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TRAVELLER Tried and tested: scenery ~ culture ~ history Sri Lanka and New Zealand – two very different holiday destinations

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TEXTILES & DESIGN

Fashions that capture historical moments and are works of great beauty Lace before mass production: exploring techniques and handworking

COLLECTORS SHARE WINTER WARMERS Wood working tools: building VINTAGE STYLE a specialist collection of hand planes Captivated by a native Australian: the kangaroo in all its forms

Puddings from the recipe files of Mrs Beeton the original domestic goddess

FEATURE ARTICLES

KNOWLEDGE BASE

TRAVEL FEATURE

Staffordshire potters interpretation of the exotic Orient Veronica Moriarty

Margaret McNiven has visited these destinations for readers

Following the collecting trend in numismatics Peter Lane

AT HOME

From ancient times to the modern day There is something special about amulets Melody Amsel-Arieli

Interior decorating 2500 years ago Roman wall hangings

Mrs Beeton’s winter puddings Timeless recipes for today

Sri Lanka awaits appreciative collectors

Collecting on New Zealand’s South Island

No prescription necessary: pharmaceuticals that challenge Collecting from the pre-prohibition era

REGULAR FEATURES

SPECIAL FEATURE: TEXTILES & DESIGN IN BRITAIN 6

Lace and the wedding dress Eleanor Keene

COLLECTING FOCUS: TWO MEN’S SHEDS 12

Driven to collect hand planes Rob Ditessa

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Online magazines Conundrum Collectables fairs Out & about Recent books for collectors Collectables subscription form Bulletin board Marketplace: buy and sell Advertising rates Advertisers’ Index

Collectables

T R A D E R

British fashion designers past and present and their bridal designs Edwina Ehrman

A fascination with an Australian icon Inspired by the kangaroo Peter Lane

WIN conundrum enter our prize draw See page 43

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Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all about the

Lace and Royal weddings Dresses are records of fashion and historical change. Wedding dresses worn by Royals are symbolic and globally scrutinised down to the tiniest of details. Royal wedding dresses mark the beginning of new fashion trends, these change over time but often repeat themselves paying tribute to their original influences

Images courtesy Bonhams

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For the woodworker: a collection of

hand tools

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David Lynch and his Record brand planes His profession became the starting point to a significant collection of hand tools that a woodworker would well appreciate and collectors everywhere understand what it is that drives one to collect

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Rob Ditessa As an apprentice carpenter and joiner back in Ireland in 1966, David Lynch visited his local hardware store to kit out his box of tools. As the store sold Record rather than the Stanley brand hand planes, some 40 years ago when he began to collect tools, Lynch focused on the Record brand. Moreover, he developed a keen interest in hand planes the company made between 1931 and 1939. There was something in his mindset, he says, that led him to prefer Record to Stanley, recalling

that everyone was always talking about Stanley, but he found the Record made planes every bit as good if not better.

Inspired to collect His interest in the idea of collecting was sparked by his motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s curiosity in all types of objects and particularly her interest in collecting little brass figurines of mice and whatnots. He fondly remembers she owned a boot with three little mice in it. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;She used to be always looking for these things. I suppose this was something in the back of my mind.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

ROMANTICISING THE EAST – A BRITISH INTERPRETATION BY THE

These image makers had good commercial instincts – responding to the public’s interest and demand for intriguing pieces to decorate their chimney mantles Veronica Moriarty

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FOLLOWING:

a trail of

Peter Lane

As one of Australia´s best known and loved icons, images of the kangaroo are featured on coins and have been used as mascots, souvenirs, toys, emblems and logos. They have been made from just about every kind of material known

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Australian coat of arms, made of silver gilt, c. 1880-1910

Come on a collecting journey, travelling around Australia with a dedicated collector who shares his stories of how he acquired unusual kangaroo-inspired pieces and the reason for wanting them.

