One of our regular customers, Jeanette Ellis runs her own Commercial and Editorial Styling and Photography business.
She often pops in to to source her props for her latest projects, rummaging through our Junk Shop she always comes to the desk with interesting objects that are easily overlooked:
Rusty Keys, distressed books, brass door plates, vintage linens, old bottles can all find their way into Jeanette’s photography.
This beautiful early 20th century Austrian (marked Geschtzt) handmade cold painted solid bronze cat photo frame is a rare find indeed and we just had to show it off!
Gently peaking it’s head over the top with it’s paws holding the top and bottom of the frame with the tip of it’s curled up tail poking out underneath. Approximately 9.5″ high x 6.25″ wide and with an easel back.
This wonderful item is from our lovely dealer Ann Parker, it can be found in Unit 42P along with many other gorgeous antiques and mid century pieces.
In December, just before Christmas, we had the lovely Liza from Pixie Pottery visit us to stock up on vintage ceramics/plates, which she uses to make her beautiful mosaics.
Our Junk Shop is perfect for her to find what she needs, it always has a ready supply of china plates for use in craft / upcycling projects.
Liza re-purposes the vintage plates to make mosaic birds, wall hangings, plaques and mirrors. She sent us some lovely pictures of her work, using what she finds here at the Arcade and other places.
You can find her at www.pixietigerart.squarespace.com
It’s that spooky time of year again when all sorts of creepy goings on start to happen here at the Arcade.
As well as having plenty of unit holders haunting our corridors, frightening items have started to appear across the Arcade.
We have a wonderful colourful Halloween themed window display this month created by Brenda of the Blue Rooms here at the Arcade, if you look carefully in her unit, you might find you are being watched by her feathered friends!
Frances of Clockhouse Antiques has a large display of American Bethany Lowe grotesque figurines, which are sure to make you jump as you explore her unit, you have been warned!
So when you pay us a visit this month, be sure to look out for all our Halloween inspired items, from gargolyes in the garden area to Cards in Unit 22, and brass monkeys hiding their eyes in unit 109.
This month we had a visit from John and Susan with a rather uncanny surprise! This visit however just so happened to be for John’s 67th birthday. John and Susan have been visiting us for the last 20 years and always enjoy their time spent with us. Particularly having a coffee up in the Cosy Coffee Shop followed by some bargain hunting!
Their favourite stall in the Arcade happens to be our famous “Junk Shop” which is ran by Lou. So shortly after their coffee, John and Susan headed on down to the Junk Shop in search of any treasures or trinkets they could find! After a good rummage John was suddenly being stared in the face by what can only be described as the perfect and a must buy item with out question! It was obviously meant to be!
John was looking at a pair of silver plate goblets both stamped with a single word. One said “John” the other said “Susan”! What are the chances of that happening! A great find and we hope you enjoy your Goblets, lets see if you can beat that on your next visit!
It is with great sadness that Adrian and family announce that after a short illness, Hazel Browne passed away peacefully.
Hazel’s funeral is taking place on Tuesday, 18th October at 1.00 pm at St. Lawrence’s Church, Hungerford. You are all very welcome to attend.
Hungerford Arcade Voted The Best Antiques Centre in the UK
Hazel & Adrian (centre) receiving the
BBC Homes & Antiques Magazine Award
From Kirstie Allsop
Hazel’s husband, Adrian would like you all to know that Hazel lived her life to the full right from the early days, although she had a great love of riding motorbikes and horses, there was always antiques, having just acquired The Lamb at Wallingford (now Wallingford Arcade and Tearoom).
We are excited and thrilled to have yet another of our valued customers, Emma and James, celebrate their engagement by purchasing a stunning solitaire seen below. Nothing makes the day better for us than two people celebrating their love for one another in this way!
Emma and James live in Kent but have been visiting us here at the Hungerford Arcade since they met over 4 years ago. This particular visit however was a bit more special than others though!
