Fairing Figurine - The last in bed to put out the light, German, late Nineteenth Century
Price: £25The various figures were made in white glazed porcelain with coloured decoration. The compositions were sculptural and often accompanied by an inscription, as here. Many models are known. Two typical examples are 'Returning from the Ball' and 'Twelve Months after Marriage' but the most common example is represented here 'The last in bed to put out the light'. A couple are seen climbing into a covered bed at the foot of which stands a candle in a holder. These candles are usually broken off, most likely because of simple damage over the years but it has been suggested that this was done deliberately for good luck.
Some of the fairing figurines are marked, as here. The impressed number '2851' comes from the first series of figures produced by the Conta factory with numbers ranging from 2850 to 2899. The earlier examples do not have the shield mark found on most of the pieces which indicates an earlier dating here, more towards the middle of the nineteenth century.
Fairings have been collectors' items for many years now and still hold a naif charm which makes them appealing display items, with a history of their own.
Pair of Indian Bronze and Enamel Candlesticks in the form of Cobras, early 20th century
Price: £75These snake form candlesticks were a popular form with the Indian manufacturers of decorative metal items for export in during the 1920s and 1930s. The design is striking and their appeal is obvious. The form was also produced as plain brass but the combination here of gilt metal and red enamel is far more attractive.
Circular Glass Panel depicting a Chinoiserie Scene, Hotelier Limited, Leeds, England, 1960s
Price: £30Cherry amber Bakelite necklace 1920s
Price: £150Exceptional strand of Scottish Moss agate beads
Price: £35Scottish Agate bar brooch
Price: £251940s Dutch coin braclet
Price: £15Brass and Enamel Campaign Serving Set, Made in British India mark, 1920s
Price: £45Chinese Soapstone Brushwasher decorated with flowering Lotus, early 20th Century
Price: £45Gilt brass and glass stone bangle bracelet 1930s
Price: £20Intricate Czech glass necklace 1930s
Price: £30Stunning demi parure by Hobe 1950s, necklace and bracelet
Price: £350Hobé et Cie was founded by Jacques Hobé in France in 1887. While he was trained as a master goldsmith, his business focused primarily on finely crafted sterling silver jewelry. William Hobé, his son, moved to the United States around 1920 bringing his family's acuity for producing high quality jewelry with him. (Credit: Google)
Victorian Silver Buckle set with Paste Stones, German circa 1900
Price: £90The sparkling stones and high quality mounting (there is a considerable weight of silver in this piece) would have made this buckle a striking addition to the Victorian ladies' wardrobe and it could equally well catch the eye today.
Gilt metal and Glass Bead Necklace by Louis Rousselet, French 1920s
Price: £70This necklace comprises three delicately modelled gilt metal stylised flower heads with yellow glass beads at the centre, joined on either side by further glass beads and flower heads and then a chain with fine metal and glass bead links.
Lapis Lazuli and Turquoise Bead Necklace with an Egyptian Style Pendant, 20th Century
Price: £50Silver Brooch in the form of a Butterfly, Taxco 1940s
Price: £50Art Deco Galalith jewellery Necklace and Pendant with Coral Red plaques, 1930s
Price: £50Galalith is a a synthetic plastic made out of the interaction of casein and formaldehyde and was introduced to the fashion world by Coco Chanel in 1926. The commercial name is derived from the Ancient Greek words 'gala' (milk) and 'lithos' (stone).
Art Deco continental black spinel and marcasite ring, 1920s
Price: £75Egyptian Revival scarab ring, 1930s
Price: £40A Set of Six Blue and White Willow Pattern Coasters English Ironstone 1980s
Price: £30These coasters formed part of their range. The decoration employs the transfer pattern technique developed in England in the mid eighteenth century and a staple of nineteenth century productions. Printed designs were 'transferred' to the ceramic surface allowing the production of extensive services in a matching pattern. The Chinese derived 'Willow Pattern' design seems to have been first used around 1790 and was probably designed by Thomas Minton for Spode. All the versions contain similar elements besides the pagodas and landscape scenes most notably the three figures on a bridge and a pair of flying swallows. In order to promote sales, various stories were invented based on elements of the design. These coasters are an amusing recollection of times past and highly practical in addition.
Chinese Reverse Painted Glass Globe depicting deities and attendants, Modern
Price: £40Chinese Reverse Painted Glass Globe depicting tigers, Modern
Price: £40A green glass paperweight, Tweedsmuir Glass, Chris Dodds, late C20th
Price: £25It is sold with a matching contemporary illuminated stand which enhance the decorative effect considerably and provides a modest light display installation for the home (see image 6).
