Some new finds

I have got my first stall this Thurs at the Sussex Country Brocante and I have to admit that I had a teeny tiny meltdown last week when I thought I didn't have enough stock to take.  I am also doing the Village-Vintage fair in November so I started to really panic especially as pickings had been a bit thin on the ground recently.  I was also feeling a bit daunted as it is my first fair at Wisborough Green and I will have a stand alongside many other stallholders who have been doing this a lot longer than I have.  I want to appear professional in front of my peers and that's why having the right stock is so important to me.  I want to look like I actually know what I'm doing!

To be honest with you, there is no rhyme or reason to my buying.  I literally buy what I love and hope that if I love it someone else will too!  I also think this helps you to sell the item as you are passionate about what you are offering.  This is very infectious and hopefully makes the buyer walk away happy and as enthused about their new purchase as you were.  I love putting an item with its rightful owner and one of my favourite sales was to a lady who bought an old French, early 1900s chocolate box from me.  She wanted it as a gift to her mum and she was going to add her own posh chocolates to the box.  I would have loved to have received that as a gift!  The thought that went into the gift is irreplaceable and I'm sure her mum felt very special on her birthday.

With all this weighing on my mind I went out on Sunday morning not really expecting much and still panicking that I didn't have much stock.  First impressions were a little disappointing and I expected to be done within 15 minutes.  How wrong I was!  As soon as I bought my first item, the treasures kept coming and my purse didn't stay shut all the way round the market!

My first item was this gorgeous handpainted french tole chandelier.

French Tole chandelier

Handpainted flowers on tin

The colours are all muted and faded just the way I like them and the candle covers are all wood not plastic.  A really lovely light for a country cottage.

As soon as I bought this I thought that the morning had been worth it as I was so happy with the light.  Little did I know that the vintiquing fairies were looking down on me and I was going to come away with a whole lot more including these:

Palest, softest green silk shades

Gorgeous vintage shades in the palest, softest green and cream. Quite shabby but I loved them.

1930s children's chair

British made label on chair

Original material

I found this gorgeous children's chair from the 1930s still with its original material.  It even has the original British Made stamp on it.  It is a really solid chair and I love the shape of it, really special.

1930s/40s moneybox

1930s/40s moneybox with cute graphics.

Blue and white plate

The softest leather gloves

Old chippy paint tin

Little silk shoes with mother of pearl buttons

Selection of gorgeous clothes

  The title made me laugh as did the chapter called the Strumpet vine!

 Two of my favourite finds:

1930s ceramic Pierrot figure

Vintage Ensign camera

And then finally my keeper find cos I love it so much is this gorgeous little mangle with the original decal.  It still works too!

Vintage toy mangle

British made too!

So there you have it a pretty good haul even if I do say so myself!

I don't know what I was worrying about and although I know I might not be able to find things as good as this every week, it gave me the boost I needed and now I can't wait till Thurs!

Hope to see you all at a fair soon :)

Sussex Country Brocante and other fairs

I thought I would let you know about a few fairs that are happening in Sussex over the coming weeks and also if I have it written down then I remember too!  Thanks to Theo & Bernice for the info on the new Ditchling Market fair.

The first one is the beautiful monthly Sussex Country Brocante held in the lovely village of Wisborough Green.  Over 25 stalls including me will be selling a wonderful range of antique textiles, antique country furniture, vintage homeware and much more.  It is a lovely day out with tea and cake available and there are several pubs nearby to have a pub lunch after all the shopping!

The next fair is this Thurs 4th Oct and doors open at 11am.

The Old Market in Hove BN3 1AS is hosting a Vintage Fair this Saturday 6th Oct and doors open at 11am.  It promises to be an all day celebration of 50s fashion, music and fads and has an onsite stylist for that essential period grooming.  There will be stalls selling clothes, furniture, vintage homeware and much more.

Another fair that I would like to mention is Mainwaring's Seaside Brocante in the lovely town of Whitstable.  The fair is held at St Mary's Hall, Oxford Street, Whitstable, Kent CT5 1DD and is held once or twice monthly.  Dates for this year are Sat 6th Oct, Sat 20th Oct, Sat 3rd Nov, Sat 1st Dec and Sat 15th Dec.  There is a range of vintage clothing, fabrics, vintage homeware and much more.  It makes a lovely day out as after the fair you can meander down the street looking at the antique shops and then go and have oysters that were caught that day.  Well worth a visit.

