Unexpected Treasures

[Cyclefrance]

Maybe this will cause interest, maybe not. I think it's worth a try anyway.

So what do I mean by unexpected treasures.

I have to go back nearly 20 years to my first major redundancy (four more have since been weathered). Things got tight and finding employment was as difficult as it could ever be. I had no false illusions that the activity I decided to follow would ever support a family, but it was a diversion, maintained sanity and did actually make some money - even in those old pre-Internet days. It provided an interest that has waned and surfaced but has never left me completely. I had a learning curve to climb - still have - but today, all the more knowledgeable for my past activity, I can say that I have stumbled across one or two major finds.

You're probably getting warm to what I am talking about, but I'll hang the full picture out a little longer, with the tale that got me and my wife going. A friend of my wife's had another friend who restored china. We met her one afternoon at the first friend's house, where she asked us if we knew anyone who had a Wade Noddy (Noddy is a character, an elf, from a series of children's books written by prominent children's author of the 1950's called Enid Blyton). My wife said she had a little Noddy figure no more than an inch or so high that she had biught in Woolworths as a child for a few pennies. Unfortunately, its head had broken and was now badly stuck on with everyday glue. The friend of the friend, whose name is Doreen, said that that sounded like the item she was looking for. A collector she did work for wanted the Noddy figure and also the Policeman from the series that Wade had produced alongside the books. Did my wife want to sell it? Might as well, but how much did wse think her collector would want to pay for such a damaged piece of small pottery.

Well, it turned out that £100 was a reasonable price - so Noddy found a new home via the restorer who put him to rights for the collector first (at an extra cost to the collector of another £20.

So that's what started it. The interest in what is generally called Collectables began. Wade, a major player in the decorative ceramics area, featured regularly, but there was much more besides, But Wade is a good place to start, as it covers a number of areas. Wade produced a lot of advertising pottery, so people who collected Wade also had to compete with other collectors who went for things Like Guinness advertising ware, and Disney figures, and Film stars (Wade produced a pottery figure of Fred Astaire dancing with Ginger Rogers that I believe can now fetch over £1,000)
Wade even produces stuff today - I have a Tetley Tea Man money box that I bought for a few pounds about 10 years ago.

I dabble from time to time now, Pick up the odd bargain - some I keep, some I sell. Things like musical beer jugs, novelty cigarette lighters, cruets, the odd art deco and art nouveau piece - even bronze and pewter ware.

The reason therefore for this thread is two-fold. First to see if anyone shares the same interest and second to inspire others to become interested if they want to - to share knowledge with those who also like to collect and have experience, maybe in different areas to me, and to pass on some knowledge to those who are new and to point them in the right direction.

You would be (maybe you wouldn't) surprised at just how many things are collectable. Doubtless some of your everyday objects have a value for someone that you wouldn't necessarily believe existed (hence 'unexpected treasures'). If you want to know more or want to share knowledge join the thread. One thing I will promise is that I am not looking to buy things from you myself - I have enough boxes of goodies around the place and on show not to want any more (and I'm in no rush to sell them either). It's all about generating an interest in something that is enjoyable, educational and can be a lot of fun.