Stanhope

Stanhope

Stanhopes , first produced in the second half of the 19th century, are small, novelty mementoes that contain a miniature peep-hole revealing a 'mystery' photograph. They are an excellent theme for the budget collector.

Stanhope

If you look carefully at the end of a hone needle case or the top of a dip pen from the 1860s onwards, you may find inset a tiny glass bead. This is the Stanhope proper - a lens just millimetres wide to which one or more minute photographs, which look like black pinheads, are attached. When held up to the light and close to the eye, the lens magnifies the micro- photograph to reveal the picture as if projected on a tiny screen.

The pioneers

Stanhope

Stanhope

The nam'Stanhope' comes from Charles Stanhope, the 3rd Earl Stanhope (1753—1816), who invented a uniquely powerful hand magnifying lens, achieving enlargements previously possible 

Did You Know?

Stanhopes such as rings, tiepins, watch keys, and smallpencils often contain saucy nudes and other erotic images. Intendedfor gentlemen,they are a specialist and valuable category with a crossover appeal to collectors of erotica.

About 50 years after Stanhope's death, his invention was adapted for use in souvenirs. An Englishman, John Benjamin Dancer, invented micro-photography in 1839, but it was a Frenchman, Rene Dagron, who combined the Stanhope lens with the Dancer micro-photograph in 1860 to make a tiny viewer with an image attached to the lens. He then began setting his device into everyday objects and souvenirs of locations or historic events.

Stanhope

Booming business

Stanhope

The public's response was so positive that Dagron opened a factory at Gex, on the Swiss border, just two years later. Soon he was employing more than 100 people, producing photographic miniatures known as bijoux 
photomicrography, or micro photographic  trinket', fitted into a huge range of inexpensive souvenirs containing views of personalities, resorts, and exhibitions.

Stanhope

The canny Frenchman realised that others might copy his idea once the patent expired, so he marketed Stanhope kits' to encourage anyone else who wanted to produce Stanhopes to buy the equipment and supplies from Dagron. As a result, a great variety of Stanhopes was made by various companies during the late 19th century. Business declined from the 1920s to the 60s,

although Stanhopes were still manufactured - for example, to commemorate special events such as the Coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953- Production eventually ceased in 1972.

Exciting finds

Stanhope

Stanhopes were produced in the thousands, but they are relatively uncommon today because they were frequently discarded once the novelty had worn off, or left forgotten at the bottom of a drawer. Although the more commonplace Stanhopes > often appear at sales and auctions, ¹ you do need to lie alert to spot one elsewhere. If you are lucky enough to discover a Stanhope at a car-boot sale or similar, the likelihood is that the vendor is unaware of the trinket special secret. Most Stanhopes are valued at much less than .£100, with only a few rarities exceeding this.

Lucky dip

Stanhope novelties are predominantly made from bone, base metals, and silver, although plastic was usual after the 1920s. The most commonly found examples are sewing accessories, dip pens, jewellery, smoking accessories, and charms (including tiny binoculars for watch fobs). 

Stanhope

A pair of miniature bone binoculars with a view of a well-known personality might fetch £60 or more, but those with standard views of scenery may be worth as little as .£10. Cigarette holders fall into the ,£30-90 bracket, depending on the material used (metal and wooden ones are worth slightly more than plastic).

Larger items such as walking sticks are rarer and more valuable.

Stanhope

Perfume bottles with Stanhopes can fetch up to .£250. thimbles up to £400 - these higher prices can be attributed in part to additional interest from collectors of perfume bottles and sewing tools.

The most frequently found images are of tourist attractions, historic cities, and spa towns. Portraits are rarer and are thus more sought after. Events such as the 1862 London International Exhibition are also unusual and have a wide appeal.

Cornish Ware

 Cornish Ware 

easily recognized by '

Cornish Ware 

its simple blue-and-white bands, and is redolent of good old-fashioned country kitchens. The huge range of shapes - and there are even co lour variations - gives a great deal of scope to form a collection.

Most people have one or two pieces of Cornish ware tucked away in a kitchen cupboard, or perhaps proudly displayed on a dresser.

Cornish Ware 

True Cornish ware was produced by T.G. Green of Church Gresley, in Derbyshire, from the 1920s onwards, its popularity reaching a peak in the 1940s and 50s. The name is said to have come from one of the firm's employees who, on returning from holiday in Cornwall, saw the new range and said that the blue was like the Cornish skies and the white like the crests of Cornish waves.

By the 1980s Cornish ware had declined in popularity, and the rights to make it were sold to Cloverleaf of Swindon. In 2001 the rights passed to Mason Cash & Co., who are still manufacturing it. The market for vintage pieces from the 1930s to the 50s soared in the mid-90s. Prices have fallen over the past five years, although they have recently become more stable, and rare pieces will always be popular.

Cornish miscellany

A vast number of household objects were made, including storage jars, rolling pins, plates, and jugs. The age of an item of Cornishware is often indicated by its shape, since ceramics tend to mirror the fashions of the period. Most pieces before the 1960s were rounded, but Judith Onions, who designed for T.G. Green from 1968, introduced streamlined shapes with clean, modern lines.