A set of three Millefiori Glass Paperweights, possibly Italian Murano, late C20th
Price: £75This set is sold with matching contemporary illuminated stands which enhance the decorative effect considerably and provide a modest light display installation for the home (see illustrations 5 and 6).
An Octagonal Brass Tray with a roundel of an elephant, probably Persian early C20th
Price: £50Large Cinnabar and filigree silver brooch, 1930s
Price: £55A set of three Brass Lizards, Peerage Brass, England 1930s
Price: £45Chinese cord bracelet with jade stones carved as fish
Price: £15Art Deco Czech glass necklace with enamel and glass stones, 1930s
Price: £35Outstanding swirl Bakelite necklace with faux cameo, 1920s
Price: £45Pair of Edwardian Chinese silver brooches, c. 1910
Price: £45American 1980s statement necklace with intaglio pendants
Price: £55PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS FREE UK SHIPPING ON THIS ITEM. For international buyers the shipping cost will be reduced by the UK shipping cost, so don't worry if you are outside the UK, you still receive this benefit!
Victorian silver bracelet set with garnets 1900
Price: £25Large Scottish agate specimen brooch 1910
Price: £65Victorian Chinese turquoise beads 1900
Price: £400Tibetan turquoise and silver necklace 1930s
Price: £40A Poole Pottery Atlantis Vase by Jenny Haigh, 1970s
Price: £55Long Art Deco carnelian, bloodstone and goldstone necklace 1930s
Price: £150Goldstone is a type of glittering glass made in a low-oxygen reducing atmosphere. The finished product can take a smooth polish and be carved into beads, figurines, or other artifacts suitable for semiprecious stone, and in fact goldstone is often mistaken for or misrepresented as a natural material. It was first made in the 17th century in Italy. (Credit: Wikipedia)
Mexican silver bracelet set with turquoise plaques, c1990
Price: £65An Arts and Crafts small Brass Tray, English early twentieth century
Price: £40An Arts and Crafts small Brass serving Tray, English early twentieth century
Price: £40A Ceramic Moneybox in the form of a Pig, Helensgate Ceramics, mid twentieth century
Price: £25A Pair of Japanese Lacquered Porcelain Ginger Jars and Covers, late nineteenth century
Price: £240A Chinese Cloisonne Box and Cover circa 1900
Price: £75A Chinese Crackleware Famille Verte Ginger Jar decorated with Warriors circa 1880
Price: £45'Crackleware' glazed pieces, usually with 'bronzed bands, were a staple output of the Chinese potteries from the mid nineteenth century onwards and were produced in a wide variety of mainly vase shape forms, both in polychrome and blue and white and intended as decorative pieces for the Victorian rooms of the West. As with other ceramic types, the quality deteriorated and this piece is typical of late nineteenth century productions of a more modest level of craftsmanship but still retaining a naif charm. As with many ginger jars, this one lacks its original domed cover which would have been decorated to match.
A Blue Glass Sunburst Design Bowl, probably Sowerby, 1930s/1940s
Price: £45There is a record of the Sowerby Glassworks at Gateshead from as early as 1907. The first productions were of Vitro-Porcelain or "Milk Glass" type pieces. In the 1900s they produced designs from the 'Arts and Crafts' period and in the 1920s began producing another well known range: the iridescent "Carnival Glass." During the 1930s, Sowerby produced several Art Deco glass designs of which the current piece is one. The firm was eventually taken over in 1957, and finally closed in 1972.
Ceramic Model of a Fish, Jema Holland, signed, 1950s/1960s
Price: £30The Jema factory in Holland was started by two brothers, Jelis Mager ( born 1912 in Rotterdam, Netherlands) and his brother Johan Willem Mager (born 1919 also in Rotterdam) both living in Maastricht who took over an existing ceramics factory, founded originally by J.Meussen, in 1942 and traded together in a partnership which was dissolved in 1955 when the firm JEMA KERAMISCH ATELIER N.V. (jema ceramic studio; the first JE standing for Jelis and MA standing for Mager) was created under a new agreement between them. Ceramic products of many types were produced with figurines a speciality and the business continued until 1984 when it became insolvent and closed its doors.
Most of the pieces seem to have been marked, usually with an impressed script as here indicating the factory itself and the model number of the piece. For modest decorative items the quality of the manufacture is of a high standard as can be seen in both the modelling and the glazing of this piece. Their animal figurines were immediately approachable and provided modest but amusing items of decoration.
