These are the names used for stylistically distinct types of European pottery that are all covered in an opaque glaze made white by ashes of tin.

Right colours are lost if they are painted onto earthenware with a clear lead glaze — the earliest type widely used—since the glaze deepens the underlying clay colour. However, a primary coat of white or cream tin glaze creates a pristine surface on which other colours stand out brilliantly. (more…)

Drinking glasses from the 18th and 19th centuries are enormously varied and survive in surprisingly large numbers, making them affordable and attractive items for collectors.

At the end of the 2nd century BC the Romans were making cups and beakers in pale green or blue-tinted glass in large numbers. Glass was a material of everyday use in a way that was not to be seen after the fall of Rome until the l9th century. (more…)

In Britain

Very few earthenware figures were produced in Britain – or elsewhere in Europe – before about 1700, but early to mid- 18th-century white, salt-glazed stoneware pieces are now among the most sought-after items of ceramic art. Some are freestanding and single, while others are grouped on a pew. Pew-groups in good condition rarely fetch less than £60, 000. (more…)

On the Continent

It was probably Buddhist figures such as these that inspired the earliest European porcelain figures — `magots’ or models of humorous little Chinese Buddhas produced on the Continent — at Meissen, Saint-Cloud, Chantilly and Mennecy — from the 1720s to 40s, and in Britain from about 1780.

The Meissen Contribution

The European porcelain figure as we know it today, however, developed not from burial goods or religious models but as centrepieces for the banqueting tables of the aristocracy. (more…)

The lure of antique timepieces lies in their combination of art and technology. Visual clues can help you to date a clock and identify its mechanics.

Mechanical timepieces were first made in Europe in 13th-century monasteries to call the monks to prayer. By 1380 many cities had public clocks, although domestic clocks did not appear until the late 15th century. Portable clocks became feasible when the coiled spring was devised as a source of power in the early 16th century. The first true watches date from about 1580 but were rather inaccurate before the invention of the balance wheel around 1675. Clocks are judged on the quality of both movement and case. Rarity alone does not necessarily mean high value, but a pioneering design is desirable. Points to consider include the type of movement and its complexity (for example, if it has a striking system), style of dial and case, the maker and condition. (more…)

Always glamorous, silverware can offer superb craftsmanship at what many consider to be a historically bargain price.

Ever since it was discovered, silver — like gold — has been converted into gleaming artefacts of great opulence and beauty. Such symbols of power and wealth are collected for their superb craftsmanship, but smaller, less ornate pieces also have a unique attraction. This is in part because silver has long been a precious metal. Today silver bullion is cheaper than ever in real terms, but nobody knows whether or for how long this will continue. (more…)

Stoneware

As its name implies, stoneware is harder than earthenware, but it is also finer-textured and non-porous even if unglazed. The clays used could be fired to higher temperatures of around 1300°C (almost 2400°F), at which point the grains of clay fused together.

Most stoneware clays are grey, and so- called ‘brown’ stoneware tankards, flasks and so on often have only a wash of colour on the outside: a chipped edge will show that the brown colour is skin-deep. (more…)

Whether made to display the family china and silver or just to provide storage, the best pieces of dining room or kitchen furniture, from aristocratic Adam sideboards to humble dressers, are now worth thousands of pounds.

The sideboard can be traced back to the side table, originally used for serving food. The dresser, on the other hand, probably developed from the 17th-century court cupboard used to display plate. (more…)

It is colour and size that generally count most in pricing a dining table, and these considerations are as important today as two hundred years ago.

Antique dinning table available to a buyer today vary enormously in style, quality and price. A 17th-century refectory table in original condition is very hard to come by, for example, and may cost many thousands of pounds, whereas a Victorian reproduction can be bought for a few hundred. Small, foldaway breakfast tables, which first appeared in the early 19th century as one answer to the space restrictions of small town houses, are still extremely popular, and for similar reasons.

Before buying any antique table, you should check it carefully for alterations, as marrying a table top to a different undercarriage is fairly common. (more…)

Between the Metropolitan Railway, whose line ran north-west out of London through Wembley, Pinner and Chorleywood to Amersham, created the concept of Metro- land as an ideal place for city workers to live, outside the spread of London but conveniently linked to it by train. Given the vogue for fresh air and sunlight, outdoor sports and hiking, it was an inviting prospect which speculative builders helped to fulfil with a rash of tidy suburban homes in the revived ‘Queen Anne’ style. (more…)