Next up is a new fair, Ditchling Vintage Market, organised by Darcy who also co-organises the Village-Vintage fairs.  This fair is held in Ditchling Village Hall BN6 8TT on Friday 19th Oct and doors open at 11am

Next we have the Village-Vintage Winter Wonderland fair Plumpton Racecourse BN7 3AL on Sat 10th Nov, doors open at 11am.
This is a brilliant fair and has something for everyone.  I'm busy buying stock for this fair as I will have a stall for the 2nd time, I'd had such a great time in July that I had to come back again.  I'm also trying to save some pennies as there is so much on offer, a really great day out!

On Sat Nov 17th at 11am K&A Pop Up Vintage are hosting another fair at the Adastra Hall, Hassocks BN6 8QH.  This fair has over 50 stalls, pop up tearoom and a backstage boudoir for vintage hairstyling.  There will be vintage homeware, vintage Christmas gifts and much more.

Happy Vintiquing everyone!

Fake or Fortune?

Have you been watching the new BBC1 programme, Fake or Fortune, Sundays with Fiona Bruce and Art Expert, Philip Mould?  If you haven't then I highly recommend you try and catch it.  The programme examines the provenance or attribution of notable artworks and due to cutting edge forensic techniques, experts are now able to establish the authenticity of pictures in ways not thought possible before.  As a result paintings by some of the great masters that were either unknown or considered fakes are being re-evaluated.  It is a fascinating programme to watch and you want to have a look in the attic to see what lost Old Masters might be languishing up there!

I don't have an attic or any old Masters unfortunately BUT I do have a picture which I bought years ago that has a question mark hanging over it.  I saw this picture on a website and loved it.

It wasn't attributed to anyone and it was described as a painting.  The style looked kind of familiar but I had no idea who had painted it, I just knew I liked the image and wasn't bothered about putting a name to it.   It was in a shop in London so Mark and I went along one weekend to have a look.  As we looked at it, it became clear that this was actually a print, an old print but none the less it wasn't the painting it had been described as.  Due to this, we got some money off and I was happy with my new picture.

Every once in a while over the years I would half heartedly try and find out who painted it until one day I was sitting down watching the tv and my picture appeared on screen!  Well, I was shocked and a little annoyed as I was still no nearer to finding out who it was by.  There was no mention of the artist, it wasn't even referred to, it was just hanging there.  I knew that it must be by someone relatively famous but it would be another few months until I found out who.  It happened whilst I was reading Homes and Antiques,  I turned a page lo and behold my picture was staring back up at me and this time there was a name!

La Loge au Mascaron Dore

It was an advert advertising a Henri de Toulouse Lautrec exhibition and my picture was the image they had used.  Now I was excited!  Ok so the images weren't exactly the same but I didn't care.  I got on the computer and found out that Lautrec had painted the original in 1893 and it was called La Loge au Mascaron Dore, The box with the gold mask.  Armed with this information I then did.............nothing!  I was quite happy that I had found who it was by and that was the end of that.

That is until the Antiques Roadshow came to Brighton and I decided to take my picture along just to see what the experts thought.  After queuing for hours in the blazing sun, I finally got directed to the art department where I waited for another hour!  All the time I was thinking that it was going to be worth the wait, they'd tell me what an amazing find it was, I'd be filmed for the show and start crying when I hear how much its worth because I'm so shocked and happy that I have a picture worth over a million pounds etc etc etc.

Philip Mould

Rupert Maas

That didn't happen.  Philip Mould looked at it and said he wasn't sure so I had to wait for Rupert Maas to come and have a look. All this time I'm thinking that I have something really special and that more importantly I'm going to be on t.v!  Rupert Maas finally came over and.................told me that it was a Lautrec and that was about all he could tell me. He did say it was a print but wasn't sure if it was a reproduction or original and he couldn't tell me how much he thought it was worth.  He did say that I should take it to the British Museum and get the to have a look as they'd be able to take it out the frame etc etc.  With that I took my picture and its been in the living room ever since!

I will probably take it to the British museum one day and I'll let you know how I get on but for now I'm able to dream that I have a rare and one of a kind print that is worth millions!

p.s.  It took me a while to get over the fact that I wasn't going to be on t.v and become an overnight sensation.  I'm fine now and have accepted it ;)