Antique Guides

LAPADA Guide to Antique Chandeliers

For centuries the chandelier has been the most iconic lighting form to grace our interiors, balancing a decorative and aesthetic function with practical illumination. From its beginnings it was associated with wealth and power and a burning symbol of success and social standing.

LAPADA Guide to Buying Antiquities

The term 'antiquities' refers to artefacts from prehistory to roughly Medieval Period. The term is very broad and covers the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, ancient Egypt, ancient Near Eastern cultures and delves into prehistoric periods and Asian civilizations.

LAPADA Guide to Giltwood Furniture

R. W. Symonds, a renowned furniture historian, once pronounced that gilt gesso furniture was unparalleled: ‘It possessed a quality which no carving in wood could emulate’.*

LAPADA Guide to Diamond Cuts

Diamonds were probably worn as early as the sixth century BC, though the oldest extant examples date from Ancient Rome.

LAPADA Guide to Portrait Enamels

Most significant portrait miniature collections also contain portrait enamels. These usually resemble watercolour portrait miniatures in their framing and size, yet they were produced in a very different way and their creators were more closely associated with watchmakers and jewellers than with the manuscript illuminators who evolved the first portrait miniatures.

LAPADA Guide to Parquetry & Marquetry

Anyone who works with antiques, especially restorers who spend literally days burnishing pieces to bring back their lustre, will tell you that wood is wonderful.

Best Stand Awards – Winter Art & Antiques Fair Olympia

Each year, LAPADA organise the Best Stand Awards at the Winter Art & Antiques Fair Olympia. This year our esteemed panel of judges included: Caroline de Cabbarus (Principal, Hotspur Design), Noelle McElhatton (Editor, The Antiques Trade Gazette) and Nicholas Somers (Master, The Worshipful Company of Turners). From the over 70 LAPADA members standing at the…
antique-clock

LAPADA Guide to Antique Clocks

Prized and valued today as they were when first commissioned and made, fine antique clocks represent a sound financial investment and will be a pleasure to own and incorporate into your daily life.
meissen-porcelain

LAPADA Guide to Meissen Porcelain

LAPADA member Serhat Ahmet talks about collecting Meissen Porcelain, known in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries as the most innovative and sought after by royal courts and the aristocracy; it was called 'white gold', due to its huge expense to purchase.