Your guide to attending an Auction

Viewing day at Lawrences Auctioneers

If people knew what amazing finds can be done at auctions, I am sure many more of us would be attending them.  I know that it can seem a bit intimidating – you might not know exactly what you are looking at, or looking for.  Not to mention the upbeat bidding part!  How are you supposed to keep up, and what if you accidentally buy a super expensive piece of furniture, when all you wanted to do was move some hair away from your face!?  Well fear not, let’s go through the different steps  and see if we can make some sense of it all:

I loved looking through all these vintage movie posters at Lawrences Auctioneers viewing

Viewing the Items

I love this part of the auction, as you get to spend time at the auction house browsing through tons of beautiful pieces and imagining what they would look like in your house!  The auction houses that I have been to usually have viewings two days ahead of the auction and also a couple of hours on the morning on the day of the auction.  Use the viewing time wisely and inspect the pieces that you are interested in, so that you are aware of any faults before the bidding starts.

Who wouldn’t want to take this little sweetie home?  At Ashbeys Gallery, Cape Town

To give you an example: I once saw a pair of amazing Chanel earrings in an online auction catalogue for a really low price, so I did a lot of online research the night before to understand the difference between real and fake Chanel, even though I planned to ask for advise at the auction house the next day.

However, when I arrived at the auction and asked the Porter for her advise – the Porter is the person helping you view the items so you that don’t drop the delicate ones on the floor or make dents into pretty vases – it turned out that she had no idea whether they were real or fake; neither did anyone else who worked there!  In didn’t end up buying the earrings, as it seemed to be a deal too good to be true, and that turned out to be the right decision in the end, as they were indeed mere replicas.  So do make sure that you do your research before heading to the auction – and don’t count on being able to rely on anyone else’s advice!

A treasure trove of costume jewellery at P.F. Windibank Auction

Also, keep an eye on the lot numbers so that you know when your piece is coming up, as there will be hundreds of lots up for sale on the day.  Bring a notebook and write down the lot numbers that you are interested in, together with any faults that you may have found on them.  You can even bring a camera to take some photos for your own reference (I always ask first whether it is alright for me to take photos though), that way you will ready for the bidding when it starts and hopefully you will get to buy the pieces that you like!

Golden Art Nouveau necklace with pearls

Bidding

Always decide in advance how much you are prepared to bid for a piece and stick to that limit, because during the exciting bidding process it can be very tempting to go higher, especially if you are a competitive person!

There are different ways to bid and the most common one is still in person.  You need to register your name, contact details and often also a credit card when you arrive at the auction house, and you will then be given a paddle number.  You enter the bidding by raising a hand or your paddle when you see the lot that you would like to buy, and the auctioneer will make a note of your number.

Antique poster of the English countryside and two hounds

Alternatively you can bid over the phone, if you don’t have time to attend in person.  You will be speaking to one of the staff members on the phone and they will relay your bids to the auctioneer during the bidding process.

These days you can of course also bid over the internet in real time during the auction.  The items are displayed on a screen with a photo and the level of the bidding next to it, and you can just use click your bids – super simple!  You do however miss out on the atmosphere in the auction room when bidding over the internet, so make sure you attend at least one auction before you start internet bidding, to get the ‘real’ experience.

If you want to do a commission bid you simply inform the auctioneer of the lot you want to bid on, and leave your highest price with them.  They will then use this information to bid against the others.

Browsing an auction catalogue at Winidbanks

Clever words to keep in mind:

The estimate is the price at which the auction house thinks that the item might be sold.  I did however learn the hard way that this is really only an estimate, when a beautiful cameo brooch went for at least three times the estimate – and I didn’t even get the chance to place my bid as internet and commission bids went flew past me like racing cars!  Utterly disappointing, but a good experience.

You use the paddle to bid for things, so waving it around to get rid of mosquitoes is not recommended – or you might find yourself having to find a suitable place in your house for that expensive Oak Arch Topped Swing Toilet Mirror on turned supports with splayed feet.  No, that is not entirely true, as the auctioneers are very good at assessing who is actually placing a real bid in the room.

The reserve price is the lowest price at which the lot will be sold, so if you want the item you must bid above it, or it will remain unsold.

Unreserved means that there is no reserve price and the item will sell at whatever price is offered.

