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.

What It Says On The Label....

...Is just what we will be discussing at The Spa Hotel, Tunbridge Wells on Saturday 12th November.

We still have a few places remaining for our Master Class on labelled Tunbridge Ware, so if you would like to come please contact us as the closing date for applications is drawing near.

 We will be bringing a good selection of labelled Tunbridge Ware for discussion including some recently acquired items with unusual labels. As well as many examples by the prolific makers such as Edmund Nye & Thomas Barton we will also have labelled examples by such makers as Henry Hollamby, Robert Russell & James Medhurst.

Full details of the session can be found on our Events Page.

Tunbridge Ware Preview - Now On View

We are now very busy preparing for our visit to The NEC, Birmingham, where we will be exhibiting at The Antiques for Everyone Fair between the 27th & the 30th October.

We are returning to this fair after two years and will be exhibiting an interesting range of new Tunbridge Ware stock with special emphasis on needlework accessories. A preview of some of the items, which you will be able to find on Stand A41 is now viewing on this web site.

One of the pieces, which we find particularly pleasing is this stickware sewing compendium. About the size of a bantam's egg, it is larger than the typical Tunbridge Ware egg and is fitted with a cylindrical needlecase and a whitewood thread spool.

If you would like to visit the fair and do not have a ticket please contact us and we will send you one.

Another First for Tunbridge Wells?

Tunbridge Wells never ceases to interest us, not least because its history suggests it was so often at the cutting edge of fashion.

 As an inland spa, Tunbridge Wells provided a procession of wealthy and influential visitors in the 17^th & 18^th centuries a break from normal life. This led to the town becoming the first ever, British holiday resort, easily preceding seaside locations. Tunbridge Wells even pioneered leisure activities such as donkey riding, which we now associate primarily with the seaside. It was also one of the earliest centres for shopping as a leisure activity, with the Pantiles, arguably being the first shopping precinct, where visitors were able to purchase Tunbridge Ware, the UK’s first three- dimensional souvenir.

 Our Object of the Month for October leads us to wonder if there may be yet another first for Tunbridge Wells.

Together John Ward & Decimus Burton were responsible for adapting John Nash’s pioneering residential park project, which saw the development of Regent’s Park in London. They brought the concept to Tunbridge Wells and it could be said therefore that the Calverley Estate was a contender to be the first UK provincial residential park providing homes for a group of residents and that its lodge houses & their occupants were guarding the first gated residential community.

The images are of Farnborough Lodge in the 1830's and as depicted on Tunbridge Ware.

Forward Planning

We are currently busy with preparations for our Autumn events.

As it is two years since we were in the Midlands, we will be returning to The Antiques for Everyone Fair at The NEC, Birmingham between 27th & 30th October. For this occasion we will be producing a special Tunbridge Ware stock list, with particular emphasis on needlework accessories. Images of some of our new stock will appear in our Stock Preview section prior to the fair.

We will also be holding a Tunbridge Ware Master Class on Saturday 12th November in the Churchill Room at The Spa Hotel, Tunbridge Wells, when the subject for discussion will be Tunbridge Ware with Maker's Labels. We have recently acquired one or two examples with rare labels, which will feature at this session.

Further details of these events can be viewed on our Events Page or please contact us for more information.

The Sun Shines on Cobham Hall

It is just over a week since our Tunbridge Ware Day at Cobham Hall and we can scarcely believe how lucky we were with the weather. Judging by this last week it seems as if we enjoyed the very last day of summer at Cobham.

We think everyone agreed that our visit to Cobham was a great success. We all appreciated the opportunity to see the interior of the former home of the Earls of Darnley and to learn something of its long history. Added to this we all enjoyed a good lunch in the opulent surroundings of The Gilt Hall.

As usual, the Tunbridge Ware was centre stage, with many new pieces of stock for participants to savour. The study groups, which were a new format for a Tunbridge Ware Day, proved popular and provoked lively debate. We think we will be using this format again for a future event - so keep watching our Events Page to find out more. Our next event will be a half day session at The Spa Hotel, Tunbridge Wells on Saturday 12th November. Full details to follow.