Kangaroos are part of the Australian coat of arms John’s* first purchase was a furniture plate with an Australian coat of arms, made of silver gilt, and was found at the Sydney Antique Centre. A dealer had just moved into the centre a few days earlier and as part of his shop fittings he had glued the plate to a half swing door. John told the dealer that he was impressed with the stock and asked if everything was for sale, the answer was yes. Having spied the plate on the door, he asked how much? ‘Well, it’s not for sale,’ replied the dealer. After some discussion, the dealer, who was keen to make one of his first sales, said $200, and the deal was done. Luckily the glue had not fully dried and plate came off the door without a hitch. This furniture

plate was made around the time of Federation (1900) and John holds this piece to be the star item in the collection.

Metal architectural wares The next item he came across was an A. Simpson & Son of Adelaide brass safe plate with the arms of Australia on it, circa 18801920. He acquired the plate via his wife’s family. Her paternal grandfather had worked for the firm and owned the plate. Exactly how he got it remains a family mystery. It was found in an old wooden box where it had been lying for years gathering dust. Another Simpson-made item to come his way was a cast iron stand, made around 1900. It was found in a gift and antique shop in a country town in the foothills of Perth. The asking price was a modest $20. Iron stands that have a motif are hard to find, but despite this they are usually reasonably priced. Expect to pay $50 upwards for similar iron stands.

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Fash ents and are historical mom beauty t n: works of grea mass productio Lace before niques and exploring tech handworking

hand planes a native Captivated by kangaroo in all Australian: the its forms

Puddings from the original of Mrs Beeton dess domestic god

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AUST $9.95 NZ

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ISSN 1445-8160

06 9 771445 8160

WELCOME TO THE INTRIGUING WORLD OF COLLECTING Collectables is published bi-monthly with each edition bringing fresh insights and fun collecting themes. Discover the latest collecting craze; explore the quirky and traditional collectable; learn how best to start a collection. There are tips on preserving and caring for valued possessions. Read the diary and plan a visit to a fair.

A comprehensive collection 1

For the woodworker: a collection of

hand tools

to enjoy

that everyone was always talking about Stanley, but he found the Record made planes every bit as good if not better.

Inspired to collect His interest in the idea of collecting was sparked by his mother’s curiosity in all types of objects and particularly her interest in collecting little brass figurines of mice and whatnots. He fondly remembers she owned a boot with three little mice in it. ‘She used to be always looking for these things. I suppose this was something in the back of my mind.’

Today, Lynch possesses all but two of the Record planes made between 1931 and 1939. ‘There are two block planes that I’ve not been able to get, and I have not seen one for sale in 30 years. They manufactured them before the war period for only a very short time, maybe four or five years, and they probably didn’t manufacture many of them. I would dearly love to get them but I think that the chances of getting them are very slim.’ It is interesting, he adds, that the Record planes were copies of Stanley planes whose patents had run out but there was no compromise on the quality. Unlike Stanley, Record did not make 01 size only 02 and both made sizes to 08. Amongst the defining qualities of the planes from this period were the use of rosewood handles, heavier body casts and the use of tungsten steel for the cutters. After the war, the company did not resume full production, and the company’s ownership changed hands.

For the collector: catalogues provide reliable information Much of the information that he knows about the planes, other tools and the history of Record, Lynch has learned from studying about 200 of the company’s catalogues that he has also collected. Each one, he says, ‘is a sort of time capsule.’ Lynch’s knowledge, passion, and

2 Record plane no 02 is rare 3 Record plane no 06, made in 1932 4 Record plane no T5 with 2¼ cutter 5 Record circular plane

Sharing knowledge and information His son Sam suggested he could share his knowledge by establishing a website. This lead to a collaborative effort between father and son with Lynch typing up the text and taking pictures and Sam learning how to put up the site. ‘The internet and email has made exchanging information, communicating, finding and obtaining objects much easier and quicker,’ says Lynch. There are many serious collectors of hand tools in general, not just Record, and there are dealers as well, although Lynch cannot estimate how many. There are very few collectors who are in it for the money, he adds. However, the price of Record planes has increased since Lynch launched his website, and he says he never imagined for one minute that there were so many collectors of Record tools. It has become a more competitive area for collectors.

