Lars Tharp – “Your pot of gold”

Lars Tharp checks the markings on a Wedgwood dish.

Gorgeous Japanese ware – which the owner was told to “take home and love” (Lars’ euphemism for “not likely to make you rich”.

A collection of treasures, through which Lars demonstrated an almost infinite knowledge of period, method of production and current market value.

 

While Lars Tharp was in Hamilton, he attracted a sell-out group to a study day. Coming from a household that is singularly lacking in ceramic treasures, I took a prurient interest in the valuations placed on other people’s collectibles. Of more lasting value from my perspective was, however, Lars’ discussion of the place of clay in our lives from time immemorial through to some of the sophisticated technological requirements of the present day.

So where to start? With the nosey bit, of course!

Lars reiterated his key message of his lecture to the Waikato Decorative and Fine Arts Society (DFAS) the night before. The story behind the item can add immeasurably to its value. Lars showed a picture of the Walsingham bowl, on display at Burghley House – reputedly a gift from Sir Francis Drake to Queen Elizabeth I, who passed the blue bowl on to Walsingham. He described the ceramic ware as “unremarkable”, but the provenance would have increased its value substantially. It would be kind of cool to be able pass round the peanuts in a bowl that Queen Elizabeth I had handled.

Story or no story, the value of Japanese wares has plummeted – even treasures go in and out of fashion, apparently. Lars described an exquisitely hand-painted Japanese tea set as “almost impossible to sell at auction”. A Wedgwood transfer-printed dish might, he suggested, reach £15.

One seminar guest was pretty proud of his armorial ware – a little blue and white 1760s sauce boat, featuring painted landscapes and a coat of arms, produced for the Russell family of Scotland. Lars valued it at between £600 to £900 – about what the owner expected. Another guest, the owner of an intricately decorated bowl that looked like part of a washstand set, was less impressed. The owner did not react to the valuation. “Come on,” urged Lars. “Look thrilled.” The peeved owner told him that she was previously told that the bowl was worth about £1000 more than that. “Was the person who gave you that valuation prepared to pay you that much?” asked Lars.

I suppose it is all a matter of taste – and clearly Antiques Roadshow taste is something in which I am seriously deficient. It seemed to me that the uglier the item the more it was worth. Hearing that a huge rhinoceros horn on a carved ebony stand might reach up to £40,000 (“and there’s a matching one at home”) I did not feel even a twinge of envy. I was pleased to go home to my fine pottery bowl in shades of blue and green, thrown and glazed by the late Hugh Prosser. I watch the light through our elegant blue Hogland glass bowl, carried on the knee of a special friend on a flight all the way from Nelson to Auckland, to ensure it reached Iggy and me intact for our wedding day. I run my hands over the earthiness of our Dave Wolland ewer, thrown in Matakohe from local Northland clay, and given to us by another friend as a wedding gift, as a symbol of what is enduring.

What did I learn about the history of ceramics? Many religions refer to mankind as being created by God out of clay. Burials have close associations with clay, with urns being used for ashes. Fired clay goes back to the Ice Age. Unfired clay goes back to 25,000 BC. Porcelain was the first globally traded product. Once humans settled in towns, they needed to keep records, hence the development of hieroglyphics – records baked in clay. Lars compared the life of information stored that way (4,500 years) compared to the longevity of information stored on a USB stick. When the transmission of electrical power started in the 19^th century, insulators made of clay were an essential part of the process.

Here’s one for you, Iggy. The braking systems on aeroplanes had ceramic components.

I always enjoy a little bit of linguistic information. In ancient times, the elders met to decide who was to be voted out of the city. Shards of broken pottery, called “ostra” had the names of those who were not wanted in the community scratched onto them. The shards were placed in a vase. As each shard was drawn from the vase, a vote was cast as to whether the person should be allowed to stay. The person who won the least votes had to leave the city – he was “ostracised”.

Lars’ useful tips for collectors included: If you like something and you can afford it, buy it. If you are told that an item is old and it is in good condition, ask why it is being sold – and ask for the claims being made about the item to be put in writing. Be on guard if a dealer can’t tell you about an item. Research what price range the items you are interested in sell for – alarm bells should ring if the price is wrong.

The day was, indeed, my pot of gold. Lars shared such a wealth of knowledge – and knowledge does not need to be dusted, insured or left to family members to feud over. That’s real gold in my book.

