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00:00Welcome to Antiques Down Under.
00:28We're on the search for incredible antiques and collectibles.
00:32From private collections, historic homes, backyard sheds, museums and galleries.
00:38We'll be talking to the experts, the custodians and the passionate collectors.
00:42Coming up on this episode of Antiques Down Under,
00:45Elizabeth visits an avid collector of antique jewellery.
00:50Shangri-La, a catch-up with the villagers in their new gallery and studio.
00:54ADU discovers the world of miniature books.
01:01And Claudia and Lee talk Wedgwood.
01:14Today, Antiques Down Under is visiting a collector of miniature books.
01:20Louise, welcome to Antiques Down Under.
01:22Thank you, Gregor.
01:23You've got an incredible collection here.
01:25I've never seen so many.
01:26How do you ever get time to read them?
01:30Rarely have I read one.
01:32I don't think my eyes would take it.
01:34But they are legible with the naked eye.
01:37Which is your favourite?
01:40And which was the one that you started?
01:42Oh, the one I started with, this little beauty here,
01:45which was a gift to my sister of a very close friend of my grandmother.
01:50And when I was living in England, she gave it to her.
01:53And I just would not leave it alone.
01:55And being the generous biggest sister, she went, oh, you have it.
02:00And I did.
02:01And from that, this is what...
02:03Entire collection started, yeah.
02:05Favourites, oh, God, that's too hard.
02:06I mean, I love the silver-fronted ones, the fancy bindings,
02:10you know, you can't go past those, the tiny ones, the sets.
02:14You know, it's... I can't pick one.
02:16I honestly can't pick one.
02:17I have to say that one then, because that's what started...
02:19That's what lit the fuse.
02:20It's always.
02:20Now, the silver ones, why silver?
02:27I think it was just because they became a competition in later years
02:31as to who could make the most beautiful, who could do the tiniest type.
02:35And they were perfect gifts.
02:36A lot of them are religious orientation.
02:39These are biographical, Tennyson, Longfellow, they seem to be popular.
02:43I mean, even a cuckoo book.
02:44I mean, can you imagine having that in the kitchen
02:46and worrying about the fat splatter?
02:47Yeah, I know.
02:50The real reason for them basically began because they were so small
02:56and they could be used to travel with.
02:59And then they got more prolific and the titles grew
03:02from sort of religious and almanacs.
03:06It became a lot more historical poetry, biographies
03:10and just general fiction.
03:14Earlier you were telling about a very famous aristocrat
03:17that was absolutely, like you, a passionate collector.
03:20of miniature books.
03:21Yes, I mourned that one.
03:23Louis XVI gave his wife, Marie Antoinette,
03:26one little miniature book and she just loved it.
03:30And she managed to get together the most beautiful collection
03:33of miniature books.
03:35They were stunning.
03:36They would have been beautifully jewelled and all sorts of things.
03:39Sadly, in the revolution, the French Revolution, just gone.
03:43And over there you've got some really, really small ones
03:47with little miniature magnifying glasses.
03:50Yeah, they are, would you believe, the replacement for a philofax or a planner.
03:55Right.
03:56They're almanacs and how on earth they didn't get lost in handbags
04:00and things, I don't know.
04:01But they were, again, this was more of a competition
04:04and the term is bijou, which is another term for small or chic
04:09and sometimes a jewel.
04:12So they were very much a case of, you know,
04:14you give them to someone as a lovely gift.
04:20These are bone, ivory?
04:24Some of them are bone.
04:25I think it's called ivorine.
04:27And they're obviously mostly religious books?
04:30Also, on the religious theme, we've got over here the Koran.
04:38Yes, yes.
04:39This is a tiny little one that most of the time,
04:42there was millions of these sent into the Middle East.
04:45Right.
04:45And they would wear that around the neck on a chain.
04:49Interesting.
04:49Yeah, that's one of my favourites.
