News — News

My latest piece dives into the wild history of the 1880 Chester Election "Beer" Riots. Discover how rival political parties weaponised free alcohol and mass-hired thugs, why 914 citizens were banned from voting, and how a literal table leg became a prized piece of British social history!

For over a century, a dark secret remained buried in the oxygenless mud of the Bristol Channel. Now, the ocean is coughing it back up, one shoe at a time.

Ahoy there shipmates! It's been a while!

I have a special 'Blog Post Monday' for you this week. It is in fact a guest blog post written by some very good antique dealer friends of mine, Matt and Val.

They told me recently of a find they had and the story which unfolded around it. After picking my jaw up off the floor we all agreed that the story should be heard by more people, so I've given them the 'Blog Post Monday' stage to tell it.

So, as always, get that kettle on, sit back and enjoy this story of an antique find, an intriguing signature and the phenomenal story of one man's mission to fight back against slavery.

Ahoy there shipmates!  Welcome to this week's instalment of 'Blog Post Monday'.

This week's post is going to be all about another rather interesting piece that I've found recently.  I have a bit of fascination with anything antique and maritime, I'm not entirely sure why, but, there you go...  So, when I found a piece of antique maritime carved folk art dating from the early 19th century, it made me tingle in places that I really didn't know could tingle!  Many people buy with their guts, I buy with my tingles...

So, as always, get that kettle on, hoist that anchor and let's set sail on our voyage into the fascinating world of nineteenth century sailor art...

Welcome to this week's instalment of 'Blog Post Monday'.

You might remember that a few weeks ago now, I attended the antiques fair at York Racecourse and purchased a rather fascinating piece of history.  A quite extraordinary WW1 Gallipoli campaign (Ottoman Empire) carved stone trench art set in its original tin.  It consists of a carved Bible stand, a large Bible, a small Bible and some slippers.  The large Bible has an inscription for “Suvla Bay 1915” (one of the 3 landing points for allied troops), followed by “Egypt 1916” and “France 1916”.  The smaller Bible is inscribed with “I Love You” and this sits on the carved Bible stand.  These are all housed within the original tobacco tin that the soldier would have kept them in during his service.

Having had a little bit of free time this week, I finally had the chance to start researching these pieces.  I contacted a few museums and I'm still awaiting a response, but in the meantime, I delved into finding out some more about the Gallipoli campaign itself and what I learnt was quite extraordinary.

So, as always, get that kettle on and let me talk you through this harrowing conflict and how these stone carvings survived one of the most famous battles of World War One.