I'm thrilled to announce the opening of my new business: Curious Objects.
You might know Curious Objects the podcast. Now, it is also a business where you can purchase antique pieces with compelling stories.
Although many aspects are in development, you can already see some of my inventory, read some of the object stories I've investigated, and join my email list, on my website, curiousobjects.nyc.
You can also visit me, starting tonight, at The Winter Show, booth A-14.
The premise of this business is to present pieces that capture your attention and your imagination - pieces whose stories may be surprising, delighting, challenging, illuminating, or just plain entertaining. These are examples of the highest quality of craftsmanship. They are rare, old, and (I hope you will agree) beautiful. And beyond being collectible, they are meant to give you something to think on, enjoy, and talk about, as often as you care to, for as long as you own them.
Ben Miller of @curiousobjectsnyc explains the historical significance of this Charles II Bushel Measurer
. Interested in antiques? Come to the Pennsylvania Antiques Show this weekend, April 24 to 26, for a chance to bring a piece like this home! #antiques #visitvalleyforge #America250 #America250PA
I'm thrilled to be exhibiting at the @pennsylvania_antiques_show next week, Apr 23-26.
One piece on the stand will be this fascinating artifact, a luxury item - but made for members of a poorhouse.
This rare silver piece gives a glimpse into the unchanging tensions of social welfare, church and state, and corruptions of private charity. The poorhouse (which still exists today) was tied to the scandalous career of Archbishop Robert Holgate.
You can read the whole story at curiousobjects.nyc, or in person in Valley Forge, PA next week.
Video by Jess Coles
Do you want to hear me wax poetic, complain, and, just maybe, pontificate about the Hope Diamond for an entire hour? Well I have great news for you! A few months ago, I had the pleasure of joining Ben Miller on the Curious Objects podcast, where we talked all things Hope Diamond (and Tavernier Blue Diamond, and French Blue Diamond...)
If you haven't heard of Curious Objects, it's a fantastic podcast series published by The Magazine Antiques, in which Ben (an antiques lover, collector, and dealer himself, and owner of the eponymous Curious Objects gallery) interviews a wide array of interesting people about, well, Curious Objects! Our interview about the world's most famous diamond dropped today, and I think our conversation was great fun. You can find the podcast by searching for Curious Objects in Spotify or your favorite podcast listening app.
#hopediamond #jewelryhistory #gemstonehistory #jewelrypodcast #frenchrevolution smithsonian
On the last day of @thewintershownyc , here's a charming silver cream jug you can see on stand A-14, with the unusual distinction of having what may be the only surviving example of a certain maker's mark.
Made in New York City around 1800, it's a sumptuous, heavy, and large creamer, marked by Abraham Haines. Haines appears in the city commercial directory in 1801, recorded at 185 Greenwich. No mark of his is recorded, and no other works by him are known.
In all likelihood, Haines was not really a silversmith, but simply a shopkeeper who occasionally acquired and sold silver. His mark is apparently struck here three times, after the first two tries weren't good enough - unsurprising for a merchant inexperienced with silver work.
The piece is engraved with the script monogram AMVG, which may represent Abraham Van Gaasbeek and Maria Osterhoudt, who married in 1827 in a Dutch Reform church in Ulster County, NY. In favor of that association is the fact that the initials are quite rare and no other candidates readily appear in the genealogical record. On the other hand, this would place the engraving some 25 years after the piece was made - which is not itself unusual especially in American silver. However, the style of the engraving would seem to be consistent with the date of the piece, around 1800. With further research it’s possible another candidate could be found who matches the monogram and better fits the date.
Provenance:
Richard E. Archer (1961 - 2023)
References:
Silversmiths of New York City, 1684-1850. Paul von Khrum, 1978, The Anthoensen Press: Portland, Maine.
Another piece that has drawn attention at @thewintershownyc (see them at booth A14) is this remarkable set of five 15th century corbels. Sculpted as archetypal figures (bishop, nobleman, etc), they originally adorned the walls of a great hall or similar space in late medieval England or Scotland, set at the bases of ceiling arches.
The polychrome decoration is in an incredible state of preservation. Corbels from this period were always painted, but that color rarely survives intact. This rare example shows us how they were seen by the 15th century revelers seated below them.
The high-cheekboned, youthful and clean-shaven facial types relate to three carved oak corbels depicting angels bearing musical instruments in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum (W.21., W.22., and W.23.1911). These angels, which share similar castellated bases with two of the corbels, are said to come from the 15th-century hammerbeam roof of the Church of St. Mary, Bury St. Edmunds.
From the collection of Jack Robertson Notman (1928-2009), Glasgow architect, set designer, and preservationist. Winner of the Glasgow Institute of Architects' Awards in 1980, 1984, and 1990, and the Civic Trust Awards in 1981 and 1990 for work on Henry Wood Hall, the Clydesdale Bank Headquarters, and Hutchesons' Hall. Notman's career spanned architecture, renovation, theatre, opera, television, and film.
One of the pieces I'm presenting at @thewintershownyc is this ahead-of-its-time 1786 teapot by the grande dame of English silversmiths, Hester Bateman.