04:51This one came out with the Allied newspapers.
04:56Right.
04:56And it was a set.
04:57They marketed it as the Vest Pocket Library.
05:00And that has a special story you were telling me about.
05:02Yeah, that's right.
05:03It was something I, when I was living in London,
05:05I saw it at Portobello Road.
05:07And every week I'd go back and hope it would have come down in price
05:10and it didn't.
05:12And finally, on my last week before I was heading back to Australia,
05:15I went in and she said,
05:16oh, you can have it for £50.
05:21How long have you been collecting for?
05:23It started when I was 19.
05:24It's very, very hard to find them.
05:26It's jewellery shops, flea markets, antique fairs.
05:31You'd be surprised.
05:32I mean, they pop up in all sorts of strange places,
05:34but less and less, unfortunately, these days.
05:37Well, it's been fascinating talking to you today.
05:39Thank you very much.
05:39Thanks for coming on the show.
05:41I'm with Jessie here at the Wentworth Park Antique and Collectibles Market,
06:01and Jessie's going to try and guess what this is.
06:05Well, it looks like some type of fossil to me.
06:08Some rock.
06:09I'm sorry, Claire.
06:11I'm not quite sure.
06:16Pestriation?
06:17Yeah.
06:19Yeah, I would just go with a fossilised rock.
06:23I'm not sure.
06:24Good.
06:24Thank you very much.
06:25What do you think, Carol?
06:27Oh, I'm not too sure.
06:30I mean, it's some kind of rock.
06:32It's got all the grains.
06:34It could possibly be old, but honestly, I have no idea.
06:37A piece of rock.
06:40Right, correct.
06:41Okay, all right.
06:42Thank you, Carol.
06:44Do you want to guess the mystery object?
06:47Head to our Facebook and Instagram pages to enter.
06:49As an antique dealer, I have many collectors, and most of them are middle-aged.
07:01Today, I'm with a very vibrant, young collector of antique jewellery.
07:06Hi, Bella.
07:07Hello.
07:08It's lovely to be here and amongst your collection.
07:11So we've got a little bit of history between the two of us.
07:14How did we meet?
07:15We met because of this ring.
07:17Yes.
07:18I was walking around Camberwell with my sister, V, and we stopped by a beautiful store, as
07:23always.
07:23And you took a look at this ring and asked you to know the history of it.
07:26And so we had a bit of a chat about it, and then the rest is history.
07:34This collection of yours goes way back to your grandfather.
07:39Is that right?
07:39The love for collecting, yes.
07:41Oh, the love of collecting, yes.
07:43I got to witness firsthand his love for collecting via anything that you can possibly imagine.
07:49He had, at the time, ivory pieces.
07:51He had clocks.
07:53He had these little soldiers that he liked hand painting.
07:56I just watched the love that he would pour into finding the pieces that he loved that
08:01made that home his.
08:02And so the art of collecting is not fully in what you actually collect, but the histories
08:08and the art.
08:09I think collecting, to me, it's not restricted to antique jewellery.
08:13So, like, everything that has, I suppose, that human touch of the care that goes behind
08:19the craftsmanship, that's what drives me to collect jewellery and other things, but in
08:24particular with the jewellery that we're going to talk about today.
08:27The pieces are very much sentimental and they very much have a meaning that either the meaning
08:31is conveyed by the pieces themselves or I gave them meaning.
08:34These rings are very significant because they belong to a history with your grandfather.
08:43Perhaps you can tell us what these mean to you.
08:46The big driver behind my love for collecting is my granddad.
08:49Yes.
08:50And back home, we, I don't know if it's an international thing or not, but we do have
08:55these graduation rings.
08:57Yes.
08:57And each different career will have a different stone that symbolises it.
09:02For law, it's a ruby.
09:04And I had to study law twice.
09:05So, when I moved here, I had to redo my degree.
09:08Yeah.
09:09Some would say it's crazy.
