Milestone Appeal

The Wharf public house, Staffordshire

Police in Staffordshire are appealing for information following the theft of a 200 year old milestone. The short cast iron post was taken from outside The Wharf public house at some time between 4pm on Wednesday 13th February and 7.30am on Thursday 14th February. It is inscribed with the mileage to Audley, Natwich and Norbury.

Anyone with information should contact the chase Divisional Crime Bureau on 08453 3021010 quoting the reference number CA/014444/08 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Salvo Fair first exhibitor arrives and he is Belgian!

Above: Van de Wouwer Deco's stand on Wednesday afternoon. Another sixty pitches still to go . . . all will be ready for the Friday trade day and Saturday and Sunday public days.

Salvo Fair, Knebworth - JEROEN van Orshaegen of Van de Wouwer Deco is the first exhibitor to arrive at this year's Salvo Fair with a mix of antiques and garden ornament inlcuding a fabulous collection of zinc baths from around Europe. "These baths are becoming harder to find," Jerome said. "I have scoured the continent's antique fairs buying every one I could, and have bought them all to Salvo. It's the first time I have been to this fair and I am hoping the public might be interested in the stuff I have."

Ruby Kay, Salvo Fair organiser, was pleased to announce an increase in the size of this year's exhbition. "There are about 30 per cent more pitches this year, and we have created a new feature area which we have dubbed 'Crafty Square' where visitors will see a pargeter, thatchers, blacksmith, upholsterers, sculptors, and Wocko the woodman making shingles and palings." There will also be two stands in Crafty Square of items made from reclaimed materials, including light fittings made from old fishing rods and mirrors made from cast iron window frames and old wooden sash windows.

Salvo Fair, 11am - 5pm, Fri 27 - Sun 29 June 2008, Knebworth House Hertfordshire

Salvo Fair
Van de Wouwer Deco

Victorian piano organ at Salvo fair 2008

Architectural Forum at Salvo Fair 2008

Victorian piano organ made in Clarkenwell, London on sale for £2500+vat at Architectural forum, Islington. It will be appearing in all its audio glory at Salvo Fair 2008.

A new book about John Hardman & Co

Hardman of Birmingham is the first in-depth study of John Hardman & Co, over the whole period of history. Michael Fisher, who is the firms archivist and a recognised authority on the work of A.W.N Pugin, has based this study upon his researches into the extensive Hardman records held in the Birmingham City archives, the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, and in private collection.

Neil Phillips, of John Hardman & Co will be attending the Salvo fair 2008 and bringing with him some of the books and hopefully its author to sign copies and chat about his interesting finds.

Spab Course

Tewkesbury Abbey, Friday June 20th

Last summer's floods were the worse since 1947 and many properties were affected again during the heavy rainfall in the winter. In the aftermath, hundreds of people whose period homes suffered water damage contacted SPAB's technical advice line desperate to find out what they should do next. In response, this June, SPAB, Briatain's oldest heritage charity, is holding a unique one-day course for concerned professionals and property owners.

Led by architects, building surveyors, conservation officers and representatives of organisations including The Envionmental Agency, English Heriatge, The National Trust, the event -the first of its kind -will take place at historic Tewkesbury Abbey. Date of the event is Friady June 20th, which was at the epicentre of the catastrophic river flooding last year. Further details from Kate@spab.org.uk

Spab

Its festival time

Myhab solution to reduce tent waste to landfill. A new form of green, luxury festival accommodation service has become available to festival-goers.

Made from ultra tough recycled plastic and water proof cardboard, the temporary two-person living spaces are said to provide 'festival-goers an ethical, eco-friendly, luxury accommodation service'. The service works by festival-goers pre-booking a myhab on the website which is then set up for them at the event.

James Dunlop came up with the idea for myhab as a student at Bristol UWE. He noticed that several thousand tents were cold-heartedly abandoned at festivals each year. Not only did this mean a shed load of clearing up to do for the organisers, but it also meant tons of un-recyclable rubbish ended up in landfill after each event.

myhab

Scrap transformed into arts event sculpture

Eastgate Centre, Basildon UK

A DRAGONFLY made out of shopping trolleys and a female bust made from rusting metal and glass are among the weird and wonderful sculptures at the Eastgate Centre in Basildon.