There are many ways to acquire pieces When Lynch came to Australia some 35 years ago, he would visit

CollectablesTrader 13

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More to read • Book reviews • Memorabilia • Trader: Buy & Sell

1 Full set of Record’s improved shoulder rabbet plane

collection, has made him an expert. He attracts visitors to his displays, and each month receives around 40 emails from around the world, and more than 5000 hits on his website. Having to spend numerous spells in hospital over the last ten years for an injury, Lynch would compile information from the catalogues into notebooks.

COLLECTORS SHARE From workplace to valued collectable an assemblage of woodworking tools are the delight and passion of one collector

COUTURE AND COLLECTING – KNOW YOUR LACE

It’s all about the

From protection against the elements to status symbols – clothing, style and embellishments are a fascinating study; no more so than the wedding dress. Discover the skills and lavish laces used in dresses that have captured the imagination and are sources of inspiration for today’s couture designers

ROMANTICISING THE EAST – A BRITISH INTERPRETATION BY THE

Romantic writings and art to inflame the imagination Explorers and travellers to the East touched the British public’s imagination through publication of their memoirs, diaries and letters. Lord Byron’s poem Don Juan (18191824) of the hero living disguised as a woman in the sultan’s harem titillated the imagination. Other poets including Shelley, Coleridge and later, Tennyson, also gloried in Orientalism. They drew from it in their verse for characters and plots. Lord Frederic Leighton (18301896) and other painters revelled in semi-naked Odalisques. The PreRaphaelites produced paintings of sloe-eyed beauties swathed in eastern fineries, while the American artist James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) brought Japanese decorative art and design into homes.

These image makers had good commercial instincts – responding to the public’s interest and demand for intriguing pieces to decorate their chimney mantles Veronica Moriarty

Dresses are records of fashion and historical change. Wedding dresses worn by Royals are symbolic and globally scrutinised down to the tiniest of details. Royal wedding dresses mark the beginning of new fashion trends, these change over time but often repeat themselves paying tribute to their original influences

Lord George Byron (1788-1823) arrived in Missolonghi, Greece in 1823 to take part in the Greek uprising against the Ottoman Empire, dying three months later of disease – not a romantic ending.

The exotic East: Fertile fodder for the imagination The East became synonymous with mystery, wealth, excitement, danger, and magic. Here was a source of the exotic in attire and customs. Romanticism thrived on the ideal of the Noble Savage and exotic landscapes. Monarchs erected pleasure palaces and pavilions in what they considered oriental style, most notably the Royal Pavilion built in Brighton by the Prince Regent, later George IV, between 1787 and 1823. The very rich and the intelligentsia were long able to sup on Eastern aesthetic delicacies to their hearts’ content through travel and the purchase of fine art and exotica. It was not long that the growing middle and working classes wanted a share of this world. They wanted their portion of the excitement generated by foreigners and their world that represented everything the British public was not and prided itself on not being: heathen, primitive, savage, polygamous, and not of Caucasian appearance.

Translating exoticism into ceramic forms To 19th century Britons, anyone sprung from anything other than solid Anglo-Saxon stock was immediately suspect, but managed to exert a monumental influence on popular music, fashion, interior design and the decorative arts. The Staffordshire potters developed a fully-fledged love affair with all these weird, threatening, and alluring cultures. They produced everything from Arabian potentates

Eleanor Keene While Pippa Middleton’s derriere was the key interest for many royal wedding watchers, with thousands of Facebook followers joining an appreciation page overnight, others of us remember the wedding for the amazing dress.