09:10Some would say you must really love the law.
09:12Either way, I got two beautiful rings out of it.
09:16Now, this is a significant piece, possibly, of Australian jewellery.
09:20And this comes from?
09:22That one came from Canada.
09:23And the meaning behind it and the wording that is in there is just...
09:28Auld lang syne.
09:29It's that reminder of times there once were and that maybe you won't have any more.
09:35This instrument here, I'm calling it a telescope.
09:38So, it's looking forward to the future.
09:40Yes.
09:40And it's a very important piece of Australiana because it says,
09:45To Captain George A. Jenny, a memento from miners, workmen and friends,
09:50Weikaringa, South Australia, 1888.
09:56We've got some interesting mispa rings.
09:59And this one here has got two hearts and an arrow.
10:04Yes.
10:05And the word mispa underneath.
10:06Yes.
10:07So, the two hearts means the bonds between two people.
10:10Mm-hmm.
10:11And the arrow means...
10:12Cupid.
10:13Cupid's heart.
10:16Always add a little bit of love to these pieces.
10:19And mispa is also important for you.
10:22Mispa, I think we spoke about it before.
10:25Jewellery, to me, has a different meaning.
10:26It's not just how beautiful it is.
10:28It's the stories that they create and the stories that they form moving forward to.
10:32Like that fob that we were talking about.
10:36But in relation to mispa, I think when you move, when you're really closely connected to certain people,
10:42It feels like your heart is never fully there.
10:45There's always a bit or a little piece of it missing.
10:49And mispa, that's what it means to me.
10:51It's the fact that even though my sister is in Melbourne, I'm elsewhere.
10:55It's just, no matter how far we are, we're always somehow connected.
11:00That's what mispa represents.
11:01Bella, I've been in heaven.
11:03Thank you very much for sharing your passion for collecting antique jewellery.
11:08I'm here in the Shangri-La Hotel in the Rocks in Sydney.
11:32And I'm going to catch up with Krista Billich.
11:34And she's going to show me Billich's latest exhibition.
11:38Hi Krista, how are you?
11:45Well, my good friend Gregory.
11:47Hello.
11:48Oh, gorgeous.
11:49Welcome to our new gallery.
11:51It's good to see you again.
11:52Yes, you look charming as ever.
11:54Let me have a look at you.
11:56You're going to show me Billich's new exhibition.
11:58Yes, at the Shangri-La Hotel.
12:00Yeah.
12:01We can't get much better, can we?
12:03Now, show me some of the other works of art that have got it on display here.
12:13Well, we have this beautiful sailing piece.
12:17And that is basically from Sydney to Hobart.
12:19Sydney to Hobart.
12:20You know, this is a great entertainment.
12:22But he captured the movement, the colours and the energy of sailing.
12:27That's really the important part of what he collected.
12:30Of that show, yeah.
12:35We're a little bit ahead of time because they're already in Hobart.
12:40Fair enough.
12:41Let's have a quick look at what else we've got across here.
12:45So, figurative is always, you know, he loves that.
12:48He loves the cityscapes by route and then Matera at the back.
12:53And I've got something very special for you over there.
12:57Okay, let's go have a look, shall we?
13:03Now, Krista, tell us about these two beautiful works of art.
13:07Remember the time when we had COVID.
13:09It was painted at home.
13:13And that painting is called Distanting Brings Closeness.
13:17And if you look at the painting, you can actually see how people all have their hands up,
13:23saying like, don't come too close, don't come too close.
13:26And he puts in the birds because they were free.
13:30They could fly.
13:32We, like you can see in the painting, we were all isolated.
13:36Then we have another one here that is art and culture.
13:41It is just about the Victorian art centre.
13:45You know, they have that lovely spiral.
13:47Right.
13:48And you'll have in this particular painting, the artists being outside.
13:53They're outside the building.
13:55So they're bringing the culture, the ballet, the musicians to us.