Cornish Ware 

Church and shield

Maker's marks on the bottom of a piece will help with identification and dating. Early marks from the 1920s to the 40s are printed in green and show the church at Church Gresley, the pottery's home. But most original Cornishware bears a printed mark (in black or green) in a shield that incorporates the factory name and is crossed by the words 'Cornish Kitchen Ware'. Be wary of storage jars with named

Cornish Ware 

contents ('Sugar', Tea', and so on) and the green shield mark: the contents label may have been added later to make a common jar appear to be rare. A 'target'-shaped mark was used between 1968 and 1980 for the range designed by Onions, but from 1980 until 1987 the mark included the church motif once again. Stamped markings that say 'Made in England' or marks including the word Chefware' are not authentic T.G.Green Cornish ware.

The price of prunes

Prices range from as little as ±5-15 for a blue-and-white mug or plate, up to

Cornish Ware 

£300 or more for a storage jar marked with the name of

an ingredient that is uncommon nowadays, such as lard or meal.

Jars for standard ingredients such as flour, tea, coffee, and sugar are easier to find, and usually cost .£50 or less. Jars for expensive or uncommon ingredients, such as prunes, cocoa, and borax, are rare: prices often start at about £100.

T.G. Green often undertook special commissions, by request, for unique ingredient names and certain brand names. As these were produced in small runs, they are usually valuable.

Cornish Ware 

Pot red

Although blue and white is the most characteristic colour combination, Cornishware has been made in other colours. Red bands are the rarest. 

Cornish Ware 

This range was produced as an experiment during the 1960s and never went into full production. Prices can rise to £200 or more, depending on the shape and type of item. Other colours to look out for include gold, yellow, orange,

green, and black, all produced from the 1970s onwards. A yellow-banded egg cup can be worth around £5-10, a green-banded cafetiere about £70-100. 
As well as banded pieces, T.G. Green also launched a blue-and-white range in a polka-dot pattern, known as Domino'. Although less popular, it is still collectable, and a small milk jug will usually fetch around £40.

Wooden Souvenir ware guide

Wooden souvenir war

popular in Britain includes Mauchline ware, made in Scotland, and Tunbridge ware from Kent. Today it is treasured for nostalgic reasons, for the quality of the wood, and for its skilful, often intricate decoration.

Both Mauchline and Tunbridge ware were produced in a range of keepsake items - primarily boxes, but also useful objects such as rulers and inkstands. Although some examples with intricate decoration can be worth hundreds of pounds, common, simply decorated pieces can still be found for around £50 or less.

Boxing clever

Mauchline ware is made of light, yellowy-beige sycamore, decorated with a dark-toned scene of a building or view, then given a gloss varnish

 with unusual turret design and showing Ravenscraig Castle, Dysart. c.1890, 8cm (3'Ain) high.

Early works were hand painted.

From the 1820s until 1933 (when a fire destroyed Smith's factory), pieces were mostly decorated by transfer printing of designs or, from the 1860s, of photographs.



The transfer was applied to an item, then given several coats of slow-drying varnish. The range is wide, so prices vary. A napkin jing can be found for around £10-20. An early hand-decorated box or snuff mull can command £300-900 or more.

Finishing touches

Other finishes were produced by various makers. 'Tartanware' - small wooden objects covered in tartan - was bright and cheerful and satisfied the Victorian interest in all things Scottish.






 Early examples were hand decorated, but most pieces date from after the early 1850s, when colour- printed paper was glued to the piece, tht-n lightly varnished. Prices vary from k-ss than £100 for a simple 1870s pillbox to £500-800 or more for pieces that are large, early, or hand painted.

'Fernware' - small items decorated with a fern-leaf pattern - was introduced by several factories in the1870s. Various techniques were applied, such as.

using an actual fern leaf as a stencil and then stippling dark dye over it in overlapping shapes. Paper printed with a fern design and glued to the box was also common, but pieces decorated this way are less valuable. A small cylindrical box from about 1890 is usually worth up to around ,£50.

Spa town magic

Kent's historic spa town of Tunbridge Wells produced high-quality wooden mementoes for the Georgian and Victorian tourists who flocked to the i town for its curative spring waters.

This ware has its origins in the 17th century, when small, useful pieces of treen (such as drinking vessels) were made by local craftsmen. Production grew as tourism increased. Early pieces (pre-1820s), using the traditional marquetry techniques found in furniture, are much sought after. Most later Tunbridge ware was created using the stickwork' method, by which slim rods of different-coloured

Did You Know?

In the late 1700s a Scottish inventor, John Sandy, created the 'hidden hinge'snuffbox, using a cutting device that hid the brass pin connecting the lid to the box; this gave the appearance of an all-wood, hingeless box. The resulting box, the first to prevent expensive snuff from leaking into the user's pocket, was exploited by James Stiven of Laurencekirk, Scotland. It was the impetus for the snuffbox industry in Scotland, in and around










Mauchtine woods are cut into paper-thin tesserae (tiles) and applied to the surfaces as in a mosaic. At its most popular, between 1840 and 1890, Tunbridge ware used floral designs, stylised natural motifs, local scenes, and profiles - notably of Queen Victoria. 

The variety is huge, and includes items such as magnifying glasses and paper knives as well as boxes for pills, stamps, matches, tea, and other household essentials. Larger pieces or ones with intricate designs are more valuable, if in good condition. A small trinket box with a simple geometric design can fetch £30-60, a dip pen £40-60, a larger or more complex box £250-650 or more. Notable makers include Henry Hollamby, Thomas Barton, and the Wise and Burrows families.