The trunk of a longcase clock is perfect for showing off cabinet-making skills, giving the owner not only a timepiece but an attractive piece of furniture.

Too many people, a longcase or ‘brand- father’ clock immediately conjures up nostalgic images of the past. But it is also an ideal combination of mechanics and furniture. A William and Mary marquetry longcase clock can be just as good an example of cabinet-making as, say, a chest of drawers of the same period, and its value will depend on the quality of both case and movement. (more…)

From plain Edwardian school clocks to cartel clocks mounted in elaborate ormolu, clocks to hang on the wall come in many shapes and sizes.

The ubiquitous wall dial of the Victorian and Edwardian periods is familiar from countless schools, kitchens and waiting rooms. In fact, wall clocks come in many forms, the fundamental distinction being between spring-driven clocks (which mostly run for eight days) and weight- driven clocks (mostly running for 3o hours). (more…)

Young people in the 1950s and 60s were generally more mobile and independent than any earlier generation, often leaving home in their teens to go to university, to start work or to train. Increasing numbers of them were benefiting fr0m grants for education and changed attitudes towards careers.

These young people wanted cheap accommodation — preferably free of the restrictions in lodgings ruled by a resident landlady. At the same time many city homes originally built for extended Victorian families and their servants were sold off as they proved too big and too expensive to run. Divided and fitted out as self-contained units, they made bed- sitting rooms or ‘bedsits’ to rent out, each one serving as bedroom, living room and kitchen. (more…)

Coordinated Decor

One feature of the bed, its curtaining, was put to new use — at the windows. Used at first to keep out sunlight, curtains were soon recognised as valuable pieces of decoration.

Increasingly, designers tried to harmonise the elements in a room, especially the textiles. The growing awareness of overall room decoration was stimulated by the French-born designer (and later architect) Daniel Marot, who worked for William of Orange in Holland and came to work for him in England. Published collections of Marot’s designs (Oeuvres) appeared in 1702 and 1712, and enabled the middle and upper classes to apply his coordinated French-style schemes for furniture and hangings in their homes. (more…)

Before the objects were placed in the vat they were generally made by the usual methods of silversmithing. Some of the earlier items were first cast in German silver or Britannia metal. Progress in stamping later hastened and cheapened production. When the vessel had been hammered up from the flat, spun or cast, its ancillary parts previously stamped out and joined by solder, it was ready for decorating. This might be achieved by the ancient method of hand-engraving, by the mechanical means of a lathe such as engine-turning, or by the technique of etching which emulated hand-engraving. Other types of decoration included piercing, usually punched automatically, speedily and cheaply. When all decoration was completed the object would be placed in the plating vat for electro-deposition. (more…)

In the twentieth century it is difficult to imagine eating meals without the aid of cutlery, yet it was not until the eighteenth century that it became the general custom to use forks, knives and spoons. The habit spread only gradually. Towards the later years of the seventeenth century a host might be expected to provide cutlery at table and although this tendency increased, many travellers carried with them their own personal set of a fork, knife and spoon, in a case often made of tooled leather, until as late as around the middle of the eighteenth century. (more…)

Although the tea strainer was among the numerous pieces of domestic silver which did not generally make their appearance until the very final years of the eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth century, the English tea table was not devoid of a utensil for a similar purpose. The tea strainer bore little resemblance to this predecessor and can in no way be said to be a development of it, unlike so many other items which evolved into utensils which we use today. Its forerunner was an extraordinary little implement called the mote skimmer, which was usually a little longer than a tea spoon. Its bowl was pierced in a simple pattern and its rounded, slender tapering stem ended in a point. (more…)

Much of the Nailsea stuff, whether it was made at Nailsea or not, was made for sale at country fairs and markets. Among the popular items there were the rolling pins, sometimes solid ones in the early bottle glass, sometimes hollow in clear or opaque glass bearing inscriptions. They seem to have been bought as keepsakes—often they are referred to as “sailors’ charms”—filled with sweets or salt or tea and hung over the mantelpiece until the giver returned home again. This would be a very practical way of using them, for salt and tea cost money in those days, and needed to be kept dry. There was also another practical use, it seems, at any rate for the hollow ones with a stopper at one end. Our ancestors knew that not only is good pastry made with cool hands, but also with a cool rolling pin—which could be done by filling the roller with cold water. Certainly some modern manufacturers think so, for they make very efficient looking ones with extensions for your hands and screw stopper at one end. (more…)

At Nailsea in Somerset, as you pass in the train from Bristol to Weston-super-Mare, you can still see few creeper-covered stumps of buildings on the site of the famous glassworks, which once employed several hundred men.

Nowadays “Nailsea” is a legend, and the word has come to be applied to several different kinds of fancy or coloured glass which were made at other places besides Nailsea, and often long after the factory closed.

First there are all those bottles, jugs, rolling pins, decanters, cups and mugs which are made of dark bottle glass with coloured flecks. Sometimes these flecks are white, sometimes they are in other colours like red, yellow, and pale blue. (more…)

You will doubtless have seen figures and busts in an unglazed white porcelain—some shops have whole cabinets full of them. They are in what is calledParian ware, and when you see them like this it may well puzzle you to know why anyone should want to buy them,

I think it is well worth looking at this ware. Whereas the Victorians liked to have the odd piece about, usually under a glass case, to set off their heavy dark hangings and curtains, there are surely other things we could do with these things nowadays. What is more, in some sorts of Parian the white, is often attractively combined with tints and even glazes. (more…)