14:00A beautiful piece of works of art.
14:02Thank you very much.
14:03Well, it's been fantastic visiting the exhibition.
14:07But let's go and meet Bilic in his studio and learn a little bit more about him, shall we?
14:13Are you ready for that one?
14:15I'm ready for that one.
14:21Welcome to Bilic's studio.
14:23You haven't been here before, Gregory, have you?
14:26No, I haven't.
14:26Let me take you to the Grand Master.
14:31Now, that is his assistant here.
14:34And then here we have Bilic himself.
14:37Great to see you again.
14:39Well, welcome to the Bilic studio.
14:41Bilic, I believe you're doing something in Paris shortly.
14:44Yeah, well, it's second time about night.
14:47He used to invite me to have a show in Paris.
14:50But it's better late than never, isn't it?
14:52It sure is.
14:54I'm very proud of the fact that I hang in so many different places in the world.
15:01So you're looking forward to Paris?
15:03Absolutely, because I'm always due there.
15:06The last time I was there was about two years ago.
15:09It was a long time.
15:11And that time didn't result with an invitation to show.
15:19However, it came in the mail.
15:22Everything always comes to those that wait, though, doesn't it?
15:25Exactly.
15:26Provided you don't stress yourself in the waiting period, you know.
15:32It's part and parcel of the life of an artist.
15:36Ilyich, thank you for coming on the show again.
15:46My pleasure.
15:47Antiques Down Under is at the exhibition Wedgwood, Master Potter to the Universe,
16:14at the David Roche Foundation in Adelaide.
16:17Lee, this is where it all begins.
16:201759, when Wedgwood starts his business.
16:23Look at this cauliflower teapot.
16:24Marvellous, isn't it?
16:25Marvellous, isn't it?
16:26And the cauliflower teapot is the beginning of a series of vegetable wares that were terribly
16:31popular in the Georgian period.
16:32And they were all made possible by Wedgwood's invention of the green glaze.
16:37Lee, this is the Wedgwood Portland vase, the most celebrated piece in Wedgwood's history.
16:50Why is it so important?
16:52Well, Claudia, it was the first time that anyone had managed to copy a glass vase from antiquity
16:57in pottery.
16:58So who was Portland?
17:00The Duchess of Portland was an extraordinary rich woman with a great collection, and she
17:04was happy to lend the vase to Wedgwood in order to have it copied.
17:07So speaking of lending, you've lent this Portland vase to the exhibition.
17:13How did you come by it?
17:14It showed up at auction in New York some years ago.
17:18It wasn't properly identified.
17:20I did see pictures of it, and I thought, nah, it can't be.
17:25I forgot about it, and then a few months later, I had an email from a client, and he said,
17:30is this what I think it is?
17:31And I said, yes, it is.
17:32And he said, do you want to buy it?
17:35So I said, yes.
17:37Now, is this what we think it is?
17:38We're talking a piece from 1790.
17:42Between 1790 and 1793, made by Wedgwood himself, an extraordinary piece, one of the finest pieces
17:49of pottery that you were ever likely to find.
17:54Wedgwood is really a constant in our lives.
17:59It starts from birth with Peter Rabbit nurseryware, and then we grow up and we have our dinner sets
18:04and Granny's covered veggie dish.
18:06But people mainly think of the blue and white.
18:10Well, you say blue and white, and everyone thinks blue and white, but we look at this cabinet,
18:15and the first thing you see is it's not all blue and white.
18:17The great thing about Jasper Ware was it was a white body, it could be stained different
18:23colours, and when they were put together and fired in the kiln, the colours didn't run
18:27into each other.
18:28And this was a great step forward.
18:34Mercury from 1874.
18:37We've got Minerva 1890 in black basalt.
18:40Yes.
18:41These are from a series of library busts that were produced by Wedgwood in the 18th century,
18:47and the company continued to produce them for some time after.