A feat of British couture Kate, now Catherine, wore a wonderful feat of British couture designed by Sarah Burton, who had recently stepped into the shoes of the sadly mourned (Lee) Alexander McQueen. Sarah Burton, previously an unknown designer, certainly stepped up to the mark. The success of the dress has helped cement her place at the helm of McQueen with both the media and public. The dress paid homage to so many earlier royal weddings, notably the dress Grace Kelly wore when she married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956, designed by MGM costume designer Helen Rose, who had been designing Grace’s wardrobe for the film High Society. This dress had a finely worked fitted lace bodice with a high neck and long sleeves, a silk skirt with a long train, and finished off with a simple net veil with lace edging.

From queens of the silver screen to British royalty Images courtesy Bonhams

Almost as terrifying for the Staffordshire potters and their audience, and every bit as exotic to them as aliens and UFOs are to us, were non-Westerners. These were people who personified the mysterious unknown and gave flesh to nagging concerns about a changing, expanding world that was filled with new uncertainties and questions about British imperialism and identity.

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Lace and Royal weddings

Grace’s dress, which just happened to have been displayed at

an exhibition on Grace Kelly Style at London’s V&A museum in 2010, is undoubtedly the inspiration for Catherine’s dress. According to MGM press, Grace Kelly’s dress was made of ‘antique rose point lace.’ This fine style of needle lace, with its characteristic raised three-dimensional rose heads, is also known as Point de Gaze. As with Catherine’s dress, Grace’s dress had further reworking with more lace appliquéd to the already lavish lacework bodice, to give the placement and coverage the designer desired, along with the addition of pearl beads.

Drawing on past eras: early Victorian style Another tribute to past royal wedding dresses was the lace motifs used in Catherine’s dress, symbols of the British Isles: rose (England), shamrock (Ireland), thistle (Scotland) and daffodil (Wales) – this last symbol is not commonly found. This style of motifs is indicative of Honiton lace and was famously used for Queen Victoria’s wedding dress when she married Prince Albert in 1840. Victoria’s choice of Honiton lace was significant because the lace industry had taken a knock in the early 19th century. Fancy lace had gone out in favour of fine muslin gowns, and fashions were now about simplicity and clean straight empire lines. Decorations favoured were selfcoloured embroidery and needle-run trims, such tamboured lace.

5 1 Group of Point de Gaze lace items 2 Point de Gaze flounce 3 Honiton lace featuring birds 4 Honiton lace featuring motif designs used on Victoria’s coronation gown cuffs 5 Honiton lace featuring rose and thistle

At the same time, the technical advances of the machine age meant lace could be produced much faster than by hand. In the early-19th century machine-made net was being introduced as a base for lace, and by the mid-19th century machine-made lace was getting to such a high technical standard that it was hard for the untrained eye to always pick whether it was made by machine or hand. By the time Victoria was planning her wedding, the time-consuming hand production of lace had already started to dwindle with machine production taking over many of the hand crafters’ roles. Many had already started to find work in other industries, so there were difficulties finding enough lace makers to see the commission through, particularly considering more than 200 of them were needed to complete the work, which took from March to November of 1839. Victoria’s Honiton wedding dress saw a fashion revival for British hand-made lace, and Victoria became an instrumental figure in keeping lace in fashion throughout

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VISIONS OF THE EXOTIC CRAFTED IN ENGLAND

1 Staffordshire ornamental Moorish themed figure group of seated musicians 2 Staffordshire moulded earthenware figures 3 Selection of Staffordshire modelled face vases inspired by the fashion for Moorish ornaments 4 Staffordshire moulded ornamental figure group of boy and camel with applied underglazed colours 5 Staffordshire figure group of Byron and his Greek lover Theresa Macri, the ‘Maid of Athens’ 6 Staffordshire figurine of Theresa Macri

While toiling away at their potter’s wheel, the Staffordshire potters dreamt of far flung reaches of the Empire, much to the delight of Victorian consumers

and their harem girls and camels, to Chinese mandarins and dancers. Everything the British public was not, but wanted to know about, and wanted to be seen knowing about it, was captured in clay and made safe. But for those who purchased them, these figures were still exotic and exciting enough to transform an occidental mantle into an oriental wonderland.