Ashbeys Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

So do go out and attend an auction, as it is such an interesting experience!  A couple of great auction houses are:

• P.F. Windibank in Dorking, Surrey
• Crows Auction Gallery in Dorking, Surrey
• Lots Road Auctions in Chelsea, London
• Ashbeys Gallery, Cape Town

Other auctions will be listed for example in the Antiques Trade Gazette Magazine, which is an antiques bible for me!

January Garnet Glory

Did you know that a piece of jewellery with garnets  is a wonderful gift to give to your friend?  It symbolises eternal friendship and trust, and friends used to exchange garnets as a symbol of affection and also to ensure that they would meet again.  I also love that the word garnet comes from Latin’s granatus – meaning grain or seed, as the garnet so resembles the beautiful seeds of the pomegranate fruit. (1)

Agate and Garnet Ring, 19th Century

Garnets are surrounded by more magical stories than this though: a biblical legend tells us that Noah used a garnet lantern to make his way through the stormy oceans and Hebrew writers included the garnet as one of the twelve gems in Aaron’s breastplate (2).  Furthermore, a garnet is thought to have been one of the four precious stones given to King Solomon by God and red garnet necklaces adorned the necks of Egypt’s mummified pharaohs as valuable possessions for the afterlife.  Carved garnet were also found on signet rings used to stamp the wax of important documents in ancient Rome (3).

Gold bracelet with garnets at the Jewel Tree in Cape Town

Garnets come in a rainbow of colours that result from unique combinations of elements (such as iron, calcium and manganese) within each gemstone.  The colours range from the dazzling deep reds to rosy pinks, lime greens, vibrant greens and violets – all colours except blue.  Garnets are these days sourced in Africa, Sri Lanka and India.    

You might remember this beautiful South African brooch, adorned with garnets

Sources:

(1) About Birthstones

(2) Jewels For Me

(3) GIA Edu 

Glitter glitter everywhere…

First of all: I really missed you guys on Friday, when I wasn’t able to write a post as I was travelling!  Lots of love from a -17 degree Finland though, this time of year is just stunning over there when the sun is out, you can get a good idea from this photo on Instagram.

Decades of Elegance Vintage necklaces

A very exciting thing is happening on the blog at the moment, with this super lovely magazine writing a piece about the Decades of Elegance collection!  I will link to their website when the article comes out and I am really looking forward to seeing the finished piece, as I have had the chance to work with some incredibly talented people.  One of them is photographer James Oaten, whose photography I love as he captures details really well, without messing around with the photos. I really can’t wait to see how he applies his skills to a jewellery collection!

Vintage-style Leopard Bracelet £50 now £40                                                         Art Deco Pearl Ring £85 now £60                                                                            Costume Jewellery Pearl Choker £35 now £25                                                           Mother of Pearl bracelet £50 now £40                                 

This photo session also created a wonderful opportunity to take out all my pieces of jewellery and get an idea of what we have at the moment.  I have decided to put a couple of pieces on sale here, so if you see anything you love do get in touch with me on: info@decadesofelegance.com and we will make it yours!

Vintage-style Leopard Bracelet £50 now £40                                                               Art Deco Pearl Ring £85 now £60

Vintage Shades of Pearl

Yesterday I was wearing this floating pearl necklace that my grandmother gave me, and I just love wearing jewellery that someone has given to me, as it makes me think of that person throughout the day:

Floating pearl vintage necklace in grey

I did however realise that I matched their fabulous grey shades – with a grey woolen skirt from COS, a grey woolen cardigan from Noa Noa and a pair or grey tights also from COS!  Good thing that I at least spiced things up with a white t-shirt from H&M..  Also just realised how Scandi-biased that outfit was!

I would love to hear what you choose to wear in the winter: do you go all black and sophisticated (yes all you lovely Swedes, I am looking at you!) or do you throw in lots of colour brighten up the dark skies?  Obviously a wonderful way of bringing some subtle colour to your outfit is adding some nicely coloured jewellery!

Please excuse the selfie – it is rather impossible to take photos of jewellery without them!

On another note, I am very grateful to Coco Chanel for bringing faux pearls to life back in the 20’s, and showing how beautifully we can get all draped in strands of pearls – and faux pearls in that instance work just as well as the real stuff!