Dozens of companies from across the district entered into the spirit of 'Basildon is the green place to be' and some 45 pieces of artwork were created for the week-long green art exhibition, held at the centre to promote environmental awareness.

The Basildon Art Challenge, is expected to become an annual event and is being organised by the Green Business Forum. The forum, which is funded by Basildon Council, offers free advice to help businesses reduce their impact on the environment and make efficiency savings.

In the last year, businesses working with the forum have saved nearly a million pounds through environmental improvements. Forum experts helped businesses save £735,000 on energy, £165,000 on cardboard waste and £17,000 on water.

How to make Salvo Fair carbon neutral

Salvo Fair - MAKING the Salvo Fair carbon neutral should be fairly easy. You add up the estimated mileage done by all the exhibitors and visitors which gives the total miles, and estimate the mpg of the different vehicles, and this gives the total carbon dioxide produced.

Its all slightly rough and ready but the sums go like this:
65 exhibitors, 2 average vehicles a car and a 2 tonner, 100 miles average x2 there and back = 26,000 truck miles, 26,000 car miles
3,000 visitors with 1,500 cars, 50 miles average x2 there and back = 150,000 car miles

So, total car miles = 176,000 = 280,000km. Total truck miles = 26,000 = 42,000km. Total emissions = 90tCO2 (see calculatoir link below).

OPTION 1: Buy carbon offset:
A. Carbon Neutral Co cost £903 eg given to or invested in Mongolian wind farm or Indian hydropower.
B. CO2 Balance cost £810 for solar ovens in East Africa, low energy light bulbs in Kenya, or £1080 for turning pasture into woodland in Cornwall or £1,755 for paying into the EUA Phase II emissions trading scheme which somehow reduces the UK's emissions.
C. Carbon Clear costs £672 for brick kilns in Nicaragua, cookers in Sudan, tricycle taxis in Philippines and tree planting in the tropics.

OPTION 2: Plant some trees at Knebworth. This is not as simple as it might seem. Martha Cobbold is happy for us to contribute towards the cost of planting new trees at Knebworth which would happen under their supervision, although we though we could turn it into a Salvo Fair event. Planting trees seemed an unequivocally good idea until a couple of years ago when scientists realised that the further north you travel, the less global warming is reduced by planting trees. Above the artic circle trees actually increase global warming because, although they absorb carbon dioxide, the tree cover raises ground temperature by absorbing heat rather than reflecting it as bare snow would do. Scientists now say that planting trees in temperate areas is carbon neutral, so the only place to plant trees to offset carbon is in the tropics. We calculated that, assuming the trees were hardwoods that lived for 200 years and ignoring the ground effect (how often does Knebworth have snow cover anyway?), we would need to plant 120 trees. If the trees lived for 400 years we would need 60 trees. Most of Knebworth's park trees are long living. This would be one tree per exhibitor, and each exhibitor would be asked to plant one. But this cannot happen because now is the wrong time to plant trees, so we are planning to do this for next years Salvo Fair.

OPTION 3: When you think about it, the exhibitors at Salvo are probably all carbon negative because they reclaimed old things and sell them to people who reuse them instead of buying new stuff. How can that be put into figures?
Total mileage to offset = 176,000 car miles @ 36mpg = 5,000 gallons fuel and 26,000 truck miles at 22mpg = 1,200 gallons fuel giving a total of 6,200 gallons. Since 12 bricks or clay roof tiles embodies the energy of a gallon of petrol, 6,200 gallons is roughly 72,000 reclaimed bricks or roof tiles reused. For 3,000 visitors this would mean 24 bricks each. So if the average visitor buys the energy equivalent of 24 bricks, we are already carbon neutral! On the Salvo stand at this years fair we would like to have a bright 12 year old capable of calculating the embodied energy of everything sold at the fair so that we are able to prove it.

