What are your Favourite Collectables?
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The first written record of fairies in English Literature was in Shakespeare’s play ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, which later inspired the Victorian painters in their portrayal of fairyland and led to fairies becoming very popular.
The images were taken from the ballet, which caused such a sensation in the 1830s. The etherial, white draped ballerinas who tip toed and glided around a limelit stage, as though on wings, inspired a world of delicate, coy fairies.
Chaise Longues are luxurious pieces of furniture, originally used as ornamental items and as a day bed where the lady of the house could take a quick nap in the afternoon. The only way to get comfortable on a chaise longue is to lie back on it. It is said that Ian Fleming, of James Bond fame, would settle back in his chaise longue at his home in Goldeneye, Jamaica to dream up his stories.
A chaise longue usually measures around 6ft, so there is plenty of room to stretch out. Victorian chaises have a shapely serpentine shape and Regency couches are recognised by their attractive carved scroll ends. Both are the epitemy of elegance, and with a bolster cushion tucked under your neck you’re ready to kick off your shoes and settle back. Nowadays, the antique chaise longue is more often used as a decorative piece, with the modern soft sofa being preferred for the afternoon siesta.
It is hard to believe that it was over 30 years ago that the Sex Pistols played their controversial version of ‘God Save the Queen’ in 1977. The tabloid press was in a frenzy. Died in the wool Punk fans would say that the movement had already died by 1977, but most people’s awareness of Punk started here. Punk as ‘public enemy number one’ remained in the consciousness of the British public and left a legacy that lives on to this day.
Any punk memorabilia that survived the raucous concerts and general anarchy would make a brilliant collection. Punk memorabilia, especially clothes have become very collectable and are sought after by collectors as well as museums. Fashion design, graphic design, music and film all owe a huge debt to this creative movement.
The modern watch, as we know it, was first seen at the beginning of the 20th century. The automatic watch was invented by Harwood in the 1920s and perfected by Eterna in the late 1940s. During the 1960s the electronic watch was invented and finally the quartz watch made its appearance in the late 1960s, which almost killed off mechanical watches made in Switzerland completely.
Recently there has been demand again for new high quality watches. Many manufacturers are making more mechanical watches and this trend has had a knock-on effect on the vintage market. More people have started to appreciate and collect period quality watches, and they are buying them for their quality and as an investment. This increase in interest is driving up the prices.
In 1952 a small company called ‘Minimodels’ produced small metal bodied racing cars with small clockwork motors under the name ‘Scalex’. Later, electric motors replaced the clockwork models, and their inventor, Mr Francis, devised a rubber-based track with two parallel metal grooves in the centre to carry an electric current and the means to keep the cars on the track.
The company changed their name to ‘Scalextric’. With this new name Minimodels introduced the range of what would become Slot Car Racing sets to the world at the annual Harrogate Trade Toy Fair in 1957. Overnight Scalextric became a success and in no time the name Scalextric became the generic name used for Slot Car Racing.
During the Victorian and Edwardian eras gardening became an attractive, alternative profession to working in the factories of the new industrialised society. With the wealth the factories provided, the new rich could afford larger houses and with those houses came land that was developed into gardens.
One of the most influential horticultural figures, whose career spanned both Victorian and Edwardian eras, was William Robinson (1838-1935). Robinson left Ireland in 1861 to take up a job at the Botanical Gardens in Regents Park in London before working for the leading horticultural firm of Veitch. He became the gardening correspondent for the Times and wrote many books, but the one for which he is best remembered is ‘The English Flower Garden’ (1883) which he continually revised and to which his lifelong friend, Gertrude Jekyll, contributed.
The first film was created by Louis Le Prince in 1888. It was a two second film of people walking around in a garden and was called ‘Roundhay Garden Scene’. The first silent films were short, usually only a few minutes in length. 1929, when the means of recording sound and movement at the same time was discovered, silent films became obsolete, with the exception of Charlie Chaplin whose character of the Tramp was compatible with silent medium. When the silent era ended he refused to go along with sound; instead he maintained the melodramatic Tramp as his mainstay in ‘City Lights’ (1931) and ‘Modern Times’ (1936).