Last Call Items with Free UK Shipping

Vintage Ceramic Table Brush marked Germany, 1930s

Price: £15

A Vintage Ceramic table brush in the form of an Art Deco style lady wearing a blue hat, her brown blouse with a red bow and a woven material belt below, her 'skirt' forming the brush itself. Table brushes in a similar form were made in various countries but ours is clearly marked 'Germany' so its origin is certain. The composition of the figure, the style of decoration and the form of the mark itself all point to a pre-war dating, probably in the 1930s. This piece is highly decorative but also extremely practical, even today!

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Large coral effect stretch bracelet, C20th

Price: £10

This is a striking coral effect bracelet comprising 15 large stations which are most likely dyed. If not truly authentic, it captures the essence of true coral jewellery, with a distinctive appearance of luxury.

Three 1970s photo cubes

Price: £15

Three 1970s photo cubes. Typical of the era, these cubes were designed to display photographs in the square format produced by the basic cameras of the time including the 'brownie' and 'instamatic' ranges.

Dyed Howlite faux turquoise Statement Necklace, C20th

Price: £10

This is a very bold and striking necklace comprising large pieces of died howlite with a silver plated fitted clasp.. Howlite is a gemstone and relatively rare. It’s mined only in parts of the U.S. and in Canada, where it was first discovered in 1868 in Nova Scotia. Howlite resembles white marble or porcelain thanks to its milky-grey colour. It has a porous surface and opaque transparency. It usually has darker or black veins running through it but can sometimes be found with no veins whatsoever and pure white in colour. Howlite can be dyed into other colours. It’s frequently used as an imitation of turquoise, as it tends to display the matrix patterns that turquoise has.. This piece displays a very good simulation and large necklaces such as these are loved by fashion icons like Iris Apfel - although hers are the real McCoy!

Victorian Brass Paperweight in the form of a Fireplace, English circa 1900

Price: £20

This is a rather charming paperweight or table ornament in the form of a fireplace with a dog seated at the front. It is hollow cast in brass with a solid back and shows a raised basket grate with blazing coals within an elaborate, almost neo classical, fireplace with columns at the left and right and a small figure scene frieze at the top. The mantelpiece is decorated with two vases and a clock and the hearth below is fitted with a poker and a sleeping dog.

The design of the fireplace suggests manufacture in England in the Victorian period and the weight and quality of the brass used conforms with this. The composition is appealing, so much so that modern reproductions exist which can be clearly distinguished from the original by the brass work used and a hollowed out construction at the back where our example is solid (see image 2).

Two Decorative Vintage Fans, 1950s

Price: £10

This is a group of two fans. One is in brown lace with hand painting on faux tortoiseshell pins and the other is blue plastic with pieced geometric designs and marked 'Made in Hong Kong'.

Vintage Gilt Metal Powder Box with a Tapestry Panel, probably French, 1930s

Price: £10

A gilt metal powder box with embossed niello work designs in a variety of repeating stylised floral patterns, three paw feet to the base and the lid with a glazed tapestry panel depicting a floral spray of peony and lotus, opening to reveal a mirror on the underside of the cover and a container for the powder with a fine gauze sifter. The work resembles similar pieces in the French 'Hollywood' style of the 1930s and a similar provenance and dating is likely here.

Victorian Glass buckle circa 1900

Price: £10

This a very unusual buckle in a shield shape comprising a single piece of moulded glass with a gilded design, mounted in brass with beaded edging.

Two Albums of Travel Photographs ‘Album Artistique Paris’ and ‘Roma 132 Tavole’ 1930s

Price: £10

Two Albums of Travel Photographs. (1) ‘Album Artistique Paris’. 40 black and white photographs of Paris and its famous buildings and monuments published by ‘Establissements Papeghin’ in the 1930s. (2) ‘Roma 132 Tavole’. 132 black and white and sepia pictures of Rome, its buildings, pictures and sculptures published by ‘Cecami’ in the 1930s, raised lettering to the cover and an original yellow cord tassel binding.

Rose bud bracelet, 1970s

Price: £15

This is a very unusual bracelet comprising stations with suspended small flower buds and leaves. These are natural flowers that have been encased in acrylic and set in sterling silver. This type of jewellery was quite popular in the 1970s.