It's a truism that 18th century commerce was male dominated, yet hundreds of women were registered as silversmiths in 17th and 18th century England. Like most, Hester Bateman was a widow who inherited her husband's business. Like some, she was also an entrepreneur in her own right. Guild records show that women were commonly employed as laborers in silver shops, and while we don't know what specific tasks they performed, it's safe to say that women wielded the tools of the trade.
None were as successful, innovative, and ultimately as collectible as Hester. In 1761, at 52 years old, she assumed control of her deceased husband's modest silver wire business. Hester had more ambitious plans. For the first decade of her leadership, the company primarily made pieces as a supplier for other London silversmiths. But in the 1770s, she shifted to a retail model, quickly establishing hers as one of the most prominent silver shops in England.
Hester's business pioneered using thinly rolled sheet silver as the starting point for a piece, rather than painstakingly hand hammering every element directly from an ingot. Using less labor and less silver meant lower prices. For the first time, "everyday" sterling silver objects like coffee pots, teapots, and sugar bowls became attainable to middle class (or at least upper middle class) Londoners, rather than almost exclusively to the aristocracy.
By 1784, the year this teapot was made, Hester Bateman's name was synonymous with household silver. Her firm churned out an astonishing volume of wares. Even at 76 years old, she was going strong - she would only retire five years later, at age 81, turning the business over to her children.
The modern looking design of this piece is rare in Hester Bateman's work. She's better known for her trademark plain neoclassical style, with beadwork or gadrooning. This unusual ribbing is more often seen in subsequent decades, including in the work of Hester's children.
After 11 years at @sjshrubsole , it's bittersweet to say that I have left my position as Director of Research.
I'll have more for you soon about what is coming next (and there's a hint in my new account handle - au revoir to @objectiveinterest !).
Shrubsole has been an extraordinary place to cut my teeth as an antiques dealer. It is the best place in the world to learn about antique silver. My breath catches when I think of the phenomenal pieces I've had the opportunity to work with.
More than that, it has treated me with kindness, trust, and support. From as soon as I first met Tim at a bar in 2014, I had the clear sense that Shrubsole was a place where knowledge was seen as a thing to be shared, not cloistered. Where naive enthusiasm was welcomed, not cynically scorned. And where the metrics of success weren't about outdoing each other, or even our competitors, but about supporting a healthy ecosystem for collectors, dealers, scholars, museums, and anyone with curiosity about the finest silver objects in the world. I take none of that for granted, and I hope I can carry those values forward with me.
To Tim, Jim, Mary, and the others I've had the privilege of working with over the last decade: I can no other answer make but thanks, / And thanks, and ever thanks.
I am pleased to announce, in partnership with Nickolas Roudané of Teremok Antiques (@teremokantiques ) the placement of an exceptional Roman murrhine agate vessel into a private collection.
Murrhine vessels, highly prized luxury items in Ancient Rome, were sought after by Roman elites for their rarity and prestige. These objects, made from agates and chalcedony varieties, heated and honey caramel dyed, were extravagantly priced - Emperor Nero paid up to one million sesterces for a single piece. Introduced to Rome after Pompey the Great’s victories in the East (63 BC), Third Mithridatic War (73–63 BC) murrhine wares became a symbol of excess, criticized by figures like Seneca for their association with indulgence. Pliny ranked murrhine among the earth’s most valuable treasures, surpassing even gold and silver in desirability.
Carved in the 1st–2nd century A.D., this vessel preserves an unusual asymmetric pear-shaped form, hollowed with exceptional precision to a consistent 2–3 mm. Its sharply defined oval medallions and subtle channels testify to the highest level of Roman glyptic craftsmanship. Very few hardstone vessels of this scale and technical ambition survive.
The 17-18th c. cover is surmounted by a miniature figure of Diana and her hound in gold, silver-gilt, diamonds, and polychrome enamel—work closely aligned with Saxon goldsmiths active at the court of Augustus the Strong and indebted to the celebrated ateliers of Köhler and Dinglinger.
Only a small number of ancient murrhine vessels remain today, primarily in the Louvre, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Pitti Palace, and St Mark’s Basilica in Venice. The closest parallel is an aiguière in the Louvre (MR 115), acquired by Louis XIV, whose carved ovules correspond closely with those of the present flask.
Special thanks to Hans-Peter Bühler, “Antike Gefäße aus Edelsteinen”, 1973, and Dario Del Bufalo @bufalod “Murrina vasa. A luxury of Imperial Rome”, 2016, for their invaluable scholarship on murrhine.#HansPeterBühler #murrhine #murrinavasa #glyptic
Our beloved @fineobjectssociety is in the @nytimes today, with a profile by @emorlow . It's a story about people finding their community in our budding organization.
You know us for the events, activities, trips, and newsletters, but at heart FOS is a community: a place for us folks who are charmed by antiques to enjoy each other's company.
And of course, it's an effort to broaden that community, reaching people who haven't discovered that charm and don't (yet) know what they're missing.
Take a look at the article, send it to a friend who might enjoy it, and - if you're not already - join us as a member!
If you need a gift link, comment below and I'll DM you.