A Pair of Art Deco Pressed Glass Trophy Form Vases, Davidson, 1930s
Price: £45Japanese Fukagawa Imari Bowl, signed, circa 1880
Price: £380The Fukagawa kilns produced the best quality Imari items made in Japan in the late nineteenth century for export to the West. Their history starts with Ezaiemon Fukagawa who in 1856 became head of his family's porcelain business and in 1875 founded Koransha (The Company of the Scented Orchid) in Arita, Japan, to produce tableware for export. In 1894 the modern Fukagawa company was founded by Chuji Fukagawa, with the Fukagawa trade mark of Mount Fuji and a stream, as its trade mark. Dating here is within the Meiji period (1868 - 1912) probably around 1880. This conforms with the script mark used as opposed to the later symbol design.
Scheurich West German Vase in Brutalist Style, late C20th
Estimate: £40 – 60Pair of Oriental Style green glazed Sylvac Jars and Covers, circa 1960
Estimate: £60 – 80Large Shelley Harmony Ware Vase glazed in blue and grey, 1930s
Estimate: £40 – 60Terracotta Glazed Bottle Vase with floral enamel decoration, Watcombe Pottery, circa 1900
Estimate: £20 – 30Scheurich Ceramic Vase, Market Scene Pattern, 225-46, West Germany, 1970s
Estimate: £60 – 80Pair of Worcester Saucers with Chinoiserie Decoration circa 1780
Estimate: £30 – 40Art Deco Style Ceramic Jug with Floral Handle, probably 1930s
Price: £35Oriental Style Vase, West German Pottery, late C20th
Price: £55West German Bay Keramik Pitcher with stylised floral designs, late C20th
Price: £45Founded by Eduard Bay in the 1930s and based in Ransbach Baumbach in the heart of the main West German pottery producing region, Bay Keramik grew to be one of the most prolific producers of ceramics in the ‘West German’ style and continued production into the 1990s. This piece retains its original paper label and the format of this allows dating to the 1970s/1980s. The jug has almost a slightly rustic feel and recalls much earlier German ceramic items. The numbers on the base indicate the form number but it has not been possible to identify this.
Yellow ground Bursley Ware Dragon Bowl by Frederick Rhead, circa 1920
Price: £55
West German Keramik Jug with drip glaze, second half C20th
Price: £35Pair of Royal Doulton Spill Vases with gilt decoration, 1920s
Price: £180Round pendant set with turquoise, Mexico, c1970, the chain later.
Price: £45Taxco bracelet set with carved obsidian stones c1950
Price: £65Native American turquoise cuff bracelet, 1960s
Price: £275Taxco grape motif necklace, c1980
Price: £350Taxco clamper bracelet, attr. to Justo or Jorge Castillo, 1940s
Price: £350Justo and Jorge Castillo come from the Los Castillo workshop. Los Castillo was an influential and ongoing design and manufacturing enterprise established in 1939 by Antonio Castillo and his brothers Justo and Jorge and their cousin Salvador Teran. Los Castillo is known for sterling jewellery and fine pieces in "married metals" combining various metals such as silver, copper and brass. Castillo who arrived in Taxco in 1923, began his long career working for William Spratling at Taller de las Delicias. He married Margot van Voorhies prior to opening Taller Los Castillo bu they were later divorced in 1946. (see The Little Book of Mexican Silver Trade and Hallmarks, 2013)
Taxco silver bracelet, c1980
Price: £75Taxco butterfly brooch with abalone, makers mark EL 1960s
Price: £55Taxco charm bracelet, makers mark Castelan, 1950s
Price: £95Taxco bracelet with Aztec mask motif, 1940s
Price: £85Doulton and Slaters Patent Jardiniere circa 1890
Price: £750The Doulton factory began production in 1815, first at Vauxhall and later moving to Lambeth. In 1882 it opened an additional factory at Burslem, Stoke on Trent in the centre of the English pottery. Known at first mainly for utilitarian works it began to develop decorative wares more extensively in the 1860s and soon gained a reputation for its distinctive designs. As the mark indicates, this piece was made at the Lambeth factory and the absence of ‘England’ in the Doulton mark, which has the typical design of interlocking ‘D’ at its centre, indicates that it dates to before 1891. The decorative technique, employing impressed designs was known as ‘Chine’ ware and protected by the patent ‘Doulton and Slaters Patent’ which is clearly marked underneath. Pieces of linen, lace, net or other fabrics were pressed onto the unfired soft clay shortly after potting, leaving a corresponding pattern behind. This piece has elaborately modelled lotus strands in addition as well as gilt flower heads, an unusual combination which does not seem to often occur. On the base are found stamped numbers and letters which should indicate the pattern number and artist decorator but it has not been possible to identify these accurately. Dating though is confirmed and this was clearly a deluxe item amongst the range of pieces produced at that time.