It was to purchase the lovely engagement ring seen here on Emma’s finger. The ring they chose was from stall holder Brenda Neale (unit 4) and it’s a classic beautiful Solitaire.
We are all thrilled for the couple and delighted they chose to come to us at the Hungerford Arcade for their very important purchase. We wish them all the best and look forward to seeing them again soon, potentially with more exciting news?!
Its that time of year again where stall holder Ian
Spuffard concentrates his efforts in supporting his favourite charity, Macmillan Cancer Support. This week Ian has once again pulled out all the stops by doing his very own cake stall at
the Hungerford Town Hall.
With the cupcakes made by Jane Greenslade and the Flapjacks by our very own Wendy Spare, a successful day was had raising over £70 for Macmillan. Not to mention a belly full of cake no doubt!
Not only has Ian raised awareness and funds for his charity but Ian is also (as usual) taking part in the London Marathon this weekend to again raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. Despite all the train cancellations and potential travel issues in the capital, we have pulled together supporting Ian with cover and transportation so he can take part in the event.
We wish him all the best and will be cheering him on this Sunday. Currently Ian has achieved over £1000 towards his £1500 target but as always you can help support Ian and Macmillan Cancer Support by sponsoring him via the below link:
August was a scorching month, we had the sun beaming down on us with record temperatures, so keeping cool was a priority, (in more ways than one).
A first for me here at the Arcade, was spending most of the day with SVT television filming their new show ‘The Great Auction Show Down’ with series expert Paul Martin and guest expert Jessica Forrester from Special Auction Services (SAS) based in Newbury.
We had a lovely film crew who were all very helpful and friendly, as well as Paul and Jessica who made the day great fun to do.
They spent the majority of the day at the Arcade, with myself and unit holder Chris Jolliffe getting to do some filming as well, we can’t wait to see the end result, especially how the auction sale goes with the items from our various units.
It will be broadcast on Channel 5 in the near future, so watch this space……..
Hungerford Arcade’s good friend, Stuart Miller-Osborne has requested your help in identifying a recent purchase.
Hello Again
Whenever I write an article I usually research the subject as much as I can. This is partially to educate myself and partially to ensure the accuracy of the article. If I am travelling then I work from my notes (if I can read them) and then spend a couple of hours putting the article together. But there are times when I see or even purchase an item which is so mysterious that no matter how hard I try I always end up where I started. If I have purchased this item from an antiques outlet then the dealer can fill me in, but if I find these things in, lets say, a charity shop or at a summer fair then my windows are limited.
This happened to me recently in Sandwich in Kent which is about three miles from where I live.
Caron and I were visiting the lovely 1930s cinema in the town to see Top Gun Maverick (I had lost a bet and apart from washing up for the next ten years I was forced to seeTom flying around in the skies). The Empire in Sandwich is privately owned and is an absolute gem. It is a time capsule (with so many original features) and I highly recommend a visit if you are in the area (it is also massively cheap and you can see anymovie for about seven pounds or less).
However, prior to the movie we decided to wander around the town to see what was going on and soon found ourselves in a charity shop not far from the cinema. It was there that I spotted a pair of small ceramic cats which interested me greatly but at a glance I could not identify any features that might define their age or origins. So instead of having an ice cream at the cinema I gave a home to these beautiful felines.
And that is where the mystery starts for no matter how much I tried I could not date them or confirm who had made them.
So I am asking for your help and have included a couple of illustrations to help you along your way.
The cats are not very big and sit on a deep blue cushion and suffer from what I believe is called crazing (forgive me if I am wrong). Judging from their appearance they appear to be vintage as they are quite simply made but that is where it ends.
Two small matching ceramic cats who were obviously sold as a pair (I do hope they liked each other as you know what cats can be like). I did not pay a fortune for them and they have made a pleasing addition to my cabinet but it would be nice if I knew a little more about them.
If you know more than I do then please bump a mail to the arcade before the dealers identify these mogs.
