Welcome to the WCN Collecting Articles and Features Channel dedicated to all things related to collecting, antiques, pottery, vintage toys, dolls, teddy bears, memorabilia, books, comics, figurines and everything else collectable. Our aim is to provide collectors with information on all aspects of antiques and collecting, from identifying and valuing antiques, to tips on starting and growing a collection, and to featured collectible histories.
We feature hundreds of articles and features on all aspects of collecting, written by experts in the field. Whether you’re a seasoned collector or just getting started, we hope you’ll find something of interest here. Thanks for reading! You can also search for articles using the magnifying glass to the top right of the web site.
It was at the beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria that the Staffordshire potters first produced their characteristic portrait pottery. The young Queen and her family inspired enough pottery models to suggest an important collection in themselves. Pictured right: c1840s Staffordshire figures of Queen Victoria and Albert on horseback. […]
Kitchenalia are items and utensils associated with the kitchen and are now collected. These kitchenalia items range from Victorian copper jelly moulds and glass rolling pins to 1950s/1960s retro items to Kenwood Chef mixers to modern kitchen classics such as Alessi. Unlike other rooms, the kitchen is much more difficult […]
Have you considered complementing your doll collection with picture postcards? There are thousands of designs available, and as they take up so little room, you won’t get guilt feelings each time you buy another. Picture postcards became popular in the 1890s, reaching their peak in the early 1900s, up to […]
The term “American Stoneware” refers to the predominant houseware of nineteenth century America–stoneware pottery usually covered in a salt glaze and often decorated using cobalt oxide to produce bright blue decorations. Pictured right: Fenton & Hancock Water Cooler sold at auction for $88,000 in Nov 2006 at Crocker Farm Inc […]
Emerging from the Dark Ages, scholars concerned themselves with matters of magic, issues of theology and creative – if nonsensical – arguments such as the Flat Earth Theory. Pictured right: W&R Carlton Ware 3″ NEW MIKADO 2814; 4 3/4″ CHRYSANTHEMUM 2930; 6″ PARROT 3018 vases Among those who queried the […]
I got my first diecast fifty years ago. My mother and father must have thought that at six years old I was ‘grown-up’ enough to have a real toy at last, and so Christmas morning 1958 saw me tearing open the brown paper packaging (potato-printed with holly and what could […]
Tiny Tears Dolls – The Most Popular Vinyl Doll – Launched in a blaze of publicity in 1965, amazingly Tiny Tears dolls are still sold today – and the earliest ones are becoming exceedingly collectable. At the time, Palitoy was one of Britain’s largest toy manufacturers, and their revolutionary doll […]
Victorian Christmas Cards Victorian Christmas Cards – The very first Christmas card was printed in December 1843, at the request of Sir Henry Cole, who was also the instigator of the Great Exhibition of 1851 and founder and first director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Indeed, he was […]
Collecting Chinese Snuff Bottles Collecting Chinese Snuff Bottles – Snuff bottles were used by the Chinese during the Qing Dynasty to contain powdered tobacco. Smoking tobacco was illegal during the Dynasty, but the use of snuff was allowed because the Chinese considered snuff to be a remedy for common illnesses […]
Since history began man has attempted to smoke various burning herbs in different ways, but the first appearance of the pipe, functioning on the principle of the familiar briar, is a matter for conjecture. Pictured left: An American Indian Stone Pipe With Lead Inlay To The Bowl And Stem 6In. (15Cm.) Long. Sold […]
