Do you need a full set of medieval armour in your life? Perhaps a replica for the re-enactment circuit will do? By Charles Hartley Charles Harley is the Director of Hartleys Auctions and specialises in arms, militaria and taxidermy. As an auctioneer I have a wonderfully varied life, not just in the items, but the situations I find myself in. Harking back to the earliest part of my career, I visited a semi-derelict property via a particularly sheepish solicitor. The front door remained fixed as the warped wood had fused shut, giving it “the shoulder” it burst open sending me unbalanced and heavy into the hallway where the wormed floorboards started giving way underfoot. As if in a scene from Indiana Jones, I scrambled to safety into a room veiled in the dull darkness of cigarette-stained net curtains. Once my eyes adjusted, I was met with the most amazing scene, as if this suburban bungalow was transformed to a castle armoury, lay before me was a myriad of weapons; from drums to spears, from sabres to muskets. Although within this surplus there had been some real treasures, the piece that held my attention the most was a Cuirassier breast-plate excitingly pierced by two musket balls; unlike any other item in the market, this damage only increased value as it left the stark imprint of its gruesome past. Composite South German heavy field armour, partly Nuremberg, circa 1540, with a North Italian close helmet, circa 1570. Sold for £11,000, including buyers premium, by Olympia Auctions. I spoke to Thomas Del Mar, founder of Olympia Auctions famed for their sales of Armour. He painted a picture of a highly diverse demographic of buyers, from your focused and dedicated collectors through to your interior designers. One thing said that really stuck with me was the fact that armour can reflect value for money. Effective musket fire made armour relatively redundant in the 1600s, so much of the full suits you see will be 16th century or earlier, yet many sale results fall within the £8 -16-thousand-pound range and as Thomas said “You find me a sculpture from the 1500s for less!”. He is absolutely right, the artisan nature of their creation, the history that they represent and their beauty in a modern context sings to me more than carved marble. Such a piece can be seen from a German heavy field armour from 1540 with later Italian helmet, that found a new home for a mere £11,000. Of course, not all armour (suits or otherwise) are “bargains”, often being owned by the rich and used in historically defining moments, strong provenance or quality can send prices rocketing. For example, Olympia Auctions recently reached a whopping £96,000 for an important German etched, gilt and embossed burgonet helmet – bosting strong provenance and stunning quality. Keith Dowen, curator at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, suggested that now was not the best time for armour. He felt the UK market had contracted since Brexit and few major collections had been under the hammer since. He also felt that armour remained largely unaffordable to younger enthusiasts and although careful scouring of the European market can turn up the odd bargain, there are few “sleepers” these days. But I suppose it depends what you mean by a “bargain”, though I am not in a position to throw £15k at a suit of armour and I know my wife would not forgive me if I did, as a value relative to anything else it does seem affordable. Even with less to spend you can pick up a genuine antique but not a period piece, in the form of Victorian armour produced for the purpose of decorating grand houses for between £800 - £2,000. An important South German etched, gilt and embossed closed burgonet, Ausburg, circa 1555-1560. The etching attributed to Jörg Sorg the Younger. Sold for £96,000, including buyers premium, by Olympia Auctions. There even sits a colourful market for modern armour, from cosplay and its armour-plated brassieres, reenactors fighting an eternal battle with historic accuracy, to the extremely serious world of full-contact armoured combat; where you can quite literally knock seven shades of steel out of each other. I think with all three modern forms, beyond the fun, socialising and in the latter case great exercise, there is an element of escapism. I must stress that I do not see this negatively, a lot can be gained from stepping back to a simpler rawer time where the dogmas of modern life are abandoned and in exploring the ways in which our ancestors lived and died, we can ground ourselves. Speaking to Jake Coles of Armoured Combat Gloucester, he sees it as a niche but growing market where everyone from ex-soldiers to accountants, sharing a love of history, contact sports and in many cases computer games, can really “let loose”. The modern suits are mostly made in Russia and Ukraine (currently tricky), often costing £3,000 or more – interesting when you reflect on the value of the antiques.  So, whether you are a student of history, fancy an interior show piece or identify as Sir Lancelot at the weekend, there is a suit for you. Armour is quite literally a tangible representation of history, whether it be armour worn by those who ruled, or worn by those who with a single axe blow changed the world forever, it cannot fail to strike awe and inspiration.

