NICKEL TAPS FROM MR NORMAND AT SALVO
PATRICK Normand will be bringing a rummageworthy collection of brassware to Salvo. 'I've only just finished polishing some of the stuff from the drenching it got last time,' he said, referring to the scattered showers that punctured an otherwise blissfully sunny Salvo 2004 last July. This year he is taking the precaution of hiring an on-site marquee.
Sanitation was uppermost in the minds of Victorian England's medical institutions, and nickel-plated brassware deemed second rate, so solid nickel taps were often specified in hospitals.
Patrick is bringing ten pairs of solid nickel bathroom basin taps, at £90 a pair, from an institution near Brighton c1889, complete with a few matching sinks at £250 with cantilever brackets.
'By 1900 nickel and chrome plating was more reliable and solid nickel was phased out. The plating problem was resolved by plating a layer coppery nickel on the brass first, and then putting a layer of silver-nickel on top,' Patrick said.
He is also bringing a rare set of 40 pairs of matching oval door knobs with cast coppery bases, dated around 1915, and some wooden locks dating from 1870, and two rather earlier models from 1830, currently without keys - but Michael Brown, another exhibitor at Salvo, is a traditional locksmith who will provide keys on site for anything 'from a petite jewellery box to a parish church monster' at the fair.
[Photos: Patrick Normand gives away a brass and porcelain room number from an old nurses accommodation block with a purchase on his Salvo Fair stand, and the detail shows him polishing a solid nickel tap 'Approved by the Metropolitan Water Board'.
Patrick Normand, Surrey. Tel 01483 892984
Images : Patrick with some of his stock | Polishing a solid nickel Victorian tap
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LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL CARVINGS AT KNEBWORTH
CHANCELLORS, the antique church specialists from Surrey, will be bringing three carved wood panels forming pediments or spandrels, that came from a recent clear-out at Llandaff Cathedral.
The carving is overblown naturalised foliage, carved both sides of the pediments, and typical of the Victorian Arts & Crafts movement, but its date and carver are unknown.
Each spandrel is 6ft across and 18in high, believed to have come from the choir of the cathedral, and stored since its devastating bombing on 2nd January 1940. After Coventry, Llandaff Cathedral was the second most bomb damaged in second world war Britain.
'We collected a pile of woodwork from an outbuilding,' Steve Williams of Chancellors said. 'and there was some other woodwork which was much finer, which we've sold, but these panels are left. They are curious and bizarre, not what you would expect in a Cathedral. Not looking English or Welsh. There were four, we had another panel depicting the Lamb of God but that sold.'
Rosetti painted an altar-piece tryptych, and Burne Jones some stained glass, among a number of craftspeople and artists supplying Llandaff during its Victorian restoration by Sneddon - and maybe this woodwork had something to do with that.
The three panels will be on offer at £200 each at Salvo Fair along with Chancellors normal offerings of pews, lecterns, lighting, vestments, and other church paraphernalia.
[Photos: Steve Williams of Chancellors by one of the big carved foliate spandrels, two more and a detail, and a shot of the inside of part of their warehouse in Surrey
Images : Steve Williams and part of a Llandaff spandrel | Two more spandrels | Carving detail | Chancellors warehouse
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ELAINE PAGE'S CANOPY BATH COMES TO SALVO
THIS year will be the fourth year running that Cronins Reclamation have exhibited at the Salvo Fair. They usually bring a good mix of architectural and decorative antiques, some reclaimed materials, and the odd rustic feature - like a giant copper cheese vat.
This year's star attraction will be a fully restored Shanks and Co cast iron and zinc canopy shower bath, c1910, which comes complete with its orginal hardwood enclosure at 6ft 6in long and standing 7ft 6in high, and selling for £12,500 +vat. The bath came from a house off the King's Road, Chelsea, installed in the home of Sir Frank Lowe, and subsequently owned by the actress and singer Elaine Page of 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina' fame.
Damian Cronin will also be bringing Parquets de Versailles flooring panels handmade using reclaimed old French oak, which is a new range which they will both supply and fit.
He and John Bodrell of Cast Iron Reclamation Co have started a new business called Woodstone dealing in reclaimed stone and wood flooring.
[Photo: Damian Cronin of Cronins Reclamation in Surrey and the Shanks canopy bath, c1910, on sale at Salvo Fair for £12,500, that was once owned by Elaine Page
Images : Damian and Shanks canopy bath | Parquet de Versailles made from reclaimed oak
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OLLIFFS TO BRING GIANT BIRDS TO SALVO
MARCUS and Jane Olliff have just jettisoned their posh Bristol shop in favour of a warehouse, the internet and trade shows like the Salvo Fair. In order to make a bit of a splash, this being their first time exhibiting at Salvo Fair, they have decided to bring three huge avians.
The biggest is a pair of 8ft 6in carved hardwood eagles, possibly from the Philippines, that were imported into England about twenty year's ago, then sold to an English dealer who retired to France with them, where Marcus rediscovered them on one of his buying jaunts and brought them back to Bristol. He believes they may have had a religious significance, originally polychrome and made in the 1930's, they still have traces of brightly painted red eyes and green stylised foliage pedestals. They will be for sale at Salvo for £8,500.
