Well it has been a good year in finding and selling items that are not that easy to come by but its still all out there just to be found.Featured in the pics are the highlights of the year and all but one have been sold with a blink of an eye.The first being a pair of early Dutch silver cast candlesticks with clear marks and dating to 1740 these were chased by several dealers and certainly helped in getting a good but fair price.
The next item is an amazing WMF batman tea set with tray all in very good condition and certainly makes a bold statement.This set was left to a niece who disliked it so much but knew that it had good value and i could just not say no to buying it as i have never seen a complete set in such wonderful condition.Gave it a good polish and presented it strangely it was noticed by a friend of an avid collector and a phone call from him and it was reserved.He flew in the following day and purchased the set.One of these times when u feel rather delighted that it has gone to a collector.
The other interesting piece being a small Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre bowl decorated with elves and fairies in great condition.
Where was it found...well at one of those street markets where i happened to pass by when it was being unwrapped....shocked to see it there...but snapped it up immediately.There are good books covering this subject and there are other rare items to be found.Recently on the antiques show a man showed a vase which was totally unrecorded and the valuator was pleasantly surpised as he had never seen anything like it.A sugested re sale value 10-20 thousand pounds. Not bad in a days work!!
I have been putting a collection together of Czech glass in both the pressed and freeform and will be adding it to my website early next year.I was hoping to have it ready year end but have discovered that there is so much more to it all if a good study is to be shown.
most of the pressed glass had being ignored for a long time but has recently got a boost due to a new book covering the subject.I will link the book along with the list on the website and i must add that there are some stunning designer pieces....some of which no examples are shown in pic form.
So why not visit the shop and see whats new........shop
and wishing all a good holiday nad all the very best for 2009.

So off we were setting up our display for the antiques fair in Oerlikon Zurich and were rather delighted that firstly the weather was good, no rain and snow like last year, and there was a minimal waiting time to enter with our load of goodies.
on entering the huge hall we noticed that there were a lot less dealers than in previous years and this made me wonder who was there displaying their goodies so i straight away wafted through to take a peek and i was rather pleasantly surprised to see some stunning stands with some of the most beautiful and decorative objects.some have got to great lenghts in decorating
their stands.A lot more quality stands loaded with goodies and i rather thought a good deal were rather resonably priced.
within the first two hours good business was done between the dealers and large bags loaded their hands and shoulders and i must add that there were big smile from both buyer and seller.
dealers from France Germany Italy fanned the stands to snap buy those treasures and they did well.
on entering the hall with a fababulous german bronze of a naked lady,cast in Berlin, i was accosted by no less than three dealers,for the price and wanting me to stop and show them this treasure.so i learnt from last year and told them they would have to wait awhile longer.
i was fortunate to sell several items i had in stock with promises of a return visit so tonight i have to dig deeper in my back cupboard to present new items for tomorrow and the next three days.It was a delight selling this year without too many price pushy dealers drilling our prices into the ground.so they had to make a quick and good buy so that the next in queue
stood little chance.
A large amount of glass from the smaller factories to the big names...its all there.
silver and silverplate can be found at each stand also a good selection of amazing furniture, i passed be a magnificent Bouelle writing table in prestine condition and a real stunner.
clocks ticking all over the hall and watches watches watches!!!the chice is yours,we are in switzerland after all.
toys feature strongly from the tiniest play thing to the rarer french automated toys and then there is railwayana and other boys toys.There are three dealers who show amazing gifts for men dating from 1400 to present day with some that i would normally pass by but as i was offered a cup of coffee i took some time in asking and talking.Here comes the hook ....i have something new to collect and i thought those days were gone...ha! he got me hooked.
pictures fill the walls and the isles all one needs is the time to browse through and then not to forget to mention the poastcard section...wow! what a lot of paper and these were well attended.
then off to the 20 or so stands that sell Xmas decorations...and here the choice is wide and varied and many hands were digging in the boxes and soon the tables had to be re packed.
i saw a xmas bauble going for 220.sfr ...yea it was old and made from glass...so if a whole tree is decorated in the same...hmmmmmm...one wonders what an antique angel would go for.
the nice thing about this antique fair is that not all is that expensive and yet afforable so that one can spoil oneself on something small and special.
If you have the time pop in to the fair and see a whole lot new dealers with fresh ....fresh...stock what a treat.
hope to see you there and please say hello.

