WelshAntiques

13/10/2026

Twenty years ago this week, I finished writing the book that became my life’s work.

Browse antiques for sale from WelshAntiques, a verified antique dealer in Carmarthenshire. View their full collection of vetted antiques with detailed photography and dealer contact details.

13/10/2026

Twenty years ago this week, I finished writing the book that became my life’s work.
I can't believe that it's twenty years to the week that I finally put down my pen (yes, all 300,000 words were written out by hand!) and decided that it was time to hand over the manuscript for my two-volume work to the printers.
"Welsh Furniture 1250-1950: A Cultural History of Craftsmanship and Design" had taken sixteen years to put together, including taking and acquiring 1500 photographs, and I would still be writing today if countless people hadn't advised me that it was complete.
The book was a great success from the time that it came out - in early 2007 - and won numerous plaudits as well as prestigious prizes; and I was made an Honorary Research Fellow of Amgueddfa Cymru: National Museum Wales.
Looking back, I don't know how I found the time alongside my day job as an antiques dealer, but there it is - proof that I once had the energy that I can only dream of today!
I started the endeavour because no-one else had stepped up to "illuminate the Welsh tradition" and because I felt that my beloved subject had been denigrated by so many who saw Welsh furniture as merely derivative of English high-style fashions.
It became my life's work - or obsession - and provided so much enjoyment, travelling all over Wales as well as forays into the rest of the UK and even across to the US.
The volumes have been out of print for a while, but there are copies for sale online and I do have a few left in my showrooms - so drop me an email or dm if you are interested.
I still collect photos and stories about Welsh furniture - do you have any information that might be of interest, in case I get around to another volume?!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303940113167...
https://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/welsh/

Browse antiques for sale from WelshAntiques, a verified antique dealer in Carmarthenshire. View their full collection of vetted antiques with detailed photography and dealer contact details.

10/10/2026

AN ENGLISH SMILE — OR A WELSH ONE?

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10/10/2026

AN ENGLISH SMILE — OR A WELSH ONE?

This panel comes from an early sixteenth‑century chest that sold at auction this month for just under £25,000.

The image was used as the cover of "The English Smile" by my friend Michael Dann, who believed that the chest originated in Devon. Others have suggested that it came from Anglesey in north Wales.

The front bears the marriage initials "R T" and "A G" for the groom and bride — but I’ve failed to find a convincing pair of names to match them.

Has anyone come across these initials in a Welsh or West Country context, or have thoughts on where this chest might truly have belonged?

Discover over 67,000 unique antiques from over 500 of the UK's most trusted dealers.

09/10/2026

A LOVELY ARTICLE — BUT HOW WAS IT USED?

A LOVELY ARTICLE — BUT HOW WAS IT USED?

Here’s a very elaborate example of a dairy implement that is itself pretty rare in Wales.

Often called a butter scoop, butter skimmer, butter scraper or butter spoon, it’s unusual in having a very shallow bowl with one straight edge and the other curved with a serrated edge.

Some say it was used to work butter in a wooden bowl. My wife thinks it was drawn across a block of butter for serving. Perhaps it served several functions.

The handle on this example is almost a lovespoon in miniature — a daisy wheel within a ship’s wheel, zig‑zag chip carving, and that wonderful boot as the hook. All strong symbolic elements.

Whatever its exact purpose, this one was surely intended as a gift or a piece of virtuoso craftsmanship.

Has anyone come across one of these, or have a different explanation for how it was used?

https://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/welsh/

09/10/2026

A LOVELY ARTICLE — BUT HOW WAS IT USED?

Here’s a very elaborate example of a dairy implement that is itself pretty rare in Wales.

Often called a butter scoop, butter skimmer, butter scraper or butter spoon, it’s unusual in having a very shallow bowl with one straight edge and the other curved with a serrated edge.

Some say it was used to work butter in a wooden bowl. My wife thinks it was drawn across a block of butter for serving. Perhaps it served several functions.

The handle on this example is almost a lovespoon in miniature — a daisy wheel within a ship’s wheel, zig‑zag chip carving, and that wonderful boot as the hook. All strong symbolic elements.

Whatever its exact purpose, this one was surely intended as a gift or a piece of virtuoso craftsmanship.

Has anyone come across one of these, or have a different explanation for how it was used?

https://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/welsh/

07/10/2026

THIS CARVING ALWAYS DELIGHTS ME - WHAT PLANT DO YOU THINK IT REPRESENTS?

THIS CARVING ALWAYS DELIGHTS ME - WHAT PLANT DO YOU THINK IT REPRESENTS?

