Earrings

27. Victorian jet earrings.

In the early 1960's I bought a plain wooden box at auction for £3. It was filled with Victorian jewellery, not considered fashionable when the country, still recovering from post-war austerity, was 'swinging'.

These Whitby jet earrings are my favourite items from the box, which had probably been owned by an elderly lady because the contents included large enamel and scrollwork crucifixes and a number of jet items, a necklace, locket and ring, which would all have been worn as mourning jewellery, a vogue made fashionable by Queen Victoria.

Jet is a lovely thing to wear, because, although solid looking, it is very light and feels warm next to the skin. It is a form of fossilized wood, laid down in the early Jurassic era and the finest quality is found near to the Yorkshire fishing town of Whitby, where the 'hard' jet is found in seams exposed on the coastal cliffs or can sometimes be gathered in small pieces from the shore.

My jewellery will have been made when the industry was at its peak in the 1860's and early 1870's. I'm Yorkshire born and wear my Yorkshire jewellery with pleasure.

28. Victorian choker.

The velvet choker, with its dainty decorative metal bow is another item from the box bought at auction. The fastening is very neat, far better than the modern versions that followed, especially the dreaded Velcro, which fastened together not only the ends of your choker but also captured and tugged at random lengths of hair!

Book

26. Hans Anderson's Fairy Tales.

My father loved auction sales and I would often keep him company. At the previews each of us would be happily occupied, he making notes in the catalogue whilst I rummaged about in boxes of miscellaneous objects, where items that could mostly be labeled 'trash' would sometimes harbour a surprising treasure.

At the auction, if my father were bidding for himself, it would usually be for china or glass, but if he were buying professionally on someone's behalf then it would more likely be for a handsome piece of furniture. He was known for having a 'good eye' and a cool head and he taught me how to bid successfully.

First of all I had to learn the value of my desired purchase, and secondly, and this was most important, to set my price and NEVER exceed it. The difference between value and price could be extreme!

I was to bid quickly, with no hesitation, as though money were no object. When I was very small the auctioneer was indulgent, "Ten shillings to the little girl with the big smile!" As I grew older my success was due to my father's teaching.

Inadvertently I started my father on a new collecting passion when I accompanied him to a house sale and fell in love with an old limited edition book, signed and numbered by the illustrator, Heath Robinson. It was an auction of fine furniture where nobody was interested in a rather shabby book, bound in calf skin and very beautiful. I bought it for ten pounds.

When we got home we studied my purchase. Dad was hooked! 

Opal ring

25. Victorian opal ring

In my final spring term as a student I secured a lectureship, specializing in drawing, at an art school in the Midlands, to start in September. Peter, still a post-grad in Leeds, was accepted for a similar post at an art school near Liverpool. We would be spending another year in different parts of the country. Because, or in spite of this, we decided to get engaged. 

I chose my engagement ring in a small antique shop on Lewisham High Street. Opals are said to be unlucky, probably because they are soft stones that can easily be damaged and broken. However, if they are your birthstone, and I am a Libran, then, apparently, they are fine!

At Easter we traveled to my parents' home so that Peter could formally ask my father for his daughter's hand in marriage. He picked his moment carefully, choosing the day that my nephew was born, my parents' first grandchild. My father, already euphoric and not really paying attention, thought that Peter was asking to borrow his old Land Rover.

"Aye, lad," he said. "Take it, take it!"   

Beatle records

24. 'Yesterday' 

The resident trad jazz band played at all the Leeds Art School raves and at home my elder brother was also a jazz fan, his Sidney Bechet and Jelly Roll Morton supplanting our parents' choice of music. Even so, there was no escaping the Beatles. This 'Yesterday' single is the first of their records that I bought.

I was living in London when the 'Rubber Soul' record was released and have a clear memory of walking along Lewisham Way one dark evening, arm in arm with my boyfriend, both of us singing 'Norwegian Wood'. He had come from the north of England for the weekend to visit me and we were on our way to my dingy little bed-sit. I was studying at Goldsmith's College in my fifth and final year as a student. 

We had no idea what the future had in store.

Sculpture

23. Sandstone carving

Four years at art school produces a lot of art, not all of it easy to transport back home. This stone carving was one of a number of large, and heavy, pieces made by a student at Leeds College of Art called Wyatt. It was an exam piece, twenty-four inches high, designed for the foyer of a maternity hospital. He simply did not have the means to take his work away and store it and said that if I wanted any of his carvings I could have them. My father obligingly drove to college to collect my work and anything of Wyatt's that we could transport. There were some other lovely carvings, sadly too large for us to handle.

Period evening dress

22. Silk chiffon evening dress from the 1920's or 30's.

Art school life provided the opportunity to wear whatever you liked, and after years of school uniform I seized on this freedom with joy. When the local drama group disbanded I was allowed to raid the prop box and carried off a number of outfits that took me to student balls and raves and during rag week to precarious rides on the art college float.

This is the only piece of clothing from the prop box that I still have. It is not in good shape, the fabric is starting to disintegrate and the skirt is slightly spattered with oil paint. I think that this dress was actually intended for nothing more strenuous than lifting a cocktail glass!

It is fully lined with a beaded neckline and feels lovely to wear; the gored hem sways about your ankles as you move.

This is the dress that started my love affair with the colour purple. When I first acquired it my hair was long and dark and it is now short and white, but wearing purple clothes, not to mention shoes, bags and jewelry always makes me feel happy and most like 'me'.

A row of buttons serve no other purpose than to decorate the back.

Bedspread

21. Double bedspread

In the late fifties and 'swinging' sixties the fabric and furniture designs that were most popular were 'modern' and Scandinavian in style. But I much preferred old-fashioned items and was often given lovely things simply because the owners knew that I would appreciate them.

This beautiful quilted bedspread was one such present, from a woman whom I hardly knew. It is an old piece but is in perfect condition, beautifully made, with broad stripes of alternate red and white stitched cotton on the top side and solid red fabric in a paisley design on the reverse. The bedspread is entirely hand stitched. These days it is rarely used, only in very warm summer weather when the duvet is banished. Then I get out a pair of my mother's Irish linen sheets and luxuriate!

Detail of the paisley fabric showing the hand stitching.