The idea of Faye Dunaway stripped off for a bubble bath is enough to get most men of a certain age excited, and it was this that persuaded Marcus to part with £1,100 for a fibreglass swan bath, supposedly featuring the said star in an old film version of The Four Musketeers. Despite much research, unless the scene was filmed and ended on the cutting room floor, the alleged provenance remains unconfirmed. The bath is now in a rather sorry state, albeit still decidely swan-like (not swan lake), and needs £500 spent to bring it back to its former glory. We asked Marcus not to tosh it, but to trundle it down the motorway to Knebworth as is, and ask for best offers at the fair.
Jane was hoping to create a flight of fancy on their stand at Knebworth, with many other bird-related objets. However, once their pickup has been enveloped in the foregoing three Sinbadian feathery monsters, will they have room for much more? Yes, is the answer.
SALVO FAIR
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When: Saturday 2nd July and Sunday 3rd July, 11am to 5pm
Where: Knebworth House, Hertfordshire.
Admission: £6.50 redeemable against purchases of more than £100 Pitch prices: Large pitches (1,200sqft) available until Fri June 24th, small pitches (400sqft or less) available until 6am Sat 2nd July, call Ruby Kay 020 8761 2316.
Visitor numbers: This year 10,000 visitors are expected (last year 2,500 came).
Hotels: The nearest 120 bedroom Novotel is now full. The next nearest is the Premier. Tel 0870 990 6628 and quote 'salvo fair' to get a discounted rate.
Get there: By Car A1(M) J7. By rail Stevenage. By Air Luton Airport 5mls. Stansted and Heathrow, about an hour.
[Photo: Marcus and Jane O with swan bath, and two carved wood birds]
Images : Marcus Olliff astride the Swan Bath | Jane Olliff and Swan Bath | Giant wooden birds 8ft 6in high
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Date: 15:10:08 09 Jun 2005
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COX'S TEAK SINKS COMING TO KNEBWORTH
PETER Watson's architectural salvage business, Cox's Yard in Moreton-in-Marsh, has become a repository of up-market items from around southern England.
"I was rung up recently by a London dealer who said, 'A lorry will be arriving at your yard soon with a pair of very old teak sinks from the basement kitchens of the Egyptian embassy in Audley Street, Mayfair. You'll have to buy them as I have no room here.' Obligingly, he did.
He is also well placed for Midlands goodies among which is a fine oak fireplace from a house which appears to have been a Morris & Co interior, but they cannot find the necessary paperwork to prove it. 'Research was never a strong point,' Mr Watson admits.
As easily as it comes in, so it goes out: he is lending Masco a massive Tudorbethan oak fireplace for the Grand Designs exhibition at Excel on June 10th - 12th.
Apart from the unique Egyptian embassy sinks, a snip at £3,250 - the world's cheapest and most expensive teak sinks at the same time - Cox's will bring doors, inlcuding some nice oak front ones, fireplaces, door furniture and of course, what self-respecting exhibitor would be without a load of pig, goat and sheep's head painted plaster corbels from a hotel in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. And not forgetting three huge stone troughs weighing in at some two tons each. Troughtastic!
SALVO FAIR: Sat July 2nd and Sun July 3rd, 11am to 5pm, Knebworth House, Hertfordshire. By Car A1(M) J7. By rail Stevenage. Admission GBP6.50. Large pitches (1,200sqft) available until Fri June 24th, small pitches (400sqft or less) available until 6am Sat 2nd July, call Ruby Kay 020 8761 2316. This year 10,000 visitors are expected (last year 2,500 came).
Hotels: The nearest hotel (120 bedroom Novotel) is now full. The next nearest is the Premier. Tel 0870 990 6628 and quote 'salvo fair' to get a discounted rate.
Airports: Luton 5mls. Stansted and Heathrow, about an hour.
[Photos: Peter Watson and teak sinks £3,250, animal head corbels £240ea, giant maroon gadrooned cast iron hopper £450, 40no Dufy-looking Iznik-style tiles made by Carters of Poole c1890 £60ea
Images : Bigger image | Carter Iznik tiles | Plaster farm animal head corbels | Maroon gadrooned hopper
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KING GEORGE V'S BATH COMES TO SALVO FAIR
SIMON Kirby, managing director of Thomas Crapper & Co, is bringing the original cast iron roll top bath used by George V and Queen Mary in the Royal Train.
The story goes, most convincingly, that in 1915 His Majesty undertook a morale-boosting tour around wartime England, whether this was before or after breaking his pelvis in a fall from a horse while on a trip to inspect the troops at the front, we do not know. The normal routine of blagging overnight accommodation at the nearest stately home was not deemed possible owing to the shortage of servants being dispatched to the Somme. So overnighters and on-board ablutions were required.
The bath has silver-plated taps, remote plunger waste and silent steamless water inlet, and will be on offer at the Salvo Fair priced at £14,500. Simon bought the bath at an auction of stuffed animals in Cornwall, notable for the presence and enthusiatic bidding of Harry Hills. The restoration has been undertaken with no expense spared, as is Mr Kirby's wont, with most pieces being replated in silver.
The Thomas Crapper stand at the Salvo Fair will also feature florally-decorated Victorian and Edwardian WC pans of the £1,000 to £2,000 variety, and some more modest items of antique sanitaryware for the less discerning and well off. It is hoped that comedian Tim Fitzhigham's 'Row a Victorian bath across the English Channel for charity' Thomas Crapper shower bath will also be on display, collecting money for Sport Relief.
[Photo: Simon Kirby and the roll top bath with silver-plated plumbing and taps, from the bathroom of King George V and Queen Mary in the Royal Train
Images : Bigger image
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11am - 5.30pm
