Heirs v. Museums
In The Vanished Collection the struggle between heirs and museums to claim artwork looted by the Nazis was focused on. Here we look at the views for and against restitution.
Finders keepers?
Imagine standing in the grandeur of the National Gallery, looking at a multi-million-pound Monet on the wall that should be your inheritance. Having your bike nicked and spotting it a week later on eBay would probably be a real pain to prove ownership of (I always enjoy those vigilante stories…
Through rose coloured glasses
In the last issue we looked at examples of when history is made less authentic to appear more realistic and how it can either distance us from or immerse us into the past. You can read it here. This time we’re going to throw some ideas around about that distancing…
Through dirt covered glasses
The coconut effect There’s plenty of instances in life when a lie is more attractive than the truth, if not even more believable than the truth. You’ll impress nobody saying, “play it” in your best Bogart voice because we all know the line was, “play it again Sam” – except…
Stamp of approval
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 that will help you to date older vintage pieces. Most of these are US labels, with the exception of CC41,…
Dating St Michael
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 1928 to 2000. Their labels have undergone a number of changes over the years and when checked, along with the…
A pioneer of pattern
Pre-War Vienna to Post-War London. Post-WW2 textile and pattern design is defined by the work of a few woman designers, of which one is Jacqueline Groag.