Collecting Guides

The corner of an ornate gild frame

How to clean antique picture frames

Rectangular stool by Robert Thompson c1940, £1,800, Holly Johnson Antiques.

A history of Mouseman furniture and where to buy

A table full of pottery decorated using sponge printing

Collecting Guides

A history of antique spongeware

Outdoor sculptures

Garden antiques

How to clean and repair garden sculptures

Collecting Guides

Top tips for buying antiques on online auctions

An image of witch balls

What are witch balls, and how can you buy them?

An illustration by Polly Fearne showing bidders in a salesroom

Collecting Guides

A beginners guide to buying at auction

Peter Henry Emerson, from ‘Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads’, 1886, est £70,000–£90,000 in Sotheby’s Classic Travel Photographs sale.

Collecting Guides

How to buy and collect antique photographs

An elegant tea party scene in a Georgian living room

Vintage and antique teapot guide: how to collect teapots and the history of tea drinking in Britain

Multi-gem set pendant ‘Regard’ necklace sold for £2,500 at Lyon & Turnbull.

How to buy and collect antique acrostic jewellery

Antique silver napkin rings on white frilly napkins

Collecting Guides

Antique napkin rings: how to collect and where to buy

A Mauchline tartanware photo album c1890 made £475 at Lyon & Turnbull in 2019

Luke Honey’s Cabinet of Curiosities: tartanware

‘Old London Bridge’ Charles Osborne-patented corkscrew, Victorian (sold for £40,000 in November 2014).

Antique corkscrews: how to collect and where to buy

A vast collection of antique copper jelly moulds.

Antique jelly moulds: how to collect and where to buy

A travel agent’s model by Bassett-Lowke for RMS Queen Mary c1960, sold by Charles Miller Ltd for £1,400.

Antique model ships: how to collect and where to buy