 

Antiques Road Show expert Lars Tharp lectures in Hamilton

Waikato Decorative and Fine Arts Society members welcomed having the opportunity to meet with Lars Tharp from the Antiques Road Show.

 

Ceramics specialist Lars Tharp lectured a full house of Waikato Decorative and Fine Arts Society Members at Southwell School last week. Titled “Tales from the Antiques Roadshow: One thousand ways to say I’m sorry”, his lecture gave an up-close and personal view of some of the Antiques Roadshow celebrities. Around 16 of a team of 60 specialists are involved in any one show. The majority have been auctioneers and a couple are academics – though Lars pointed out that museum staff are expected to observe the protocol of not delivering valuations.

Antiques Roadshow visitors arrive with approximately 10 pieces each (often rattling around in a supermarket bag – we don’t break anything, but often the people bringing their objects do, said Lars). Around 3000 people queue to show their treasures to the experts, which means that the objects shown in an episode have been chosen from upwards of 25,000 items. Lars stressed that one of the critical factors driving the choice of an object for featuring on the show was the story behind it.

One story that made a big impression was that of a man who brought along two pots from Japan – quite simple, every day pots, with some unusual runs in the glaze. The man’s father had been sent ashore after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and souvenired the pots. Glaze melts at 1350 degrees. The runs in the glaze were brutal evidence of the temperatures reached that day at Hiroshima.

Another story was of a woman who brought along a teapot with an unusual glaze. The teapot had sat on top of the cupboard for many years in the house in which the woman was born. Lars suggested it might be worth £3000. The woman said that the value did not really matter, as she would never sell the item. “What if I told you £6000?” asked Lars. “Now you’re teasing me. But no, I will never sell the pot,” said the woman. Sometime later the teapot went to the auction, achieving £16,000. The woman used the money to put towards the purchase of the house in which she was born.”

Lars recommends that visitors to London spend some time at the Foundling Museum – the site of a building where mothers who could not afford to keep their babies left their little ones. They would attach a piece of fabric to their baby and take away a matching piece so that if their circumstances changed they could go and pick up their child. The people running the home would change the baby’s name, so that scrap of cloth was the only means of identifying their baby. It is a poignant history. Clearly, we need to put aside another day when we go to London to visit family.

Palmerston North’s Esplanade again

 

Chill stillness in Palmerston North is rare. The usual raging winds sting the eyes and are distracting. I took a quiet moment to savour the start of winter at the Esplanade.

Playing at Palmerston North’s Esplanade

Iggy’s granddaughter Aria is the only grandchild we have living in New Zealand. Yesterday, at Palmerston North’s Esplanade, we indulged ourselves, doing what grandparents do. Iggy lives by the philosophy that it’s never too late to have a  happy childhood, so he had as much fun as Aria. (We both did, actually.)

We walked through the autumn leaves. (Thank you for the image, Renee.)

Iggy, Aria and Johnny fed the ducks.

Lots of people had fed the ducks before we got there. The ducks weren’t hungry, but it seems that Iggy and Johnny were.

Iggy and Aria climbed up to a platform for a view of the water. (Another lovely photo, thank you, Renee.)

Aria loved going down the steep and slippery slide with her father …

…but she also showed us how much she loved swooshing down by herself.

 

 

 

 

 

Auckland Writers and Readers Festival and Three Remarkable Women.

Bookworms were spoilt for choice at the  Auckland Writers and Readers Festival last weekend. So many seminars, panel discussions, events and lectures – so little time (and a tight budget).

I wished I had booked earlier, as I missed out on Eleanor Catton’s three-hour workshop on Character and Plot. As an aspiring novelist, I was keen to learn more about “strategies for creating compelling characters and surprising plots, and examining the relationship between character and plot in our own work”. It is an area I have become interested in since reading Stephen King’s “On Writing” which makes a convincing argument for creating a couple of magnificent characters who will take ownership of the plot with the author acting as a disciplined and solitary scribe.

If I lived in Auckland, I would have gone to the NZ Listener Gala Night True Stories told live. There I was the next morning, waiting to meet up with friends, with a total stranger regaling me with her enjoyment of the hilarious  seven-minute stories of a number of the festival’s most famous guest writers. It was 16 hours too late to tell me that the event was “not to be missed”.