WHERE HAS ALL MY TIME GONE TO WITH STILL SO MUCH TO DO.NEEDED TO COMPLETE MY BLOG STORIES BUT THEN ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE AT HOME WITH 30CM SNOW AND THE LATE ARRIVAL OF WOOD TO FIRE THE OVEN.
THE SNOW IS GREAT AND HAS THE WHOLE MOUNTAINOUS AREA TURNED INTO A FAIRY WONDERLAND.ACROSS THE VALLEY,AS I STAND ON THE TERRACE,THE TRESS ARE GROANING WITH THE WEIGHT OF THE PURE WHITE SNOW AS THE HOUSES STAND PROUD OF THAT SNOWY STUFF WITH THIN WISPS OF SMOKE RISING FROM THEIR CHIMNEYS.DARKNESS BRINGS ON ANOTHER LOOK WITH THE SOFT YELLOW LIGHTS FILLING THE SMALL BUT MANY WINDOWS THROUGHOUT THE VILLAGES WHICH SPREAD ACROSS THE VALLEY AND THE OCCASIONAL PIERCING BRIGHT WHITE LIGHT OF A MOTOR VECHILE MOVING SLOWLY TWISTING AND TURNING ALONG THE CURVES.THE CLEAR SKIES SHOW OFF THE WONDERMENT OF A HUGE SKY FILLED WITH TWINKLING STARS AND DEATHLY SILENCE FILLS THE NIGHT.THIS IS SO XMAS THAT U FEEL ANY MOMENT THAT SANTA CLAUS WILL FLY BY PULLED BY A DECORATED SLEIGH AND ITS REINDEER.
IN THESE TIMES IT IS GREAT TO LET THE IMAGINATIION RUN AS WE WELL KNOW THAT THERE WILL BE LITTLE IN THE STOCKINGS BUT THEN AGAIN XMAS IS XMAS WHICH WE HAVE ALL MADE A HUGE COMMERCIAL EVENT OF THE CALENDAR YEAR.ALONG WITH THIS IS THE ANTIQUE FAIR WHICH TAKES PLACE IN OERLIKON MESSE FROM THE 11 DECEMBER TILL THE 15 AND HERE ONE WILL SURELY FIND GREAT BARGAINS TO FILL THOSE STOCKINGS.THE WORLD TALKS GREEN....DOES LITTLE....AND HERE WE ALL HAVE THE GOLDEN(GREEN) OPPORTUNITY OF DOING SOMETHING TO FURTHER THESE OBJECTIVES....BUY AN ANTIQUE....GREENER THAN THIS GIFT WISE U CAN NEVER BE... ADDING TO THAT U HAVE A CHOICE OF 300 ODD DEALERS ALL CLAMOURING FOR YOUR SWISS FRANCS.
WE WILL BE THERE SO PLEASE DO VISIT AND TALK A DEAL...THIS IS THE RIGHT TIME TO BUY A SUPER GIFT AT A GOOD PRICE IF NOT A TOTAL BARGAIN AND REMEMBER THAT U ARE BEING CORRECT IN BUYING GREEN!WE HAVE GREAT BUYS AT OUR SHOP IN ZURICH....BIRMENSDORFERSTRASSE 201 KREIS 3...VIS A VIS CO OP.......SELLING 50-70 FURNITURE COLLECTIBLES AND MUCH MUCH MORE.FINE SILVER PICTURES.. FINE ENGLISH FURNITURE...AND SCARCE PORCELAIN.
HOPE TO SEE U SOON.
THE GLASS BLOG WILLL FOLLOW IN TWO WEEKS.

Over the next weeks i would like to share with u the wonderful world of Scandinavian design in glass objects created by some of the worlds best artists showing us new forms and exciting colors.Very different to the victorian times where the new articles were light in shape and giving a free form feeling...with soft pastel colors and ofcourse some of the brightest colors imaginable.
Here i will feature two factories as an example and the later will go into greater depth on each one sharing with u the links that cover the subjects and showing the artists work to the best.
the first being that of the Holmegaard factory in Sweden and the artist being Per Lutkin who designed for the Holmgaard factory.He is held in the highest esteem and to own a piece designed by him is a must....most say...but u be the judge!
This wonderful soft apple green vase is designed by him and signed also with a number
the next image shows a bark like texture from the Iitalla facory in Finland and here the designers were plentiful and they created some of the most interesting designs....and to remember that some of these are still in production after 30/40 years.As popular as they are still today some of the older lines are still as stunning and very collectible.
the vase featured here is by the most Famous of them all....Tapio Wirkkala...quite a genius as we will discover later on...here i will supply links to the facory and his designs at the next posting.
I have at this stage loaded a great deal of scandinavian glass on my site so visit there and take a peak...see if we can excite u as where we will be going.It will be fun as there are many paths to different sites and views by respective collectors /owners.
so stay with us for awhile and find some treasures.
visit the shop................scandinavian glass
till next time ...have fun...i am as theres a lot of snow aound and well its jolly cold as well.

