Canterbury Antique Collectors Club

Local historian, Laurence Eagle, will speak to the Club again at the March meeting.  He is a mine of information on the history of Christchurch and, on this occasion, will talk on Early Canterbury.  This will cover the arrival of the Deans brothers of Riccarton and the planning by the Canterbury Association of the new settlement.  From his vast collection of records, Laurence will provide early photographs, maps and other documents to pass around the room to illustrate his talk.  We may well find out how the early settlers coped with earthquakes.   Please bring along any artefacts or old photographs from Christchurch’s earliest days.

There was a poor turnout to the first meeting of the year, perhaps because you wanted to watch the Downton Abbey Christmas Special on TV?!  Well, you missed a very good talk by Eileen Rennie on her career in the antiques business –“Antiques yesterday, today and tomorrow”.  Her interest began when she moved to Geraldine and attended local auctions where particularly good pieces tended to turn up. She opened her own business - Cottage Antiques prospered, mainly selling furniture.  Some years later a move to Timaru saw her writing articles about antiques for the local newspaper and she became involved in the Aigantighe Art Gallery. Eventually Eileen settled in Christchurch and opened Merivale Antiques, a successful business which ended up in Normans Road.  There gradually became less of an emphasis on furniture and more on silver, as tastes and fashions changed.   On 22 February 2011 Eileen was in the middle of an appraisal of a large number of valuable items when suddenly many of them ended up in pieces on the floor. Today Eileen is still busy valuing items, many of them earthquake-damaged.  As far as the future is concerned, Eileen doubts that many people will go out and buy antiques with the insurance payments they receive for their broken pieces, which is not a very positive outlook for dealers. 

Joy Redmond – We are very sad to report the death of Joy Redmond who, together with husband Doug,  had been a member of the Club for many years and whose collection of Royal Doulton was world-class.

LIBRARY:  A brand new book to be added to the library is “Art Nouveau” by G Fahr-Becker.

COMMITTEE: Please consider joining the Committee or nominating another member to stand for the Committee at the AGM in May. 

NEW FINDS: Don’t forget to bring along new acquisitions to the meetings to show everyone.

WHAT’S COMING UP

11 APRIL meeting : To be arranged.

9 MAY meeting: AGM and short presentations by several members on their collections.

Saturday and Sunday 10 and 11 March: Classic Promotions Antique Fair, Horticultural Hall, Riccarton Ave. 10am to 5pm.

Sunday 11 March and Sunday 25 March: Market on the Front Lawn, 280 Hasketts Road, Yaldhurst 10am – 2pm.  China, Glassware, Clothing, Linen, Collectables, Books, etc.

Sunday 1 April: Shabby Chic Market, 21 Connal St, Woolston from 11am.