A familiar face from BBC TV’s Antiques Roadshow paid a visit to the island to cast his eye over a special collection of ceramics that is coming up for sale soon.
Steven Moore has been a regular on the show since 2003, since when he has turned his experienced eye to ceramics and glassware brought in by people eager to find out if auntie’s old vase has any value.
He was last in Guernsey some 15 years ago, when the programme paid a visit to the island, and was brought back by auctioneers Martel Maides to promote an auction of ceramics made by English potter and designer William De Morgan that has all been collected by the Gwynne-Evans family.
There are a total of 49 pieces, which Mr Moore said was remarkable in its own right.
‘Any sale room that gets one piece would be cock-a-hoop,’ he said.
And he was impressed with the pieces being sold.
‘It’s somebody’s lifetime in vases and what’s fascinating is that they were buying them contemporaneously.
‘We look at old stuff and think it’s valuable and antique, but the people who were buying it brand new were buying it because it was beautiful and they wanted to have a beautiful life.’
De Morgan set up his own pottery in 1872 and the earliest items on sale date from around that time, said Mr Moore.
His items were purely decorative, including vases and very large plates, known as chargers, which all featured intricate hand-painted designs.
But he said that value was not the most important thing to him.
‘What something is worth is the skill of the men and women who made it. Your granny’s tea set may not be valuable monetarily – it’s the effort that people put into it.’
He did not think many of the ceramics being sold today would stand the test of time like De Morgan’s.
‘I think in 150 years’ time we’ll still be looking at stuff by De Morgan, as we’re now looking at stuff from 300 years ago,’ he said.
However, he singled out two current ceramicists who he thought might still be sought after in the future – Kate Malone and Magdalene Odondo.
Mr Moore is also interested in history in general, which will be reflected in a new book he has written and which is published next month.
The Stuff Of History takes a look at some of the most unusual stories from the past, such as how well-known lingerie firm Playtex was responsible for making the suits worn by the astronauts of the Apollo missions, and how the last Tsarina of Russia spent three weeks staying at a B&B in Harrogate.
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