So it has taken me some time to get down writing the final episode of the wonders of German ceramics covering the 60/70s not that i have lazy but have had a lot on my plate of late.
I have opened a shop in Zurich which has taken all of my time and as the adagge goes...all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.Even the friends have said lighten up but when u have a mission then all else takes that back seat and my latest additions have rather driven me crazy as when i go to sleep thats all i dream of so its now been put to bed and enough is enough.
Lastly but by no means least are the following factories that cover the west german ceramic session and they are the smaller companies who produced wonderful items.I show no pics but will once again suggest that u try and buy a copy of....Fat Lava...mark hill where a fair amount is shown and discussed.
Jopeko...which is still in existance making goodies and is family run.They produced heavily encrusted lava wares in bright colors which are very collectible today.Impressed numbers and they used a white clay for the bodies.
Otto Keramik.....they were very sucessful in discovering experiments with lava glazes which made them stand apart from others.There pieces are not marked and a white clay was used....but an id mark which is very helpful is that they covered the base of their pieces with a green felt...not the bottoms are always flat.
Roth.....well here we find pieces that are rather exciting and well collected...indication of a good price in the market place and to find a piece of roth is not that easy with saying that they sold a lot for such a small company so must have been popular.Roth labels are attched...also moulded no in differing sequences and a red clay was used for the bodies.
Ü-Keramik...........an unusual technique in that a red fire glaze using selenium was used creating wonderful glazes.white clay was used with numbers impressed into the body...and this is where one should visit the fat lava forum...see link on right.
there are a few others that were producing but little has been written about them and once again join the fat lava forum and speak to Kev who is very knowledgable and most helpful.
As to my latest collection...i am still laying it out to form a well documented oversight with examples i have found in the last year and the base collection will not be sold but where i have doubles these will be offered.
Thats all for now as i have a few fairs to attend and hopefully sell....on main street!!

Scheurich ...Scheurich...Scheurich!!

This Company was one of the largest producers of West German Ceramics at the time with a wide variety of shapes sizes and colors.Does this mean that Scheurich pieces donot stand up to the rest?
Defintely not as the designs are wild and wonderful and another reason is that so much that i have come across is sadly damaged...easily prone to this factor yet their production was of a high standard.Pieces are not always easily identified as the numbers underneath were covered in a rough glaze which makes them unreadable.So here one has to know the clay shapes and designs to be able to attribute the items to Scheurich.....unsure then go here for help............fat lava forum
So the war was over and like the rest of the West German ceramics factories Scheurich went into production in 1954 and quickly became one of the largest producers spanning a huge market.
The clay used was white with moulded numbers with three to four digits and a hyphen with further digits and also with W.Germany.Where the piece was not large enough to take all the infomation one will find numbers only and then a lot have a thick black glaze over the base that obscures the information but with handling enough pieces the gaze is( fairly) easily recognizable.
Strong colors seemed to be the order of the day and here one will find some serious Fat Lava glazes
that carry the imagination,perhaps to the moon landing of the time,which excited the world to a new look and adventure.To say that Scheurich went overboard with styles and shapes is no stretch of the imagination as i seem to find a new item each week that puts a smile on my face in wonderment....how much more can there be.
The main man,designer for this establishment was Heinz Siery who later designed for Ruscha
he brought about new shapes and handles.There is little other information on the subsequent designers and hopefully later in the year when the NEW book on West German ceramics hits the shelves there will be a whole lot more.Now available.....link Mark Hill.....
Scheurich produced so many different sizes and colors in one style/shape jug that its rather exciting to go about setting up a collection merely on the pattern and then all the shapes and sizes...and be assured this will keep u busy for a long time.Here i must say i never limit myself to just one thing or range as if there is nothing to be had,say in that pattern,then at least i have something to collect in the meantime.Becoming bored with no finds is no fun so stretch your horizons so that u have fun in considering other avenues.
Lets say u start with Ruscha `Flavour`` of the month and then next year Scheurich is flavour of the month at least if u have two of these as compact collections then u would have done well.
Once again find a knowledgeable dealer who shares your passion as he/she will always help u change over the years to bigger and better not saying that big is always better...well now i am in a spot..! some say yes and some say no.
Please do visit the shop......Scheurich items

Further help go to the helpful Fat Lava Forum.....See link right..