Saturday Surgery

Just to remind you that we will be holding a Tunbridge Ware Surgery at The Edenbridge Galleries on Saturday 18th February.

Dianne will be at The Galleries between 11am & 3pm and will be happy to answer your questions on Tunbridge Ware. She will be able to help with identification and dating and will advise on condition and restoration. Also if you would like a free valuation of your Tunbridge Ware please bring your pieces to the Gallery.

A Distinctive Look

Most Tunbridge Ware collectors will probably agree that Thomas Barton's work was classy and some would go as far as to say that it was simply the best.

Our Object of the Month for February is an example of the quality he achieved and has the distinctive look, with which he is so often associated. One of the identifying characteristics of Barton's work was his choice of veneers. Unlike many other makers, Barton favoured a dark background for his boxes and coromandel was a frequent choice.

Known by several different names, coromandel is commonly known as Macassar Ebony and comes from South East Asia. In the 18th century the timber was used in England for making expensive furniture and in the early 19th century it became popular as a veneer for quality furniture. Although still costly, coromandel as a veneer was, relatively speaking, a cheaper option.

Veneering was however not a new technique but took its origins from Ancient Egypt, where timber was as rare as precious jewels. Examples of veneering were found in the tomb of Tutenkhamen, which demonstrated an early understanding of the natural beauty of wood.

In England the 18th & 19th centuries saw the very best artisitic use of veneers by the likes of Chippendale, Hepplewhite & Sheraton, who worked extensively in mahogany and satinwood. The use of exotic veneers gained popularity in the 19th century.

In the Victorian period coromandel appeared on smaller items such as boxes, dressing cases, bookends and the like. Possibly the dark colour of the veneer reflected Queen Victoria's mood after the death of Prince Albert and increased its use.

The heartwood of coromandel, with its black and reddish brown stripes, certainly appealed to Thomas Barton. He used it extensively on his Tunbridge Ware and it is often cited as one of the main characteristics of his work.

Interestingly we do not think we have seen coromandel used as a background veneer by Tunbridge Ware makers other than by Barton on his own or during the Nye / Barton 'partnership' period. We should be interested to hear of any pieces in your collections with coromandel background veneers, which do not seem to have come from the Nye / Barton workshop.

Forthcoming Events

Just to remind you to look at our Events Page, where you will find information up to July on fairs and other events in which we will be involved.

Our first event is a Tunbridge Ware Surgery at The Edenbridge Galleries on Saturday 18th February. Hope to see you there!

Are You Missing Out?

Those of you who entered The Edenbridge Galleries recent competition to identify the Tunbridge Ware Mystery Object will probably know that noone managed to guess that it was an unusual coin holder.

We would now like to remind you that The Edenbridge Galleries are now holding a competition each month with the questions featuring either items from the specialist dealers or questions of a more general nature. The December question was a very easy one, the answer to which could have been readily found on the internet. Needless to say there were several correct answers and one lucky winner, who has been sent a £100 voucher to spend at Edenbridge or from the Gallery web site.

If you would like to know about forthcoming competitions and the chance for a £100 voucher please go to www.edenbridgegalleries.com and join their mailing list.

Last Into Bed

Our Object of the Month for the New Year has got us thinking how very lucky we now are. In spite of the modern problems, which we might have, we live in an age with many advantages, which we take so much for granted.

 The very idea that a Go to Bed could have been a necessity in Victorian times now seems almost unimaginable. However the problem of how one managed to get into bed without setting the house alight was a real issue for our ancestors. Hence by the middle of the 19^th century Go to Beds were in popular use.

 Go to Beds were made in a variety of materials such as metal, wood or ivory and were used for match storage, frequently with a rough surface on which the match could be struck. All featured a small hole or finial, into which the match could be placed, rather like a miniature candle.

 Rather than taking a lighted candle close to the bed and risking a fire, it was considered safer to strike a match and place it in the Go to Bed, giving one just enough time to extinguish one’s candle and get into bed by match light before the match itself went out!

 Today we might be forgiven for thinking that Go to Beds probably never really caught on as the whole idea seems fairly impractical if not hazardous but judging by the number of Go to Beds, which can still be found, including Tunbridge Ware examples, this seems not to have been the case.

 Thankfully being last into bed and responsible for putting out the light is no longer an issue. One less thing for us to worry about in 2012!

A Happy New Year To You All!

