A history of the world in 100 everyday antiques (that you could have in your home for under £100)
Confessions of an antiques geek
It’s an odd thing to admit, but I’m a third generation antiques geek. My Grandfather ran an antiques shop and my dad grew up living above it. So I’ve spent most of my life surrounded by old stuff — and I love it. But if I’m honest I kind of took it for granted. I don’t really know that much about what I’m looking at. I just like the feeling of the history that glows out of old things.
Months of working from home has made me realise how much pleasure I get from these old objects — low value, everyday antiques that I use and enjoy every day. I enjoy them so much more than even the best made modern things. Because they’re a daily trigger of a thousand bits of interesting social, cultural and historical context. It’s like having a museum in your home. Only it’s not curated very well.
The mission
So I’m setting myself a Covid Isolation goal: to put 100 everyday antiques into context. To curate the everyday antiques that are used and loved in my home.
This might take a while… but I figure we’ve got some time:
100 Everyday Antiques
- The Sheraton Chair
- The Ironstone China Plates
- The Silver Teaspoon
- The English “Regional” Chair
- The Cut Glass Decanter
- The Tripod Table
- The Souvenir Mug
- The Fretwork Mirror
- Coming soon… the old chipped cup
A note on “everyday antiques”
People have the impression that antiques are expensive — that they’re not the sort of thing that you can just have around the place and use as part of your life.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, high end antiques are worth thousands, or hundreds of thousands. But what I get excited about are everyday antiques: beautiful, well made, useful objects that are over 100 years old. And many of which you can have in your home for under £100. Which is, frankly, nuts.
I get that being into antiques (in my mid 30s) makes me a little weird. But whilst I might be taking it to extremes a bit (I recently bought an 1820s table to use for baby changing because it cost the same as an Ikea one) I think that there are a lot of people out there quietly enjoying everyday antiques.
Every antique, from tables to plates to books tells a story. They tell the story of culture, fashion, food, world events, global trade and everything in between. The value isn’t that important - it’s the story that’s interesting.
I believe that by understanding a little bit about where an object comes from you can bring more meaning, beauty and joy into the things you use every day.
