrupt and ask him what he means. Through slurps of ginger beer he elaborates, "Well, we might have to accept that the dedicated collector is on the way out". I think my worried look spurs him to become a bit more expansive. "Look, it's not a problem, we might be looking at reducing numbers of the monotheistic dedicated collector, but we could be seeing the rise of a new generation of collector."
From left to right, Art Nouveau Copenhagen, Kerry Goodwin design for Cobridge and a L Hjorth figure. Age span 100 years, roughly!

I think I am catching his drift, but I can tell he's not convinced. He continues. "We need to instill a new attitude of integration between the new and the old. Instead of antiques being a niche market, we should be working for them to become a fully integrated part of decoration and design. So a buyer is just as likely to buy a glass from a dealer as say, IKEA. We need to market and advertise ourselves very differently". I puzzle about this for a minute or two, wondering how to set about this. But it's too late, Mouse has wandered into the garden, vizor in hand, off to his favorite deck chair. There'll be no shifting him before the twilight.

Google Analytics - Antique Sales Fall

I’ve told you before that Mouse likes doing maths. A little while ago he noticed on Google Trends that whilst chocolate was performing well antiques were not going so well. Well he got his abacus out and looked at a couple of trends comparatively. Antique furniture he knows has been going down in value so he checked the web searches for this and blogs. This lets you know the volume of traffic in Google searches (right hand axis) per year (bottom axis). Well the message is clear, everyone is blogging. Interesting, says Mouse over my shoulder, I wonder if anyone is listening? He yawns. What about glass, he asks. Is it a good time to buy? He gets me to look at the year on year price change of antique glass versus the search volume. Both are in decline with a 6-8% fall in price year on year (not incl. auction or ebay sales, and for moderately priced UK glass in the range roughly $100 - $1000).

Should I panic, I wonder. Mouse shakes his head sagely, as I thought he remarks. What does Mouse recommend? When the market is down you buy, buy, buy... meanwhile he’s off to his hammock for a well earned snooze.

Oil prices impact on eBay sales from the UK

Mouse has been very concerned over the rising costs of postage from the UK. Just recently the Royal Mail has reviewed its prices. The largest rise has been for packages over 2kg going overseas from the UK. Once a package goes above 2kg – it goes through Parcel Force (which is part of the Royal Mail Group). An International Economy standard 3kg parcel used to cost around £30 to the USA. Now the cost of sending that same parcel is around £50. Of course, Fedex and UPS are even more expensive.

Clearly the Royal Mail is affected by rising oil prices.

Mouse has always found the Royal Mail fast and efficient. But these price changes will make it even more difficult for some US and overseas buyers to get what they want from the UK. Mouse frowns, this will depress some eBay sales and markets for heavier items. Mouse worked this out for one of his eBay sales – a Joanna Wason pottery vase, which weighs in at just under 3kg. If an item is very difficult to come by or it is very desirable, just like the Wason vase or some very fine cheese, then this will be ok, says Mouse. Still some things one cannot put a price on, “Where is my Roquefort order?”, he mumbles and wanders off sniffing the air.

On the right is a treacle Glaze Joanna Wason vase, a rarity but expensive to ship to the US now.