18:50The gentleman of the middle class would buy them in sets and set them around the house
18:56so that his friends would know just how tasteful he was and how well educated.
19:00Josiah Wedgwood was very clever.
19:06He employed different designers to capture the zeitgeist of the time, and that idea went
19:11all the way through the Wedgwood career.
19:13And I particularly love The Kangaroo.
19:15This is by artist and sculptor John Skeeping, 1927.
19:19But he did a whole series of animals.
19:21He was commissioned to do 14, but only 10 went into production, and here are some of them.
19:26The refining group, they were produced in various bodies, mostly creamware, an 18th century body,
19:33which goes back to our cauliflower teapot earlier, basalt, caneware, various others.
19:38They continued to issue some of the animals right through to the 1980s, including what
19:43was originally known as tiger and buck, but was rechristened escape.
19:49So now we're moving into the 1970s.
19:53Now, this is a designer, Eduardo Palozzi, who's Scottish, and he's got a very, very pop
20:00art feel.
20:01So these are very punchy, very colourful.
20:03They are, aren't they?
20:04And the first thing you think when you look at them is, that's not Wedgwood.
20:08But what is Wedgwood?
20:09Wedgwood has always been a company that responds to the fashions of the time using the latest
20:15technology.
20:15This is just more of the same.
20:18They're using the relatively new process of screen printing that made this sort of plate
20:22possible, and producing something for the current market.
20:29Josiah Wedgwood was a man of vision.
20:32And we think of things like buy one, get one free, and money-back guarantees as a late-night
20:37TV hard sell.
20:38But they were invented by Wedgwood.
20:41He was a great marketer.
20:42Not just a great marketer, but a great man.
20:45He was a well-known scientist.
20:47He was prominent in the movement for the abolition of slavery.
20:50He treated his employees well.
20:52He built them their own village with schools, hospital, even its own train station.
20:56And he left us a great legacy, one that we can enjoy today.
20:59So we had some good guesses on this one, but I want to know, Doug, where is this from?
21:13So, this is actually from the Somme.
21:17It is a bullet, a German bullet from a Morse rifle.
21:21You can see on the back here, it's got the signature of a British officer.
21:25The military signal here.
21:27I lived in Toulouse, France for five years.
21:29I went up there, worked on a friend's farm, and I found it in a riverbank.
21:33I think it was an old trench, and I digged it out from there.
21:36Oh, my goodness me.
21:38So this really is the moment when time stopped for this person.
21:43Exactly.
21:43I hope it saved his life.
21:45Let's hope it did save his life.
21:48Now that was tricky.
21:49Did you get it right?
21:51Don't forget, you can guess this week's What Is It?
21:53by heading to our Facebook and Instagram pages.
22:00Next time on Antiques Down Under, we visit the highlights of Potts Point and some of its history.
22:07Gregory and I discover the world of George Jensen.
22:11I visit Potts Point Vintage, an exciting vintage shop.
22:16And the bells are ringing in an interview with Leo Schofield.
22:36Missed an episode of Antiques Down Under?
22:51Check us out on Nine Now.
22:53And the bells are ringing in an interview with Leo Schofield.
22:55And the bells are ringing in an interview with Leo Schofield.
22:56And the bells are ringing in an interview with Leo Schofield.
22:57And the bells are ringing in an interview with Leo Schofield.
22:58And the bells are ringing in an interview with Leo Schofield.
22:59And the bells are ringing in an interview with Leo Schofield.
23:00And the bells are ringing in an interview with Leo Schofield.
23:01And the bells are ringing in an interview with Leo Schofield.
23:02And the bells are ringing in an interview with Leo Schofield.
23:03And the bells are ringing in an interview with Leo Schofield.
23:04And the bells are ringing in an interview with Leo Schofield.
23:05And the bells are ringing in an interview with Leo Schofield.
23:06And the bells are ringing in an interview with Leo Schofield.
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