Grey floating pearl necklace – vintage of course!

If you find yourself having to determine whether a pearl is genuine or faux, there is a very simple test that you can do: scrape the pearl gently across your teeth.  Faux pearls will feel smooth, whereas real pearls feel slightly gritty or abrasive, due to the crystalline structure of the outer part of the pearl, also known as the nacre. 

I hope this will inspire you to wear some fabulous pearls with your outfit tomorrow or maybe at the weekend!

A secret place

Whenever I visit vintage shops and markets the traders tend to give me such interesting little nuggets of information that I can then share with you.  This morning I suddenly remembered that the Frivology-shop that we visited in our first post of 2014 had a little secret to share with us:

Previously a wedding dress fitting room

On my visit the other week, the stylist showed me to the back of the shop and led me into the room in the photo above.  Apparently the shop used to be a wedding dress shop back in the days, and this room was used as the wedding dress fitting room.  I know that it looks a bit messy, but imagine when it was all clean and tidy – how beautifully the light would come through the windows, while brides were twirling around, trying on a dress that they would wear on such a special day in their lives!

Can you imagine how beautiful it would have looked back in the days, when brides-to-be where having their wedding dress fittings? 

I have put together a few photos from the post about Jane Bourvis wedding dress shop by Portobello Road, to give you an idea of how romantic the wedding dress fitting room would have looked back in the days.

Vintage wedding dress, Jane Bourvis

Oh I do love dreaming away and imagining what places like these would have looked like a long time ago.  I am so happy that so many talented and skilled designers these days are doing such a wonderful job restoring old dresses and veils, so that we can enjoy the stunning designs that prevailed decades ago.

This is a long shot, but I would absolutely love to hear from anyone who might have bought their wedding dress from this wedding dress shop in Fulham.  It would have been located on Fulham Road, next to the Waitrose roundabout and any stories that you have are ever so welcome!

A winter’s walk in Sunny South Kensington

Hello my dear, on this rainy and stormy Friday morning – at least that is what London looks like right now!  I have however enjoyed the most beautiful winter so far, as the sun has been blessing us with her presence so much – I have just had to make sure to go outside as soon as she shows her pretty face.  Since we are on our fabulous Afternoon Tea week, I also wanted to take you along on my walk to the Bentley Hotel on Saturday last week, as it was such a glorious, sunshiny day, and I got to walk through one of my favourite parts of London – South Kensington (all you Instagrammers out there know how much South Ken features in my photos there!)

Sunset over the Victorian buildings by Gloucester Road

I just love how the sunset was warming up the walls of these buildings, and despite the trees not having their summer dresses on, the so majestically stretch out above us, enjoying the last rays of sun.

These red-brick mansions are part of South Kensington’s distinct architecture, and I just love how they are soaking up the sun here

 

A beautiful and stubborn little winter bud

A girl needs to take any excuse to get dressed up – so this antique ring came on the afternoon tea adventure at the Bentley Hotel

And in case you were wondering what I wore to the afternoon tea, I went for this mother-of-pearl/beige coloured dress, black tights, a pair of black ankle boots and of course the antique ring with garnets and an agate, which dates over 100 years back in time.  Of course you don’t have to dress up for your fabulous Afternoon Tea visit, but it sure makes it all the more fun!

Happy Weekend!

Afternoon Tea – The Bentley Hotel

When I arrived at the Bentley Hotel I was taken aback by the stunning interior design; everything from the black and white marble floors, the gold details on the white walls and ceilings, the elegant spiral staircase leading downstairs to a grand piano, to the impressive flower arrangements in the foyer.  Downstairs they also had these sweet little rooms, each presenting only a chair and an antique writing desk, supposedly for when you want to catch up on your correspondence!

Lady N was already waiting for me at our table in the lounge, which gave us a spectacular view of the room:

The foyer of the Bentley Hotel

We had found a deal online which included a glass of champagne with our Afternoon Tea, and that was the perfect way to start this little party!  We were seated in these great, red, Victorian chairs that we just sunk right back into, and with the beautiful golden armrests I couldn’t have felt more like a princess!  The table was beautifully set and you can tell that they really pay attention to detail at the hotel:

The Bentley Hotel Afternoon Tea

The staff were very attentive and helpful, and when we focused too much on our fabulous champagne and let our teas go cold, they happily replaced our old cups and cold tea with new, steaming ones.  I loved my Jasmine tea and my friend had their lovely Earl Grey.  We had to wait a while for our food to arrive but our waitress apologised very much for this and also made up for it at the end with our bill, which indicated that it was just a one off.