Artisan or Artist?

It is not often that we can definitely say that a particular piece of Tunbridge Ware is by Henry Hollamby. Mostly we have to content ourselves with an attribution as so little of his work is labelled

 Our Object of the Month for December is a rare example of a labelled piece and prompts us to try once again to find an explanation for so few labels. Generally it is felt that the wholesale bias to his business did not encourage Hollamby to label, as retailer’s who sold his wares would have preferred not to advertise the maker. However Hollamby did have his own retail outlet in Tunbridge Wells, where he would have benefited from the publicity of a labelled product. Yet the labels we do find are few and far between and have occurred both on larger items and on small, less significant pieces.

 As a major maker, was it that Henry Hollamby was simply too busy to worry about labelling ? Or was it something about the man himself?  Was he a man of low self-esteem, who did not see the value of putting his name to his work?

 In spite of the fact that it was Hollamby, who perfected the tessellated mosaic technique, he certainly received a less than enthusiastic press, which suggested that a wholesaler somehow was regarded more as an artisan than an artist. It was Pelton’s Town Guide of 1882, which remarked that “Even Mr Hollamby’s wholesale manufacture is artistic enough to merit notice”. - Feint praise indeed for one of the major producer’s of Tunbridge Ware, who also exhibited successfully at international trade exhibitions.

It seems unlikely that we will ever really know what dictated Hollamby’s attitude to labelling or for that matter what did make him tick! Do you have any labelled examples of Hollamby’s work and what do you think about the man who made them?

Christmas Events & Stock List

Just to let you know that our Christmas Stock List is now out. It has been posted to those on our Mailing List, together with details of The Edenbridge Galleries Christmas Open Weekend and our Christmas Shopping Day at The Spa Hotel.

For more information on these special days please go to our Events Page for December. The Christmas stock list can be viewed under Christmas Lists & Previews.

Mystery Object Now Revealed

We promised that we would let you know who won The Edenbridge Galleries Competition to identify The Mystery  Tunbridge Ware Object. Well, no one did! There certainly were some interesting (and some very amusing) ideas amongst the entries but none was correct.

As Tunbridge Ware goes the item is a rarity and certainly not seen by us before. It is in fact a coin holder and the groove, which appears on the underside of the inner core is a locking device. Typically the coin holder, which we usually see in Tunbridge Ware, is in the form of a ball, with a central core, which pushes out and unscrews. (It is also known as a puzzle ball and  it is often regarded as a toy or novelty).

The Edenbridge Galleries are not at all deterred that no one solved the mystery and they are now planning monthly competitions, which will appear on their web site www.edenbridgegalleries.com and which will also be announced in their online News Letter. Each month the competition will feature an item from one of the specialist dealers in The Galleries and you will have the chance to win a voucher for £100 to spend either in the shop or via their web site.

What It Said On The Label....

....Was just what we did discuss at our Tunbridge Ware labels session at The Spa Hotel on Saturday!

We were very pleased to have a full house for our meeting and spent an interesting afternoon looking at labels on Tunbridge Ware as well as finding out a little about the history of labelling and the introduction of ink stamps.

Tunbridge Ware from our stock was used in the discussion and we would like to thank all the participants, who kindly brought examples from their collections. This  meant we saw labels from the early days of the Burrows workshop in the 1840's right through  to those from the Tunbridge Wells Manufacturing Company in the 1920's. We had some surprises too - This glove box would not have been easily recognisable as the work of Robert Russell without the label!

Our special thanks goes to Brian Austen, who brought a selection of items on which the labels had been partially destroyed. These pieces kept us well occupied over tea, when we tried to decide to which maker they should be attributed.

National Antiques Week

The 14th to 21st November is National Antiques Week. To celebrate this Homes & Antiques Magazine have joined with the organisers of National Antiques Week to find Britain's Best Antiques Shop.

Please help  to put The Edenbridge Galleries on the map by voting for us. We know many of you visit the Galleries regularly and enjoy the wealth of antiques to be found in such a delightful setting (including of course the Tunbridge Ware!)

The Galleries really need your vote so go to www.nationalantiquesweek.co.uk or www.homesandantiques.com and  you will also have the chance to win a prize!

And talking of prizes, don't forget to enter The Edenbridge Galleries very own National Antiques Week Competition by identifying The Tunbridge Ware Object of the Month for November.