icollectables

Josh Sims’ Review in today’s Financial Times, about ‘Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill’ a new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, reminded me of a leather-bound copy of Walpole’s Letters which I purchased in Highgate,London, several years ago. The Letters cover a period of  his life between 1735 and 1797 ,during much of this time Walpole , youngest son of Sir Robert Walpole, indulged in his passion of developing his ‘Gothic-style’ castellated home, Strawberry Hill ,in Twickenham, London, and of collecting several thousand items to fill it. These objects, including paintings and ceramics and miniatures to his taste , must have constituted one of the largest collections of its day.

The V&A have put together over two hundred objects that would have been at Strawberry Hill. His house has seen many uses over the years since Horace Walpole occupied and in recent years it had fallen seriously into decay. Happily, the house is being refurbished and is expected to be open to the public later this year. Meanwhile,the exhibits at the V&A will provide a valuable insight into how Walpole’s treasures were displayed about his house.

If you are interested in this unique opportunity to see a part-work of an important collector go to www.vam.ac.uk for details of the exhibition open until 4th July this year.

It was some chap called John Spilsbury in the late 18th century who devised the first ‘dissected puzzle’. Almost all the earliest such puzzles, to become known and beloved as Jigsaw Puzzles, were made out of wood,often of mahogany. They were also often map puzzles depicting the countries of the world, hand coloured , the pieces cut around the different countries. If you can find one of the earliest puzzles with all pieces intact, you will be well rewarded. Several years ago a set of Spilsbury jigsaws would have fetched at auction in excess of £25,000. One Spilsbury jigsaw of the map of England, where each piece was allocated a county could set you back around £2,000. Although you may not be able to get your hands on one of these rarest of puzzles, you may profit by visiting collectors weekly. But you may not be looking merely for profit, and as a collector you continue to research and hunt for choice specimens to add to your collection. These may include the most recent variety of mass produced puzzle punched out of cardboard. And yes, there is a name for such collectors: Dissectologists. For further research, you can go to The British Jigsaw Puzzle Library

All around the world, the seemingly small and insignificant guitar pick is assiduously collected. Without this musician’s tool, a certain style of guitar playing is not possible. Many millions are made  but are coveted by guitar players to produce a certain sound from their instruments; they are also coveted by the collector for their previous celebrity ownership. At once, they are both indispensable and disposable.

You will know that a guitar pick,or plectrum, is a small, thin ,wedge-shaped piece of plastic or perhaps ,for example , fashioned out of wood, metal,or bone.In recent times, these picks appear as  curious items often coloured, and personalized ,with names, messages and images on them.

How to collect these items? Well,you could attend a concert or gig where the guitar player is performing, when these are often thrown into the audience. You maybe lucky to catch one, or to pick one up from the floor after the show. It maybe that you will have to look on line for people who are selling their collections, or for web-sites specializing in the tiny speciality who may be selling what you are looking to buy.

The manufacture of the first plastic guitar pick is credited to Luigi D’Andrea in 1922. Before that picks were often made out of bone,or even tortoiseshell though expensive to use and the picks easily broken. The D’Andrea company is still in business today.

In order to pick-up more information on the history or the sale of guitar picks the following resources maybe helpful:

Jim Dunlop

rockmerch Alice Cooper,Beavis and Butthead Lanyards,Black Sabbath,( and others) picks may be for sale

swag.com here you may find those relating to Aerosmith, Kiss…

guitarbitz Jim Dunlop, Planet Waves…

I have recently discovered this gem: a veritable Aladdin’s Cave of wonderful collectables, many from the fabulous 1920s and 30s, a period of exciting art and design, including all things Art Deco. There are many items from before that time, for example the linen backed advertising posters for ski resorts in France and Switzerland; the luxurious traveler’s goods,like those made by Louis Vuitton ; and glassware and silverware depicting the elegance of times past. There are items representing the period since and upto 1950. Some really striking paintings,for instance, by Dexter Brown, portraying movie icons.many have been sold. There have paintings of my favourite film star, Steve McQueen, and also of Marilyn Munro. These have been exhibited at the Gallery for awhile. So where is this gem? It is the Pullman Gallery in London.

The Pullman Gallery specializes in objets de luxe dating from 1880-1950. Its gallery is in King Street, St. James’s next to Christie’s and a comprehensive website www.pullmangallery.com, presents a superb collection of rare Art Deco cocktail shakers, bar accessories, smoking accessories and sculpture, posters and paintings relating to motor-racing, flying and winter sports, as well as automobile bronzes, trophies, fine scale racing car models, early tinplate toys, vintage car mascots, Art Deco furniture and an extensive collection of antique Louis Vuitton and Hermès luggage and accessories.

Over the next few weeks , I plan to bring you some more details of these treasures to be found here and elsewhere, for your enjoyment.

For more about the The Pullman Gallery

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COLLECTOR’S PIECES

Today, I offer some salesroom wisdom:

” Quite a collector’s piece, you see, sir,” a dealer
will often say to you, and what he means by a ” col-
lector’s piece” is usually the ordinary handsome,
costly specimen, sought after by moneyed buyers.
A silver-rose-bowl, hall-marked 1708 ; a Petitot snuff-
box ; a Chelsea group of figures, very well cleaned up
with ammonia; a Derby vase, snake-handled, and a
lot of blue and gold about it; or a Japanese tsuba, or
sword-guard, lavishly inlaid—such are the ” collector’s
pieces” which dealers mean by that term. Few
dealers go deeper than that, and few collectors, either ;
they prefer to sell or buy the ordinary handsome
specimen, the banal beautiful thing which is ” every-
body’s money,” the pieces which resemble the pieces
seen in great public and private collections, and are
pictured in every ordinary book on collecting such
wares.
A Different Kind of Piece.—To me, however, is
a certain beaker, made of earthenware at Lambeth,
between the days of Dwight and the days of Doulton,
is a ” collector’s piece…”

This is as appropriate today ,as it was when the above sentiment was penned almost a hundred years ago. The trendy and the well known salesroom items are often priced beyond reason. The discerning collector will often look ,to help him add to his collection ,to the more ‘humble’ and the less well researched item whose provenance may often be far better than its better known and pricey relatives.

Collecting for its own sake can be a great pleasure. For the collector who is also investing there is risk, and there maybe reward. Whether you have bought well will ,of course , usually depend on the appeal your item has to other collectors.

If you would like a very readable and useful account about investing in collectables, you can buy a copy of “101 Extraordinary Investments” ,by Financial Mail columnist,Toby Walne , from any good book stockist,or call 0173 0233870 and order from Harriman House, 3A Penns Road,Petersfield,Hampshire GU32 2EWW

More very soon…

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