The Bentley Hotel, Afternoon Tea

Now let’s move over to the food!  The sandwiches arrived on a plate with silver tongs, and the pastries and cakes, that are prepared daily, arrived on a proper afternoon tea stand.  The selection of finger sandwiches was the traditional one with cream cheese and cucumber/smoked salmon/tuna/coronation chicken on white and brown bread.  The salmon and chicken were both divine, and the rest were very nice tasting.

Our Afternoon Tea sandwich selection

The fabulous freshly baked scones with clotted cream and jam

The freshly baked scones (scones are my favourites by the way, and my main reason for going for Afternoon Tea!) were delicious with the clotted cream, but I think they might have run out of strawberry jam, as we were served some other berry jam.  It would have been perfect with strawberry.

The Bentley Hotel, Afternoon Tea

The pastries were also lovely: a chocolate mousse that melts in your mouth and a wonderful brownie stole the show.  With pastries it is also so much about the presentation, and it was just fabulous.

The Bentley Hotel, Afternoon Tea

Conclusion:

The lounge presented such a beautiful setting and we were able to really enjoy our tea and catch up in this peaceful environment, where a lot of thought and planning clearly had gone into the details.  The food is traditional, so those of you looking for a Classic Afternoon Tea without any experimental varieties will love this.  There were a few hiccups with our food but the polite and helpful staff dealt with everything very professionally, and made our visit very enjoyable.  I am definitely looking forward to my next visit!

The Afternoon Tea at the Bentley Hotel gets 4 out of 5 Decades of Elegance rings:

Other posts on the Bentley Hotel: The delightful history of Afternoon Tea

The delightful history of Afternoon Tea

This weekend I went for a fabulous afternoon tea at the Bentley Hotel in Knightsbridge.  I will create a guide to London Afternoon Teas here on the blog soon, so that you will always be able to choose your perfect place!  My review of the tea at the Bentley Hotel will come later on this week, but here is a sneak peek of the hotel and of the history of this wonderful tradition:

The Bentley Hotel

Afternoon tea has been a dear tradition for almost two centuries and was “invented” by Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford.  Legend has it that she was visiting the 5th Duke of Rutland at Belvoir Castle in the 1840’s – a point in time when people would eat their breakfast in the morning and quite a late dinner, with only a light bite for lunch.  Now this would have set anyone’s blood sugars plummeting, which is exactly what must have happened to Anna as she complained about “a sinking feeling” in the afternoons.  She came up with the clever idea of asking for tea and cakes or sandwiches to be sent up to her room daily. and she found these afternoon snack sessions so delightful that she soon started inviting her friends to join her.  It didn’t take long for afternoon tea to become an established tradition in many middle and upper class households!

Lady N modelling a 1930′s Art Deco Pearl and Marcasite Ring

I just adored the seating area at the hotel, where we had our afternoon tea – how can you feel like anything other than a princess in a setting like this?

I love getting dressed up for afternoon tea – of course you don’t have to worry about what to wear, but I think it makes it one notch more special to wear a nice dress and of course some antique or vintage jewellery!  My dear friend Lady N is here modelling our favourite 1930’s pearl ring.

1930′s Art Deco Pearl and Marcasite Ring at the Bentley Hotel

The dazzling gemstone Peridot

 

I was having dinner with two of my lovely ladies earlier this week, and our Indian Princess brought out this beautiful vintage peridot bracelet.  You can see Miss M modelling the sparkling green bracelet here, with a matching glass of cucumber water!  (by the way, I have recently discovered what wonderful health benefits cucumber and lemon water has – Google it if you are curious!)

Vintage Peridot bracelet

Peridot dates way back in time; in fact we are once again revisiting our our old friends the Ancient Egyptians, who mined this gemstone, which was formed deep inside the earth and delivered to the surface by volcanoes.  They associated peridots with light and referred to it as the Gem of the Sun, because it stayed bright under all lighting conditions.  Later on the Greeks and the Romans continued praising this beautiful gemstone – and the Romans would call it the Evening Emerald.