Carbon Neutral Co Business Carbon Calculator

Beijing Olympics clearance stone figures coming to Salvo Fair

Above: Keith brought this fabulous gothic marble and stone arcade from St Phillips, Kensington, to Salvo 2006 where it did not sell. It is still for sale and Keith is looking for £11,500 but is probably open to offers. So why not come along to Salvo Fair and haggle?

Salvo Fair, Knebworth Herts UK, Fri 27 - Sun 29 Jun 2008 - KEITH Edmonds from Oxfordshire is bringing a load of stone figures rescued from the clearance of buildings around the Beijing Olympics site in China. Among the figures will be Buddhas and other Buddhist related carved stonework including steles. Tel Keith Edmonds 07970 070457.

Salvo Fair : Home Page
Salvo Fair : Exhibitor List
Salvo Fair : How to get there

Cross channel Crapper bathroom boat comes to Salvo 2008

Above: On dry land [Photo Tyrone Snell Trailers]


Above: Tim Fitzhigham having conquered the channel in a piece of plumbing travelled up the Thames and arrives at Tower Bridge, below that shows Tim and some of his sponsors on his we site including the erudite Thomas Crapper & Co


Salvo Fair, Knebworth, Hertfordshire UK - TIM Fitzhigham, stand-up comedian and long distance rower, is bringing the bathroom boat, in which he traversed the Channel and rowed up the Thames to London, to this years Salvo Fair to be parked outside the stand of Thomas Crapper & Co, one of his Channel-crossing sponsors. As a result of his exploits he has been feted by the media, raised loads of money for Comic Relief and Sports Relief, met the Queen and has now written a book In the Bath subtitled Conquering the Channel in a piece of Plumbing.


Salvo Fair
Tim Fitzhigham

Three days left for Summer Olympia Fair

Olympia Art & Antiques Fair, June 5-15 2008


Above: A pair of Portland stone roundels C.1760, £14,000


Above: Thornton Kay (Salvo) and Alex Puddy (Architectural Heritage) discussing the show


Above: A pair of huge lions and reclining youths, £120,000


Above: A pair of urns, C.1860, £18,000



Olympia Art and Antiques fair is full of all sorts of treasures and trinkets from over 250 of the art world's best known names, and this included Salvo Dealer Alex Puddy from Architectural Heritage.

His impressive stand was filled with many interesting pieces including a pair of beautiful Portland stone roundels from the estate Plas Llangedmore Cardigan, Wales and dating from around 1760, priced at £14,000.

The remnants of Chelsea still lived on as flowers peered out of a pair of Italian marble campana shaped urns, C.1860, priced at £18,000. Alex Puddy later joked that he would be selling the plants of at £2 each and three for £5, as he did at Chelsea!

Other interesting pieces included a pair of huge nineteenth century cast iron mythological beasts, upon which a pair of warrior youths recline, priced at £120,000. On the opening day Alex had already made a successful sale of a large campana urn with two female masks on and raised on a solid marble base. Its provenance is from Chateau Germain Paris, France, C.1860, priced at £26,000.

Olympia
Architectural Heritage

Cast iron bath sofa comes to Salvo Fair

Salvo Fair, Knebworth Hertfordshire




JASON Davies of Architectural Forum and Colleen Gowlett of Salvo are turning an old cast iron bath into a sofa which they hope to complete in time to be on sale at the forthcoming Salvo Fair. The picture shows George Peppard and Audrey Hepburn sitting on the first known cast iron bath tub sofa seen in a New York apartment in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1961

Posterity summer auction 21st June

Ledbury, Herefordshire UK

POSTERITY will be holding a summer auction of 200 lots of architectural and garden antiques on 21st June 2008 in Ledbury, Herefordshire. Among the lots will be a full size snooker table, arcade ten pin bowling machine, marble fire surround, milliners cabinet, French bakers table and a mixture of furniture, architectural and garden antiques and materials.

For more information please contact; Tel 01531 636380.