A Brannam Bowl, Barum ware, Terracotta and Glaze, marked C.H.Brannam, circa 1900
Estimate: £30 – 40Antique English Staffordshire pitcher, William Brownfield and Sons, circa 1860.
Estimate: £40 – 60Pair of Ceramic Figures of Swans, probably continental, C20th
Price: £45East German Ceramic Vase, VEB Haldensleben, 1950s
Price: £35The factory mark, a shallow dish superimposed over the letter 'H' inside a circle, is that of the East German pottery VEB Haldensleben. VEB stands for 'Volkseigener Betrieb', meaning a people-owned enterprise and used in relationship to the state owned workplaces in the GDR. Haldensleben is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany and a ceramics factory was created there in 1945 with the nationalization of the Carstens Uffrecht plant that followed the division of Germany at the end of WWII. Halsdenleben focused primarily on the manufacture of vases. Its output tended to be of superior quality and employed more restrained glazes than those used by its West German counterparts. Upon the reunifucation of Germany in 1990, the factory was returned to its original owners, the Carstens family. The pattern number here is found on other pieces with the same shape but the abstract decoration used is quite individual and evocative of 1950s and early 1960s designs.
West German Ceramic Vase, Marei, 1970s
Price: £45While not stamped with a maker's mark, vases of this type are attributed to the West German Ceramics factory Marei which produced pieces from 1949 to 2016. Marei was the commonly used abbreviation for the firm's name which was Majolikafabrik Rheinbach Jean Fuss and Sohn. The pieces are distinguished by the use of a reddish clay but this was sometimes more brown or dark brown depending on the suppliers used. Marks are usually impressed into the base although these are often just pattern numbers, as here. Many pieces are unmarked and some are stamped 'MADE IN GERMANY' or 'W.GERMANY'. The pattern number here is '7104'and is found on similar pieces with the same shape but different decoration. This vase was probably made in the 1970s and is typical of the striking designs the firm produced.
Art Pottery Vase with Geometric Motifs, C20th
Price: £45The style of decoration suggests Art Nouveau designs but there are no obvious parallels. Continental manufacture seems likely, perhaps France or Germany.
Murano Art Glass Dish, 1960s
Price: £35Art Deco necklace with French Jet and paste stations
Price: £25Victorian style copper bracelet with buckle detail 1950s
Price: £20Fun group of two porcelain brooches with paid of small earrings 1960s
Price: £10Silver Monogram Celtic Style Brooch Hallmarked 1878/1879
Price: £45An advert for Edwin Umfreville appeared in 'The Bazaar, The Exchange and Mart - 19th April 1879' where one of his pieces is described. "Like all the “ E. U." jewellery that we have seen, the workmanship is first-class, and the design most tasteful."
Two lacquer bird brooches 1980s
Price: £15Two long infinity strands of cultured pearls
Price: £50Japanese Imari Dish with a lobed edge circa 1880
Price: £125A Pair of Royal Doulton Ewers, marked, early C20th
Price: £150Wedding Cake style glass bead necklace, Venetian 1930s
Price: £25Grand tour Italian filigree silver bracelet 1900
Price: £55Pair of Chinese Soapstone Seals in a fitted box, C20th
Price: £30Chinese Bone Netsuke carving of a man holding a musical instrument, early C20th
Price: £25Art Glass Doorstop with Starburst and Bubble designs, perhaps British, late C20th
Price: £45Iridescent art glass Vase with loop handles, possibly continental
Price: £45Golden Amber Webb Glass Vase, marked, 1950s
Price: £45Thomas Webb began his glass career in 1829, when he became a partner in the Wordsley Glassworks. Various career changes followed and in 1859 he was joined by his sons Thomas Wilkes Webb and Charles Webb and began trading as Thomas Webb & Sons based in Stourbridge. The firm was run by various family members until mergers started to occur in the early twentieth century and Sven Fogelberg, previously from Swedish glassworks Kosta, became manager in 1932. Production continued with more mergers in the 1960s and 1970s until the firm closed in 1990. This vase was made by Thomas Webb during the 1950s as part of their 'Gay Glass' range in a design called 'Old English Bull's Eye' and has the typical 'Webb England' mark to the base.