My last trip to London was in February and I must admit I had a good time. There was no side trip to Paris but there was enough to do in London with the many shows that went on. Portobello of course (which is mentioned below), Kempton Park and the Horticultural Hall show all kept me hopping and contributed to my collection of jewelry. The weather cooperated quite nicely and the trip to and fro had no problems at all. Not like my upcoming trip which is in 7 days. I'm wondering if the volcano in Iceland is going to keep quiet and if I am going to have fair weather while I am over in England. This time I will be taking in the French Antiques show at the Place de la Bastille and I am hoping to add some French flavor to my inventory.
My condo is a little further along now in the decorating arena. Not only do I have the aforementioned painted walls, but I also have a wonderful 36-drawer apothecary sideboard sitting in my dining room though my dining room is NOT a dining room - more a catch-all at the moment for holding boxes yet to be unpacked. I am still waiting to find the right pieces of furniture for my condo and my bed is still lacking a headboard.
Do you like the above pieces? They're Essex Crystals set in yellow gold and they are probably the finest I have come across in a long time (now sold). Essex crystals are quite collectible and if you are wondering, each piece is a half portion of a round rock crystal lovingly carved from the back and then handpainted. The result, if done correctly, yields a piece of artwork that shows all the nuances of the designer's choice of coloring. The crystal is almost always backed with a flat piece of mother of pearl to highlight the painted piece. The MOP backing is almost always white so that the design seems to have a 3D effect. One mishap in carving, one mishap in painting, and the artwork is spoiled and the artisan must start again. The best Essex Crystal jewelry was manufactured in the late 1800s and more often than not manufactured in England. A Victorian era Essex Crystal shows clarity that is not seen in later pieces. As the years progressed, the painting grew haphazard and plastic replaced crystal. There is no substitute for the best and the pieces shown above are premiere quality!
Anyway, I'm getting off track. Let's go back to London.....
Camden Passage was the fare of the day for Wednesday. You could get up early, take the tube to ANGEL and exit the station, turn right, and hit the start of the market. Open air stalls combined with small booths inside buildings. The walk was quite refreshing and you could find all manner of goods from the old to the new. I don't think I ever left Camden Passage without buying at least one thing. I knew one dealer at the market that started out in the open, then moved inside to one of the buildings, moved to better spot (got kicked out), moved to a better spot again (got kicked out again), and now she's in her own little cubby hole of a shop in the one remaining area of dealers under cover. You see, the property speculators decided that the Islington area of London was "up and coming" and that the antiques dealers just HAD to go! So now, what was once a thriving area for antiques is now a real "hit and miss". You might be lucky to see maybe 30 people outside. And if some of the remaining shops are open, you might see a few more dealers. But for the most part, Camden Passage died a death a long time ago and basically, it's a crying shame. I still mourn its loss to this day.
The same thing happened to the Friday Bermondsey market. If anyone has been to the market in the past, they will know that it was composed of three sections, along with a few buildings on the outskirts that held the overflow of dealers. When word got round that there was going to be a new tube stop in Bermondsey, everyone thought the stop would be right where the market was. Well, it turned out that that wasn't the case but instead, rumor grew that the space would be converted to flats over some retail shops. Well, over a great period of time, the market began to shrink. First, the "powers that be" closed off one section - the dealers moved to the other 2 sections. Then another section closed down - the dealers converged some more. Then finally the show shut down completely for some time. When word finally came through that the show was open again, a visit to the new site verified my worst fears. No, the new owners of the development did not provide the "cover" they always seemed to show in their promotion about the fact that they weren't going to change the market (HA!). Instead, they placed the wonderful dealers who braved wind, rain, even snow, right smack in the middle of a wind tunnel between two buildings! And because of this now ridiculous happenstance, only a handful of dealers even opted to brave the show. I ventured out to the show in 2008 and was sadly disappointed and terribly upset at the new promoters. A few dealers were huddled under layers of clothing trying to stay warm in the new "wind tunnel" and there were so many gaps between sellers that the time it took to get to Bermondsey from my hotel was not worth the trip. I managed to find a few things, mostly I bought because I felt so sorry for the dealers. There they were, cold and in circumstances that were not what the promoters had promised to them. I was so angry I could have screamed but what was there to do but spend some money and try to take home a few things. I haven't been back to the show since and maybe one day, if word improves and the promoters provide the "cover" they promised, the show might find its footing once more. Until then, I'll stick closer to town and the shows that are still surviving, if not thriving.
Stay tuned....
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