Lars Tharp: The Antiques Road Show

Photograph © Lars Tharp

This month, we welcomed one of the most popular and long-serving members of the Antiques Roadshow, Lars Tharp, as our speaker. With his unusual, Danish name it's no surprise that people are confused about how to spell it. His favourite misspelling appeared on a letter addressed to Mr Large Carp, which made us all laugh.

The ceramics and oriental specialist explained about his love of antiques, how he is enthralled by the shapes, designs and colours of the items brought to his attention by members of the public and that having physical contact with the objects helps him to generate an empathy with the makers. The action of handling the antiques, in order to closely examine possible identification markings, introduces and element of excitement for both the owner and Lars himself.

Queues at the Roadshow are often very long and Lars is amazed at the length of time that many people are prepared to wait before their objects are seen and valued. As there are so many fakes on the market, this can often lead to disappointment but occasionally, a treasure is found and many of these end up in museums for safe keeping.

Lars told us that he is an admirer of William Hogarth, the English painter and engraver, and has studied many of his prints and pictures in detail as a hobby. We learned that Hogarth was effectively a reporter in his day with his pictures and cartoons showing images of everyday household events. Lars is also particularly interested in designs by Picasso, one of which is shown in the above photograph.

Lars was thanked for not only entertaining us but also showing slides of interesting and decorative items and for explaining how it all began with ancient man discovering patterns and shapes before discovering uses for what he found or made. After his fascinating talk, we all left intending to look more closely at items in our own homes, with the hope that we can find something to take to the next local Roadshow!

Alison Snowdon: Life on the Auction Floor

Photograph © Alison Snowdon

It was a cold, damp, mid-summer's day when we lunched at Linden House on 28^th June, but it was lovely to meet up with friends again. There were 63 members and 6 guests present; we were pleased to have so many as sometimes, at this time of the year, people are away on holiday.

Our speaker was auctioneer and valuer, Alison Snowdon, who told us about her life on the auction floor. Alison first became interested in antiques as a child when she lived in London and often visited museums and art galleries as her interest grew. She is now based at a small, local salesroom in Stourbridge and is passionate about her work.

Her enthusiasm showed as she shared her stories about some of her finds. It was rather like having our own Antiques Road Show as she explained how fashions change, which inevitably alters the value of certain items; Lalique glassware, Rolex watches and certain toys in their original boxes still hold their value, yet Royal Doulton figurines, Imari-ware and solid wooden brown furniture are currently worth very little.  Lowry paintings are renowned for their fakery but if there is provenance which can be proven, their value obviously rises - a small Lowry sketch in a note book recently sold for £26,000.

Alison told of the excitement in the auction room before a sale as no one really knows how the punters will bid. Of course, the internet has changed things dramatically, as people now have instant access to information and online bidding.

We were all interested to hear how many items have been bought cheaply at car boot sales and then found to be worth far more once they have been cleaned up. Alison's best finds were two sauce boats, made in 1746 (pictured above), which were found in the back of a cabinet covered in dust and dirt and fetched £34,000 at auction. She was thrilled with these and so were we, as we shared her enthusiasm. We all vowed that we would look in our attics, cupboards and drawers as we must have something of value hidden somewhere!