CELEBRITIES IN THE 19TH CENTURY Lady Hester Stanhope (1776-1839) One of the potters’ favourite subjects was of English women who had gone ‘Amazon.’ The modern day equivalent is ‘going native’ and

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AN ICONIC AUSTRALIAN MAKES AN IDEAL COLLECTABLE From a stuffed toy to featuring on the Australian Coat of Arms the beloved kangaroo has been made from just about every kind of material as one keen collector has discovered

An Australian icon made in England A mounted silvered kangaroo made in Sheffield, was spotted at one of the largest out of town antique centres – Tyabb Antique Village, Tyabb Victoria. It was purchased minus the base for $95 and a good friend made the wooded base for him.

Cottage industry

FOLLOWING:

a trail of

As one of Australia´s best known and loved icons, images of the kangaroo are featured on coins and have

souvenirs, toys, emblems and logos. They have been made from just about every kind of material known

CLICK HERE

Australian coat of arms, made of silver gilt, c. 1880-1910

Gold brooch depicting a kangaroo, c. 1860-70s

Peter Lane

been used as mascots,

TO BE RI C S B U S NOW

Safe plate made by A. Simpson & Son of Adelaide, c. 1880-1920

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Come on a collecting journey, travelling around Australia with a dedicated collector who shares his stories of how he acquired unusual kangaroo-inspired pieces and the reason for wanting them.

plate was made around the time of Federation (1900) and John holds this piece to be the star item in the collection.

Australian jewellers

Metal architectural wares The next item he came across was an A. Simpson & Son of Wooden box with a Federation Coat of Arms carved on the lid, c. 1900-1930

Adelaide brass safe plate with the arms of Australia on it, circa 18801920. He acquired the plate via his wife’s family. Her paternal grandfather had worked for the firm and owned the plate. Exactly how he got it remains a family mystery. It was found in an old wooden box where it had been lying for years

During a visit to the Blue Mountains, NSW, John came across the Victoria Theatre Antique Centre in Blackheath. Here he found a wooden box with a Federation Coat of Arms of Australia carved on the lid. At an asking price of $200 it required some hard thinking, but in the end John purchased it. While most boxes sell for much less, this example was crafted by a sensitive competent amateur carver and as such was considered well worth the asking price. Interestingly, it was not until he found the receipt that he remembered the asking price. This is a reminder to potential collectors that the value is in the pleasure a piece gives, far outweighing the initial cost, which at the time may seem high. Spotted at the Adelaide shop of Peter Walker Fine Art was a J M Wendt (Wendt’s Jewellers Pty Ltd, Adelaide) kangaroo mould made of lead with one brass leg, which had been used in the production of making silver emu eggs. John purchased this most unusual kangaroo item for under $400. The dealer stated it came from the Timothy Wendt collection, which gives this piece provenance and enhances its value.In a Melbourne auction catalogue

Mounted silvered kangaroo made by JM Wendt, c. 1900-1920

gathering dust. Another Simpson-made item to come his way was a cast iron stand, made around 1900. It was found in

About A Simpson & Son

a gift and antique shop in a country

Established in 1853, this Adelaide business merged with Pope Industries in 1963 and today the Simpson brand is owned by Electrolux.

town in the foothills of Perth. The asking price was a modest $20. Iron stands that have a motif are hard to find, but despite this they are usually reasonably priced. Expect to pay

About JM Wendt A grandson of the founder, Allen Simpson, who had worked for the firm, was a member of the SA branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, and was involved in survey work in central Australia. The Simpson Desert was named in his honour.

The firm of J M Wendt (est. 1854) set up by Joachim Matthias Wendt (1830-1917) silversmith, produced silverwork that ranks with the finest produced in Australia in the second half of the 19th century.

$50 upwards for similar iron stands.

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