Features

When I buy vintage clothing I want to know that it is vintage. If I see a super 1940s knit and it turns out to be 1980s, that’s fine, as […]

Dating vintage with care labels (see our feature on that here) only helps with garments that are 1960s onwards, but there’s a number of other labels you may come across […]

For those of us in the UK, vintage Marks and Spencer clothing, under the name St Michael, is available in abundance. St Michael was used as a brand name from […]

I was already many years an adult when I first visited Portobello Road. Bedknobs and Broomsticks had given me false expectations, it should have been obvious really that I wasn’t […]

Just as the magic carpet in the Persian tale The Three Princes and the Princess Nouronnihar (from One Thousand and One Nights) could transport its owner across distant lands, the real-world Persian carpet holds the power to do the same through its design and motifs.

More widely known in the UK as ‘paisley’ the boteh motif dates back thousands of years to the ancient Persian Empire. It adorns the columns of the 9th century Noh […]

1985, USA. Over 17 billion matchbooks were estimated to have been produced that year. In Brooklyn, New York, 6 million of those carried the words, ‘Law Offices of Edward Horn […]

On the front cover of our Winter 2021 issue are a selection of intricate chess pieces. The pieces featured are from an 1800s German set of the Selenus style. Prior […]

Fake books and their hidden contents. I think the idea of fake books is right up there with priest holes in Tudor buildings. Chopping out the middle of an old book to hide some trinket inside is something many of us probably tried as children, before realising it was quite…

Featured below are a selection of lots sold at Bainbridges of Ruislip sales held this year. Purely for amusement, try to guess the hammer price (pre-27% commission & VAT) at […]