Vintage Peridot bracelet

I read this fascinating story on the GIA website:

“Early records indicate that the ancient Egyptians mined a beautiful green gem on an island in the Red Sea called Topazios, now known as St. John’s Island or Zabargad. Legend has it that the island was infested with snakes, making mining unpleasant until an enterprising pharaoh drove them into the sea. From the earliest times, people confused this stone—now known to be peridot—with other gems. It was one of many labeled as “topaz.””   Peridot History and Lore (1)

So Peridot was easily confused with other green gemstones and rumour has it that Cleopatra’s legendary emerald collection was in fact peridot!  The same goes for the 200 carat gemstones adorning the shrine of the Three Holy Kings in Germany’s Cologne Cathedral – for centuries people thought that they were emeralds, but they are in fact peridots.

I was also fascinated to read that some Peridots have travelled to earth in meteorites called Pallasites!  Some versions of these space gems are of quite bad quality and will rust and crumble, but some are just fabulous and have been turned into jewellery. (2)

I will write a post on Wedding Anniversary Jewellery, which might especially come in handy for the gents who are struggling with anniversary presents for the lovely wives, and of course the other way around – but I wanted to give you a sneak peek today: Peridot is the 16th wedding anniversary gemstone. (3)

Peridot is also the birthstone for August, and is associated with love, truth, faithfulness and loyalty.

Sources:

(1) GIA Education

 (2) Space Gems

(3) Wedding Anniversary Jewellery

A 1920’s Garrard’s aquamarine ring

I went to the most beautiful wedding last summer, where the mother of the bride was wearing this extraordinary vintage aquamarine ring.  The ring came out so beautifully in the wedding photos (taken by the amazing Honeybunn Photography) that it deserved its own blog post:

The beautiful bride getting dressed – and I know that so many of you will fall in love with the dress as well as the ring… Copyright: Honeybunn Photography

Before I start with the ring, can I just take a second to adore the wedding dress?  The deep cut back and the lace sleeves are so incredibly elegant and suit the bride perfectly.  The colour of the bridesmaids’ dresses was a soft turquoise, which you can see in the bottom right corner of the picture, and it was reflected so beautifully in the mother of the bride’s aquamarine ring:

A very special moment where the mother of the bride helps her daughter with the veil – Copyright: Honeybunn Photography

This is a family ring made bespoke for the bride’s Great Grandmother in the 1920’s, by the family jeweller Garrard.  The centre stone is a 30 carat aquamarine, and it is flanked by eight diamonds in a platinum setting.  I thought that this was a wonderful excuse to look further into the history of the famous jeweller Garrard:

You can visit Garrard’s on 24 Albemarle Street in London

George Wickes (1698–1761) was a goldsmith who entered his mark in Goldsmiths’ Hall in 1722; this was a practice followed by all goldsmiths, with their personal marks identifying their work.  Wickes was a very skilled goldsmith who provided jewellery and other luxury items to aristocratic patrons, and after starting his own company he soon became appointed as goldsmith of Frederick, Prince of Wales.  Wickes retired in 1760 and the company changed hands a few times before Robert Garrard became a partner in 1792.  The name Garrard was cemented in 1802 and the company would remain in the hands of the Garrard family until 1946, when Sebastian Henry Garrard, the great-grandson of Robert Garrard senior passed away.  

A close up of this extraordinary ring…

In 1843 Queen Victoria appointed Garrard to the position of Crown Jewellers, and in the photo above you can see the text “By appointment to H.M. the Queen…” written inside the ring’s original box.  As Crown Jewellers Garrard were responsible for the production of many pieces of silverware and jewellery for the Royal Family, as well as the upkeep of the Crown Jewels – which we will look closer at in a future post.  During the 19th century they designed numerous pieces for the Royal House and the aristocracy, and today many commissions can be found in museums, national institutions and private collections around the world. (1)

And this is what a 30 carat aquamarine looks like when worn…

As we can tell from the history of this jewellery designer these pieces are unique and very special, so I would like to thank our lovely bride and her mother for letting us admire this spectacular piece of history!

(1) Heritage History of Garrard