Antiques

TAKEN FOR GRANTED

Richard Bromell ASFAV, Charterhouse Auctioneers

There are many things we take for granted these days, such as washing machines, mobile phones, TVs and cars. However, it was not all that long ago when all these items were not widely available to most people.

As a young lad staying at my aunt’s farm in deepest Devon, I was fascinated by a mangle in the laundry room. This was a small room in a group of outbuildings. Built in the late Victorian period, it was still in regular use in the early 1970s and housed a mangle for wringing water out of washed clothes and bed linen. As a child, I can still hear my aunt warning me not to put my fingers in the mangle rollers. Thankfully today, mangles are redundant due to developments in washing machines.

When mobile phones first started to appear they were a rare sight. This was not only to being incredibly expensive – a year’s contract could cost £2,000, but also because there was little coverage to begin with. Mind you, driving around the West Country visiting clients today there are still plenty of places with no signal! But nowadays, most of the population over the age of 6 or 7, I guess, has a mobile phone.

Recently many of you would have seen we auctioned the contents of a private TV and radio museum near Dorchester. My kids laughed at quite a few of the old TVs and found it difficult to comprehend them broadcasting programmes in black and white over just three channels. A far cry from today with Freeview, Sky and other network providers having 100s of channels beaming down their programmes in glorious technicolour on large screens.

As motor cars first started to appear on the road they were a luxury afforded by only the super-rich. There was no doubt many cynical people who thought they would never catch on and replace the horse and carriage, but how wrong were they.

Over the past few decades the technology going into vehicles has progressed at a fast rate, not only in the engines and gearboxes, but with all the ancillaries too.

Take headlights for example. On my car, the headlights have automatic dipping as it recognises other road users in the dark and even people wearing high visibility jackets which reflect the light. They also ‘look’ around corners, moving left and right – great technology keeping us safe.

However, for many years, vehicle lights were pretty ineffective, pushing out just a few candles of

power. Lucas, with their King of the Road lamps, were favoured by motorists and manufacturers alike, and we have a collection of Lucas King of the Road lamps from a collector near Salisbury in our specialist auction of automobilia and enamel signs on 18th August.

As usual, they are in all shapes and sizes, but one sticks out as it is head and shoulders above the rest. By this, I mean its huge size. Made of brass, and measuring 31cm high, it is larger than the size of my head. No doubt it would have graced a large Edwardian motor car, or possibly even a steam engine.

Whether it will go back on a vehicle or be made into a lamp to go on display in a garage, a study or mancave, only time will tell.