London Evening News Features Portland Vase restored with Wedgwood's help

Most of us Wedgwoodians know the story of the Portland Vase, if one doesn't there are PLENTY of books on the subject both informative and beautiful.  Our good friend Lord Anthony Pulford of Glencoe, Scotland recently gifted me with a wonderful book published in 1951 entitled "London is Stranger Than Fiction".  This is a book of the cartoons and stories written by Peter Jackson which appeared in The London Evening News every Wednesday for several years.  The stories are interesting historical facts, funny happenings and trivia questions - such as "Where in London can you see a mosaic of Greta Garbo?"  We spotted one very fun fact that we don't think we knew before about the Portland Vase.  See the panel below (Click the picture for a larger version so you can read it.) from the issue of 9 March 1949.  And from Lord Pulford comes this tidbit that I didn't know about, "Oddly enough, when the latest restoration of the Portland Vase was carried out, they found an envelope in the glass case containing the bits that the original restorer couldn't find a place for."  That's pretty scary!  Oh and by the way Greta may be seen on the floor of the entrance to the National Gallery.  For all London lovers, this book would be a treasure, look for it at your favorite used book seller, antiques shop or book fair! 

WEDGWOOD DOES THANKSGIVING

Being a descendant of two Mayflower passengers, Thanksgiving is always an important day at our house.  I began hearing from friends weeks ago that Christmas items were already in the stores.  Halloween of course gets lots of "press", and lots of floor space in the retail stores.  Have you ever thought about the fact that retail-wize we go straight from Halloween to Christmas?  Unless Christmas came first to begin with?  We at Alexis Antiques never forget Thanksgiving and hope you won't either.  If you click this post title you will see a spectacular Pearlware plate which would be smashing as a decoration for the home this time of year, OR as a serving piece for some of your Thanksgiving victuals.  More wonderful Thanksgiving merchandise will appear if one CLICKS HERE, and HERE is a nice print from a 1917 issue of Ladies Home Journal magazine which is colorful and a very traditional look at our vision of that first Thanksgiving.  Let us know if we can help you with any aspect of your browsing or purchasing process.  Many of our items are by Wedgwood, but you will see some by others - and there is even a beer ad to be found with a great Mayflower theme!  Remember water was bad in those days, beer was healthier and the pilgrims took LOTS of it on their journey so it's appropriate for the beer barons to use beer as a theme for advertising at this time of year!

May your blessings be many and your thanks be for much good in your lives.

LORD WEDGWOOD MOVING AROUND THE WORLD AT LIGHTENING SPEED

At the risk of turning our Wedgwood blog into a travelogue for His Lordship, I've discovered this morning that he is now in one of our favorite cities, Birmingham, Alabama.  He certainly has been moving around quickly!  After this visit to the south, perhaps he can go home and rest for awhile.  He looks great in the photo in this article, seemingly his travels aren't doing him in too much!  HERE is the link to today's article.  And below right off the press from our

very good friend, Adele Barnett of the Wedgwood Society of Washington, DC, comes the following news flash and photo - "Bromberg's, on behalf of the Lord Wedgwood Charity, presented the Birmingham Museum of Art with one of the 5 Lord Wedgwood busts."  [The BMA is home to the Beeson and Buten collections of Wedgwood, the largest repository of Wedgwood in this hemisphere.  Bromberg's is a long-standing supporter of Wedgwood & Sons, its products and its people, including work for the Lord Wedgwood Charity.  lvc]  THANK YOU to Adele for furnishing us with this great photo and the news of Bromberg's donation to the BMA!

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS LORD WEDGWOOD TODAY?

Our friend Lord Wedgwood's travels can be so very interesting, we love "following" him around the world.  This week he is still in Sydney, Australia, where he has been for awhile, on an extended trip promoting the company's Wedgwood and Bentley line of prestige wares.  We are pleased to bring you a YOUTube interview with RescuTV at the Langholm Hotel in Sydney.  Here you can see the always colorful Lord Wedgwood talking about gifting Wedgwood and about collecting it too.  He describes the story of how so many Wedgwood collectors, yours truly included, first came down with the Wedgwood disease, finding just one piece of Wedgwood, usually a small blue jasper piece, and falling in love.  Sometimes these encounters last the rest of a lifetime, and as one wanders the world of Wedgwood collecting, one will discover MANY of these stories.  It is interesting that he uses that example because I have heard several collectors say it to him, as have I.  Enjoy a bit over 6 minutes listening to Lord Wedgwood's lovely lilting British accent as he talks about his favorite subject and his interviewer's equally lovely Aussie accent!  

And please don't forget our website www.alexisantiques.com for your upcoming Christmas shopping!  We'll be shipping right up to the very last day possible to get your gift selections to your lucky recipients. With over 2,000 line items of Wedgwood, antiques, and Wedgwood-related items, we're sure to have something for everyone on your shopping list...and if all else fails, a gift-certificate comes to mind!

 We have some of these Nativity figures by Coalport in stock, item # wwx602.