Posterity Antiques

First flushing rim thunderbox WC for sale at Salvo Fair 2008

Above: Optimus patent thunderbox loo by Dent & Hellyer of Red Lion Square, London, c1870, the first toilet with a flushing rim, on sale at this year's Salvo Fair for £595 from Antique Baths of Ivybridge

Salvo Fair 2008, Fri 27 Jun - Sun 29 Jun, Knebworth, Hertfordshire UK - ANTIQUE Baths of Ivybridge will be bringing an original patent Optimus thunderbox to the Salvo Fair this year, the first loo with under-the-rim flushing. This WC, consisting of a valve closet surrounded by a fine Cuban mahogany enclosure, dates from 1870, when Dent & Hellyer invented and patented the first flushing rim bowls of their Optimus and Artisan models.

Before the Optimus the flush came from a spout placed under the lid which swirled the water around the conical bowl but did not always clean it. The flushing rim, seen as a vast improvement, was patented by Dent & Hellyer and made for them by Thomas Twyford of Stoke on Trent. Twyfords were potters and sanitaryware makers who rose to prominence after the cholera outbreaks of the 1840s and 1860s, the death of Prince Albert, and the near death of the Prince of Wales, the future Kind Edward VII, from water-borne cholera and typhus.

Thunderbox is the name given to the whole assembly, which was plumbed into the new-fangled mains water supply providing the flush, and the equally new-fangled sewers which got rid of the effuent. The thunderbox contained the Optimus' innards in an elegant mahogany enclosure. The D handle was lifted to open the water supply to flush the pan (seen on the right in the closed position in the photo above) either from the mains or from a concealed cistern. The thunderbox was the epitome of posh Victorian toiletry from 1870 up to the late 1880s when the all-in-one wash-out, and then syphonic flush, pottery toilet pans were introduced.


Above: Nick Cowan of Antique Baths of Ivybridge in the cast iron bath open air pre-restoration yard

Above: Fabulous old hand carved 5ft 9ins Spanish marble bath from Barcelona. Price £3,750

Above: Japkap lead lined pine high-level cistern, restored and coated to comply with modern water regulations. Price £350 including antique brackets

Above: Old wooden stepped commode. Price £175

Salvo Fair
Antique Baths of Ivybridge

Werff pleased with Summers Place sealed bid results

Above: Falcon II set on a natural stone base, by Chris Drury, (Britsh born Sri Lanka, 1948), estimate: £1200-1800, hammer price: £2599



Above: A composition stone figure of a goddess on a pedestal, second half of the twentieth century, estimate: £800-1200, hammer price: £1706



Above: 'Resolve' by Thomas Joynes and Adam Paddon, enamelled stainless steel, estimate: £2000-3000, hammer price: £3600



Above: The highest selling piece a modern group of three divers, estimate: £10000-15000, hammer price: £13000


Summers Place Auctions, Billingshurst, Sussex UK

SEALED bids, after the recent Summers Place live auction at Billingshurst, were opened on Tuesday 27th May. Rupert van der Werff said, "A group of three modern stainless steel divers were top of the sealed bid lots fetching £13,000. Contemporary sculpture was the strongest area as just about everything sold, and sold well. There are two markets operating and the contemporary one is very strong, and we will continue to expand into this area [what is the other market?-ed]. Private treaty is closing in a few weeks for the large architectural bits, in which we have had alot of interest. A number of unsold lots from the live auction and the sealed bid auction have also been sold via private treaty. We were pretty pleased with the sale given the current financial difficulties, particularly in the second tier market in which these lots appeared. Sixty six percent were sold by lot, not including fossil. We were delighted that the new initiative paid off, as it was a risk."

Summers Place Auctions
Summers Place Auctions video preview

Drummond Shaw interviewed in 2008

Hindhead, Surrey UK - DRUMMOND Shaw of Drummonds Architectural is interviewed by Thornton Kay of Salvo in the back yard of his Hindhead, Surrey UK premises in May 2008.

The business is having a big trade clear-out and the video shows some of the deeply discounted items available including 300 Victorian ropetwist edgers for £500. These will be among many items Drummonds is bringing to Salvo Fair in June where they will be having a very large stand.

The interview includes Drummond's thoughts about where the salvage trade is now, how the new business is going, including the flooring made from reclaimed oak and stone, and a move away from less profitable architectural antique fittings such as doors and Belfast sinks.

Finally we get to hear a surprise new announcement about the future of Hindhead.

Drummonds Architectural