I did make it to “Remarkable Women” chaired by the remarkable, informed and gracious Jolisa Gracewood.  She had a formidable task, as “arts and café society queen” Meme Churton warmed to her topic (herself), leaving little space for artist and autobiographer Jacqueline Fahey and academic Aorewa McLeod to enter the discussion. I would have liked to have known more about quirky Jacqueline’s thoughts on managing  creativity, hard artistic work, child-rearing and her marriage to renowned psychiatrist Fraser MacDonald.

Aorewa McLeod, through no fault of her own (there was so little air space left) offered up rare, articulate and erudite gems. Hers is the autobiography I am most keen to read. She managed to position herself in an historical period of social change. She described some of the challenges of being lesbian (not “gay”, she was quick to point out) during more judgmental periods of our history. While some of the issues she faced were directly related to her sexual orientation, some of the family relationship issues she touched on were universal. Gay or not, it seems that most of us cope with some level of dysfunction in our families. Aorewa’s humility and warmth, paradoxically, put her literary talent into brilliant focus.

All three writers had unusual – and remarkable - lives. (Isn’t every woman’s life unusual and remarkable, though, if you dig just a little?)  All three had spent time as university lecturers.  All three seemed to agree that the person who had the courage to point out the source of the family’s dysfunction generally found themselves on the wrong side of the entire family forever more. All three revealed to a packed auditorium what I considered to be quite private moments and reflections on intimate relationships.  Perhaps that was what was most remarkable – the willingness to put in print experiences that most of us share only with close friends.

Unity Books and Women’s Bookshop had massive displays of books for sale. I was unable to pick up a copy of Gerald Hensley’s latest book for Iggy, but went away with a purchase for myself - Kate Atkinson’s “Life after Life”, recommended by one of the bookshop staff as having good book club potential. But first I must finish “Eva Luna”, a book I have had for years, by Chilean writer Isabel Allende.

Hamilton Lake in autumn

Hamilton has a reputation for being foggy – a comment that is made as if by way of criticism. I love the way the fog tosses its gauzy throw over the landscape - a flattering soft focus. There will be a post one day soon on Hamilton in the fog, but not today. Today was clear - a soft light where the stillness and reflections were pure and the spirits received a top up to carry them through the bleaker days to come.

It is a flat, scenic and easy walk around the lake – about one hour. There is free parking at and beyond the Verandah Restaurant.

Mothers’ Day high tea

This is my mother June. She was guest of honour at our Mothers’ Day high tea yesterday.

June is nearly 87. She was a feminist before feminism was fashionable. She was insistent that I should be the first female on either side of our family to attend university because she saw having an education as offering choices. She has strong views, many of which are formed from listening to 1YA. (The radio station hasn’t been called 1YA officially for years, but that’s beside the point.) She researches topics and presents papers for her colleagues at U3A – the University of the Third Age. She is a generous hostess, who insists on putting food in front of anyone who visits.

June’s thinking is challenging and frequently ahead of her time. She was a Playcentre mother when the Playcentre movement was still considered somewhat suspect by her more conservative friends. They were sure that we would all turn out to be quite undisciplined because we were children who were offered choices – “freedom within boundaries”. Family comes first. My son turned up at her place unexpectedly and unkempt and covered in paint from his work – and June asked her guests at the smart luncheon party she was hosting to move over and make room for him to join them.  He has a voracious appetite, but June found a way to stretch the meal.

June has four children, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren – all very different people. However, there’s a distinctive bit of June in every one of us. Yesterday, we celebrated Mothers’ Day at the apartment of June’s second granddaughter (and my daughter) Victoria.

I made chicken, herb and pistachio sandwiches, which were popular. I should have made more, as we ran out. Victoria’s bowls of macadamia and cashew nuts and red grapes were popular, too. In the background is a coffee set that my father brought back from Amsterdam over 50 years ago as a gift for June. No floral Royal Doulton for June. The coffee set still looks contemporary in Victoria’s apartment!

I made boiled fruit cake, scones with jam and cream and my extra-special super rich chocolate brownie topped with cream and raspberries. Okay, Ray McVinnie – I know you can’t eat camellias!

While none of my children or grandchildren live near, these glorious flowers from Sarah in the USA brought love and sunshine to our home for Mothers’ Day. A Skype with Sarah, Ana and Rafa today brought even more light and laughter!

 

 

 

 

Waikato Explorer – a river boat breakfast

What a peaceful way to start the day. Members of BNI Legends combined business with pleasure recently, having our weekly breakfast meeting aboard Waikato Explorer, skippered by our BNI colleague, Darren Mills.