Dairy treen - small wooden objects made for cheese and butter-making - is found all over the British Isles, Ireland, the Continent and America and - because each piece was hand-made and individual - can be difficult to assign to a region.
But this style of a butter scoop with a stamp at the top of the handle was exclusive to Wales and - in my experience - exclusive to the Cardigan Bay area.
Unusually, the reverse of the print has a date - 1882 - and it's in reverse so was intended to be impressed into a pat of butter (see in comments).
https://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/welsh/

07/10/2026

THIS CARVING ALWAYS DELIGHTS ME - WHAT PLANT DO YOU THINK IT REPRESENTS?

Dairy treen - small wooden objects made for cheese and butter-making - is found all over the British Isles, Ireland, the Continent and America and - because each piece was hand-made and individual - can be difficult to assign to a region.
But this style of a butter scoop with a stamp at the top of the handle was exclusive to Wales and - in my experience - exclusive to the Cardigan Bay area.
Unusually, the reverse of the print has a date - 1882 - and it's in reverse so was intended to be impressed into a pat of butter (see in comments).
https://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/welsh/

05/10/2026

A curious Welsh tradition - and a strange photographic genre.…

A curious Welsh tradition - and a strange photographic genre.

Have you ever come across one of these Welsh Tea Party postcards or figurines of similar scenes?

"The Welsh Tea Party" became a very popular image in the late 1800s, leading to figurines produced in Germany and numerous postcards produced by both local Welsh and larger English and Continental companies.
The postcards were mostly photographed outside, with some in a studio. Most had two or three ladies, some had well over a dozen, and all in Welsh costume and seated around a circular table which held a large teapot and other utensils. The figurines sometimes included a minister.
It's a strange image, unlike anything produced for other nationalities and evidently appealed to both tourists and locals - I have seen numerous examples in Welsh homes over the years.
As forerunners, there's a John Thomas photo of around 1870, but the ladies have books rather than tea. And there a couple of paintings of farmhouse interiors from the 1880s which show the occupants - in one case a woman and in the other a couple - taking tea on a round table in front of the fire.
But the archetypal "Welsh tea party" is more specific than that, and I have often wondered how it started and how it took off so spectacularly.
“Good morning ladies … I would like to take your photo and will pay each of you one penny”
“By here, by the hearth?”
“No, there’s not enough light, in front of the cottage. I’ve brought some tall hats, if you wouldn’t mind putting them on”
“Iesu mawr, no-one has worn those these years”
“Indulge me. You will need to keep absolutely still for a few minutes”
“Not a chance, we’ll have to sit for that. Iwan, fetch some chairs!”
“That’s lovely. I’ll need about twenty minutes to set everything up”
“How long?! Iwan … fetch the round table … Mair, take the water off the hob and make some tea. You’d better use the best teapot, we don’t want to be shown up .. and a loaf, we could be here a while”
“That’s absolutely charming … perfect … hold still now …”
Flash … pop …. A genre was born

https://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/welsh/

05/10/2026

A curious Welsh tradition - and a strange photographic genre.

Have you ever come across one of these Welsh Tea Party postcards or figurines of similar scenes?

"The Welsh Tea Party" became a very popular image in the late 1800s, leading to figurines produced in Germany and numerous postcards produced by both local Welsh and larger English and Continental companies.
The postcards were mostly photographed outside, with some in a studio. Most had two or three ladies, some had well over a dozen, and all in Welsh costume and seated around a circular table which held a large teapot and other utensils. The figurines sometimes included a minister.
It's a strange image, unlike anything produced for other nationalities and evidently appealed to both tourists and locals - I have seen numerous examples in Welsh homes over the years.
As forerunners, there's a John Thomas photo of around 1870, but the ladies have books rather than tea. And there a couple of paintings of farmhouse interiors from the 1880s which show the occupants - in one case a woman and in the other a couple - taking tea on a round table in front of the fire.
But the archetypal "Welsh tea party" is more specific than that, and I have often wondered how it started and how it took off so spectacularly.
“Good morning ladies … I would like to take your photo and will pay each of you one penny”
“By here, by the hearth?”
“No, there’s not enough light, in front of the cottage. I’ve brought some tall hats, if you wouldn’t mind putting them on”
“Iesu mawr, no-one has worn those these years”
“Indulge me. You will need to keep absolutely still for a few minutes”
“Not a chance, we’ll have to sit for that. Iwan, fetch some chairs!”
“That’s lovely. I’ll need about twenty minutes to set everything up”
“How long?! Iwan … fetch the round table … Mair, take the water off the hob and make some tea. You’d better use the best teapot, we don’t want to be shown up .. and a loaf, we could be here a while”
“That’s absolutely charming … perfect … hold still now …”
Flash … pop …. A genre was born

https://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/welsh/