West German Jasba Ceramic Vase with loop handles, 1960s

Price: £10

A West German ceramic vase of compressed almost inverted gourd like form, the body with two wide and graduated ceramic circles above a spreading foot and with a wide flaring neck set with two loop handles, glazed in orange and brown with craquelure and mottling effects. An impressed mark to the base ‘Jasba’ in an oval and ’11 70 20’, being the pattern number.

The West German ceramics produced after the second world war are characterised by their distinctive and colourful designs. The Jasba factory was founded in 1926 by Jakob Schwaderlapp in Ransbach-Baumbach. The name is derived from his name and the town his factory was located. Production of decorative ceramics ceased in 1975 and the firm concentrated on industrial items and tiles which they still make today. This vase probably dates to the 1960s and the form and glaze effects are quite striking.

A Japanese Hichozan Shinpo Brush washer circa 1880

Price: £10

A Japanese brushwasher of squat cylindrical form with a short neck and a flat unglazed base, decorated in brightly coloured enamels with Samurai and banners. The style of painting and palette of colours resembles pieces made by the Tashiro factory in Japan, founded by Tashiro Monzaeman (1816-1900) in the late Edo period during the mid-1850s, and which were marked ‘Hichozan Shinpo’. This piece carries very feint traces of a red mark underneath which may have originally indicated the artist’s name, but even without this, the resemblance is very close and an attribution almost certain. The form suggests a brush washer, part of the scholar’s desk set.

Two Royal Doulton miniature Toby mugs - Porthos and Falstaff, 1940s

Price: £10

Two miniature jugs in the apocryphal ‘Toby’ form (strictly speaking, since they do not depict a seated figure but just the head and shoulders, they should be called ‘character jugs’) made by the Royal Doulton factory and with their mark. These come from a wide ranging set of figures produced during the 1940s and depicting figures from literature and history. We have ‘Porthos’, one of the three musketeers, and Falstaff, well known from Shakespeare and later Verdi’s opera. The lively modelling and colourful glazes have an instant appeal and attraction for a collector wanting to build up a small set.

Japanese Satsuma style Censer, 1930s

Price: £15

A Japanese ceramic censer or incense burner of rounded octagonal form, the squat baluster body with an open top cover, decorated with alternating panels of figures and trees, a band of geometric panels and beadwork. The colourings used and the heavy style of the enamel work is typical of early twentieth century productions recalling the satsuma pieces made for export in Japan in the nineteenth century. No detail of craftsmanship here, but a naif charm nevertheless. The mark ‘FOREIGN’ stamped on the base was applied to pieces exported to Great Britain in the early C20th, not necessarily just from Japan, but the style here betrays the country of manufacture.

A vintage Avon Spring Bouquet oriental style red rubber coated vase, 1980-1981

Price: £10

This vase was part of a series which Avon, the well known producers of cosmetics, manufactured in the early 1980s. The white glass body, in a baluster form, was coated in red rubber or plastic with an impressed design of scrolling chrysanthemum, very much in the Chinese taste. The coating incorporated a perfume, traces of which in this example can still be detected today by those with a keen sense of smell. The base originally had a paper label and traces of the glue adhesive can still be seen. Where the labels still exist, they read ‘Spring Bouquet Fragranced Vase Oriental Red’ with Avon’s name and details and a ‘rights reserved’ tag. Examples can be found today in a range of colours but the red pieces are the most appealing and the most decorative.

Japanese Blue and White Small Bowl with Geometric Motifs, C20th

Price: £15

A small Japanese Bowl of shallow form with a shaped edge rim and a short foot, decorated on the exterior with seven roundels of two geometric designs (maltese cross and a stylised star constellation) below a border of lappet work and floral motifs, the interior with a further geometric panel to the centre. The blue and white decoration is not hand done; perhaps transfer work, although some suggest stencilled designs. The motifs are unusual and this piece hardly qualifies as standard ‘export’ ware. Dating is probably to the 1920s or 1930s and this is definitely something of a ‘puzzle piece’ for collectors of Japanese porcelain.

Souvenir White House Enamel Box and Cover

Price: £15

A box and cover of ovoid form, the blue enamel ground with raised cloisonne enamel style decoration depicting the White House with the US flag atop, trees to the left and right and a profusion of stars which are repeated on the base with a single star on the interior. Doubtless to be found in the White House gift shops but available here without the need for a trip to Washington!