Making our way to Waikato Explorer was easy. There was ample parking in the main Hamilton Gardens car park and we followed the sign down the river path …

…and there she was.

Adam from Hogs Breath Café, Jethro of JG Landcare and Alan of Coffee News took a seat. They didn’t have to wait too long for their yummy Kerr and Ladbrook breakfast – and the coffee was fantastic.

Others enjoyed being able to stretch their legs.

All of us enjoyed the up-close-and-personal view of the river.

Hasn’t Darren got the work place with the best view of us all? No wonder he loves going to play – I mean work – each day.

Weekend scheduled cruises on Waikato Explorer leave Hamilton Gardens at 12.30pm and 2.30pm every Saturday and Sunday. Charter options can be arranged any day of the week on request. The boat is licensed to take up to 87 passengers and has the capacity for up to 50 seated diners. With a fully-licensed bar and a range of menu items, the Waikato Explorer is well set up as a venue for all kinds of events, from club outings to specialty cruises to major events such as weddings, birthdays and anniversaries. It was certainly an enjoyable and novel venue for our BNI business networking meeting. With the river filling a little since the autumn rain came to the Waikato, Darren is able to venture further afield these days. He mentioned Narrows Landing today. Looks like we’ll have to explore our beautiful Waikato River again soon!

 

 

Nostalgia High Tea

My friend has every reason to be so proud of her daughter who pulled in guests from far and wide for a surprise birthday high tea at Nostalgia in Ponsonby, Auckland. My friend was, indeed, surprised. We were all delighted to have the excuse to dress up and play ladies – and celebrate our friend’s birthday, too, of course!

Nostalgia has an atmosphere all of its own – elegant, dark, mysterious, and bordering on bordello. So sensual. Even the dashing waiter’s accent was exotic. The nearly 100 year-old building (and for New Zealand, that means seriously old) has been variously a shop with the shopkeeper’s home upstairs, a bar, and now a restaurant that serves banquet dinners and high teas. (There’s a whole lot of info on the Nostalgia website about high teas and low teas. Let’s not be too pedantic here and stick to the terminology that is generally understood.)

The waiter explained that we were to order two teas – a savoury tea to go with the savoury food and a sweet or aromatic tea to complement the sweet food. Pity we had all completely polished off the sweet food by the time the tea to accompany it appeared. Both teas I selected were delicious.

The food tasted fine. Perhaps more delicate servings would have suited the occasion better? I thought the teapot and teacups were stunning.

The washroom style went too far back to fit the term “retro” – or even “nostalgic”. Definitely luxurious!

Nostalgia would be a great place to book out a private room for a group of friends to meet for dinner. The room we were in had the atmosphere of a library in a stately home. Gorgeous.

 

 

 

Feijoa and figs – fantastic fruit

Feijoas and figs are sweet and aromatic. It’s hard to beat a platter of walnuts and blue cheese served with figs and/or feijoas. I am assured by various websites that both fruits are rich in nutritious goodies as well – a rare contradiction to the old song that “if you it’s something you enjoy it is certain that it’s illegal or immoral or will make you fat”.

Because of their poor shelf life, feijoas are expensive in supermarkets. Even more vulnerable is the fig. The only place I have seen figs for sale is at Hamilton’s The Country Providore, the subject of a previous Kiwicommunicator post. For this reason, feijoa and fig trees were high up the priority list to plant in our small suburban garden. While fig trees are considered to be too large for suburbia, we plan to manage the size of ours and hope that, even if frequently pruned, it will continue to fruit. Feijoas are happy to be kept as hedge plants. We watered the little feijoa trees and the fig tree in our garden throughout the drought and are well-rewarded.

The feijoa tree.

While the feijoa is not a New Zealand native plant, it flourishes here. The fruit are the size and shape of eggs. The feijoa remains green even when it is fully ripe, so it can be hard to judge whether the flesh inside is past its best. Feijoas drop off the tree when they are at their peak of perfection. We are fortunate to be able to eat them the same day.

Yummy! My feijoas are on a dish from a large commercial pottery company, Morris and James, based at Matakana.

Iggy protected our persimmon tree with the muntered umbrella covered with netting trick. It is just as essential to protect the fig tree this way. The birds devour the fruit just as they reach ripe perfection.

Generally the figs don’t make it inside to the bowl. (Bowl by New Zealand potter Peter Collis, and purchased at Hamilton’s ArtsPost.)