BADA Antiques and Fine Art Fair 18-24 March 2015

BADA Antiques and Fine Art Fair 18-24 March 2015

Oh I am so looking forward to the rest of this week and the weekend, as the BADA Antiques & Fine Art Fair is taking place in beautiful Chelsea!  We will get to enjoy the remarkable collections of Members of the British Antique Dealers’ Association and the art and antiques for sale range from 16th century works of art to contemporary furniture.

It all takes place in the beautiful Duke of York Square, just a hop and a skip away from The Saatchi Gallery, Cadogan Concert Hall and of course all the glorious shops on the King’s Road!  I hope to see you there dear!

BADA Antiques & Fine Art Fair 

18-24 March 2015, Duke of York Square, London SW3

The Chelsea Antiques Fair is coming up! 18-21 September 2014

 

Chelsea Antiques Fair September 2014

So the stunning month of September is upon us and an invitation to the Chelsea Antiques Fair has arrived!  The venue is again the beautiful Chelsea Old Town Hall, King’s Road, London SW3 5EE – you might remember our March visit from the blog post The Hearing Dogs Charity at Chelsea Antiques Fair?  Around 40 specialist dealers will be showcasing their selected pieces and we are delighted to see that affordable price tags from £50 will also feature at the fair.

Thursday 11am-8pm, Friday 11am-7pm, Saturday 11am-6pm, Sunday 11am-5pm.  Admission £6 and more information on www.penman-fairs.co.uk

Hope to see you there my lovely!

Sue Norman – Blue and White Antique China

When walking around the Chelsea Antiques Fair on Saturday I soon came to Sue Norman’s stand, where the beautiful combination of blues and whites immediately captured my Finnish heart:

Sue Norman Blue and White China

It all looked so inviting with these beautiful tulips…

I really loved the presentation of the pieces, with delicate tulips bringing us the promise of spring and sunshine, and fresh lemons giving and idea of how we can put these beauties to use at home.

… and why not keep some lemons in these lovely bowls?  It is easy to keep special pieces on a shelf to be looked at – but it makes it all the more special to actually put them to use!

Some of the plates carry scenic pictures from the 1800s, which means that they were made 200 years ago, and have remained in the most beautiful condition.  I loved reading the most fascinating descriptions on the labels:

‘Dinner Plate, Ridgway “Eastern Port” Circa 1815′

‘Egg Cup, Rustic Scene, ca 1820’s’

‘Two handled pot. Mason’s Ironstone. circa 1815’ …

The collection includes everything from plates and platters to flower holders and bathroom items – and if any of these lovelies take your fancy then do pop over to Sue Norman’s website to find out more!

A lovely postcard that Sue sends out every year, and apparently some of her followers love them so much that they collect the cards!

The Hearing Dogs Charity at Chelsea Antiques Fair

So on Friday I visited the Chelsea Antiques Fair at Old Chelsea Town Hall, as you might remember from Friday’s post: Heading off to the Chelsea Antiques Fair!

The Chelsea Antiques Fair at the beautiful Old Chelsea Town Hall

I just love visiting Old Chelsea Town Hall, as it is such a beautiful venue.  It also creates the perfect backdrop to an antiques fair – let’s take a closer look at the decor:

Such beautiful chandeliers and I love the soft turquoise walls with the golden details…

Chelsea Old Town Hall

I absolutely love dogs, so first of all I have to take you to the Hearing Dogs stand: the charity supported by the fair.

Hearing Dogs Charity, supported by The Chelsea Antiques Fair

As I was wandering around the fair I noticed that some of the objects were marked with a little red dot, and I found out that these were the selected objects where a percentage of the sales would go directly to the charity.  Here is one of my favourites:

“Puppy Toothache” at the Hearing Dogs charity, Chelsea Antiques Fair 

Puppy Toothache – gilt bronze study from early 20th century 

And these handsome guys kept an eye on the fair for us:

At the Hearing Dogs Charity at The Chelsea Antiques Fair

We will visit a number of other stands later on this week but I also wanted to give you guys a quick heads up that there is a fabulous antique auction at Catherine Southon Auctioneers and Valuers in Surrey on Wednesday 26th March at 11:30 (you might recognise Catherine Southon from various BBC Antiques programmes!)  It seems that the bidding will start at very reasonable levels for quite a few objects, so it could be a really interesting one to visit – especially if it is one of your first auctions experiences!

Catherine Southon Auctioneers and Valuers, next sale at The Chateau in Shirley Hills, Surrey on Wed 26th March 2014 at 11:30am

The sale can be viewed on 25th & 26th March at The Chateau, Coombe Lane, Shirley, Surrey CR0 5RE.  For more details, you can visit her website: www.catherinesouthon.co.uk.

Heading off to the Chelsea Antiques Fair!

Oh dear, it is just one of those days…!

It started out so well, as I was very excited to be heading out to the antiques fair that we chatted about in Monday’s post: The Chelsea Antiques Fair.  I had decided to wear one of my favourite vintage dresses, this blue sweetie from Shrewd:

Blue vintage shift dress from Vintage Shrewd, Dorking, Surrey

… and to match the lovely blue colour I picked out these antique gold and pearl earrings with sapphires that I picked up at an antique fair in Surrey a few months ago:

Antique gold and pearl earrings with sapphires…

My thing is not to wear a lot of vintage clothing, instead I like to mix antique jewellery with contemporary outfits, so today’s outfit was a very unusual one for me – and was really pleased with how the whole look came together:

… vintage dress and earrings – my perfect outfit when scouting for antiques!  Or so I thought…

However, fate had a different plan and so I managed to squirt some egg on the dress during breakfast (does anyone know how to get egg stains off your clothes by the way!?)  and instead I will be wearing my beloved snake necklace, a white t-shirt and black skinny jeans.  I whisked my hair up in a quick side-bun as it makes it is easier to take photos, and I intend to take a lot of those today at the fair!

And so here is the final outfit for the day!

Okay so I have my camera, handbag and phone ready, and can’t wait to upload some glorious jewellery photos for you on Instagram – so follow us here today for all the fabulous updates!  Time to head off to Chelsea Old Town Hall and see what sparkling treasures are up for sale today!

Wishing you a lovely Friday dear!

The Chelsea Antiques Fair – 19-23 March 2014

… a lovely invitation has come through:

The Chelsea Antiques Fair at Chelsea Town Hall 19.23 March

The Chelsea Antiques Fair will be running this week from Wednesday 19 until Sunday 23 March 2014 and we will be able to see the collections of around 35 specialist dealers at this beautiful venue.  (You might remember that we visited Chelsea Old Town Hall for the Frock Me! Vintage Fair last year?  The building is such a beautiful setting for these fairs!)  At the antique fair there will also be many affordable objects, in additions to all the exquisite highlights, and we are of course most excited about all the stunning jewellery.  Here is a sneak peek:

Antique Yellow Diamond Ring at the Chelsea Antiques Fair

A platinum carved crystal and onyx diamond brooch with cupids playing musical instruments ca.1910

And for those of you living in London, I would love to see you there, so do pop by!  I will be there on late Friday morning, so if you see me wandering around with my camera do come and say hello – and browse some beautiful sparkle with me!

The fair is supporting the Hearing Dogs charity

I was also delighted to hear that the fair is supporting the Hearing Dogs charity and that a percentage of the sales will go directly to them.  The charity trains hearing dogs to alert deaf people to important sounds and danger signals, providing independence, confidence and companionship.  Now this – coupled with the knowledge that buying vintage/antiques is a sustainable way of shopping – has made me even more excited to visit the fair!  Hope to see you there my dear!