Dazzling pieces... from a period in which British designers excelled
HARD-TO-FIND EXAMPLES of 19th vases and ornaments from the West Riding of Yorkshire have gone on sale at a weekendlong autumn antiques fair in Harrogate that began yesterday.
Richly-glazed Burmantofts pottery was turned out for 24 years from the district of Leeds from which it took its name. Born out of an architectural brickworks, its makers diversified into producing pieces of decorative art which are prized by collectors.
Exhibitor Brian Ashbee said: “It was a period in which designers excelled in Britain.”
The fair, at Pavilions of Harrogate, also includes sculpture, paintings, jewellery and silverware, amongst other collectibles.
Stephen Marsh, who runs an antiques business in London, was offering an 87-piece, 12-place silver cutlery set at £8,750. Complete with basting spoons and soup ladles and bearing the imprint of the London silversmith George Adams, it comes in an oak cabinet – but the identity of the family that once considered it their best silver is not known.
“The price of silver is rising, so it’s a good time to buy,” said Mr Marsh, who is also offering an art deco candelabra, dated to 1925, for £3,650.
But he said it was smaller and more affordable collectables like boxes and trinkets that were his biggest sellers.
Antiques dealer Lynda Neal was displaying a rare, ceremonial Ruyi sceptre amongst a collection of Chinese jade, priced between £700 and £2,000 and including snuff bottles from the late 18th century. Some had come from private collections in Australia, she said.
Another dealer, Paul Burnett, from Gloucestershire, was exhibiting Four Seasons ornaments in cast iron, and John Briggs, an expert in Persian fine rugs and carpets, had brought a selection from Aberdeenshire.