The conveniently pocket sized books that proliferated for a time are not hard for an enthusiast to find. By Lucy Lethbridge Lucy Lethbridge writes writes for magazines including The Observer, The Sunday Telegraph and The Times Literary Supplement. She has also written popular history books for both adults and children, most recently a book on the British as tourists.   Between the 1950s and the 1970s, before the internet, when children watched television for an hour a day, the defining images of a British childhood were found in Ladybird books. Their colourful illustrations were instantly recognisable, they were full of wondrous information and ‘amaze your friends’ skills to master, Ladybirds were the background to mid-twentieth-century growing up. It would be hard to find anyone born before 1980 who wouldn’t pounce delightedly on a battered Ladybird: they are old friends.  Ladybird titles ran into thousands. There were series on garden birds, fairy tales, kings and queens, shopping with mother, nuclear power and steam locomotion. There is virtually nothing that hasn’t been covered comprehensively but succinctly by a Ladybird book, Wikipedia in technicolour. In the 1960s, the Ministry of Defence even recommended its employees read the ‘Computer’ edition from the Ladybird ‘How it Works’ series. Some of the 'How it Works' series of ladybird books. Image courtesy of Helen Day. Ladybirds emerged in Loughborough, from Wills & Hepworth, a printing company which had, since 1914, produced basic, black and white illustrated children’s books under the ‘Ladybird’ imprint. In 1939, the company spotted a market for reassuring stories that chimed with ‘Children’s Hour’ on the wireless. The range was expanded and given a recognisable logo – a ladybird with open wings. The series kicked off in 1940 with ‘Bunnikins’ Picnic Party.’ Wartime paper shortages necessitated the pocket size which would shape the look of Ladybirds for the next three decades. It was the arrival of the visionary Douglas Keen in 1952 which moved Ladybirds away from Bunnikins and into the cosmos and everything in it. Keen saw that post-war changes in social attitudes about education, a new Education Act, the opening of comprehensive schools and a standardised curricula opened up a new seam of publishing. In 1953, British Birds and their Nests was the first non-fiction Ladybird, illustrated by Allan W Seaby, celebrated for his Japanese-influenced woodcuts of birds. In 1959, the logo was changed to the familiar Ladybird with closed wings. By the time Keen retired in 1972, the year Ladybird was sold to the Pearson group, the imprint had acquired a near impregnable dominion of the bookshelves of British children. But it marked the end of the Ladybird golden age: the imprint still exist, now part of Penguin, but since the early 1980s has sunk in the now hugely competitive children’s book market; their current one-dimensional, computer-inspired illustrations no longer seem original or distinctive. Far more successful recently have been Jason Hazeley’s satirical Ladybirds for nostalgic grownups (‘How it Works: The Dad’; ‘The Story of Brexit’). An illustration from 'Bunnikins' Picnic Party'. A copy of the second imprint is currently listed for sale at £125. Image courtesy of the seller. Ladybirds had such enormous print runs that most are now easy to find for £2 or £3; many collectors will simply enjoy the pleasure of accumulating those coloured spines. Ladybird expert Helen Day (‘I have the collecting gene’), whose website www.ladybirdflyawayhome.com should be the first stop for anyone interested in starting a collection, says that the rare volumes are fiction, particularly those from the 1940s, hard to find in good condition as wartime rationed paper was so fragile. The books in the Tasseltips series, illustrated by Ernest Aris, have rarity value, as does ‘The Adventures of Wonk’ and ‘High Tide’ from the 1940s. Copies of The Impatient Horse (1953) have reached £350. Dating is difficult as Ladybirds don’t follow the antiquarian rules for first editions, instead listing the initial publication date on subsequent editions. Helen Day suggests going by price – and her website provides a useful chart. If the date is 1950 but the price is in 1970s decimal then you have a clue to date. The Ladybird completists’ holy grail, however, is still the brown-paper-covered edition of The Computer: How it Works that was rumoured to have been specially commissioned by the MOD to save its readers’ embarrassment. Is it out there? Helen Day is doubtful but it’s worth keeping an eye out. A copy of book three in the Ladybird 'Great Artists' series can be picked up for less than £5. Image courtesy of the seller. A shelf of Ladybirds is therefore a pleasure but in hardcore collecting terms not perhaps an investment. But what of the original artwork? The list of Ladybird artists is distinguished – and yet, says Helen Day, their work ‘consistently undersells.’ She has picked up pieces for between £25 and £100. The original illustrations, commissioned for a flat fee and returned to the artists when Pearson bought the imprint, were mostly gouache on board. Having gone to the Loughborough factory for print value checking, they were returned to the ownership of the artist in pristine condition. Decorative, figurative and full of detail, it is the magical pictures that make Ladybirds so compelling. And each illustrator brought a distinctive style. As Day puts it: ‘the skills of the artist are perfectly matched to the nature of the composition.’ Douglas Keen was a bold commissioner. Frank Hampson, for example, creator of sci-fi hero Dan Dare, illustrated the nursery rhymes. Ronald Lampitt (Birds and How they Live, What to Look For Inside a Church) had a style quite different from, for example, Martin Aitchison (Peter and Jane) or Charles Tunnicliffe (the What to Look for in … series).  Some of the original artwork is held in the University of Reading which houses the Ladybird collections following the closure of the Wills & Hepworth printing works in 1999 (a bereavement still remembered by those for whom ‘Loughborough was Ladybird’). But there is still ‘a lot out there’ says Helen Day whose travelling exhibition of Ladybird art (currently in Alnwick) is an inspiring place to start. Evocations of everything in the world from elves to cars to kitchens to rockpools: what a glorious thought.

Drawing on codes from decades past, this year’s most collectible new jewels are all sparkling odes to the deep and destined to make waves, says Kim Parker.  By Kim Parker Kim Parker is a writer, journalist and Executive Fashion and Jewellery Director at Harpers Bazaar. As in other visual arts, the sea has been a source of artistic inspiration to jewellers for centuries. From its tidal rhythms and its mysterious depths (replete with fascinating creatures) to its richly poetic and metaphoric powers, the oceanic world has held designers in its thrall ever since fragments of shell and coral were first fashioned into early adornments. Jean Schlumberger, the iconic French designer who joined Tiffany & Co in 1956 and blazed a trail during his decades-long career at the house, felt such an affinity for the sea (a keen traveller, he had a holiday home in Guadeloupe where he studied local underwater life) that it informed some of his most memorable jewels, including starfish, urchins and anemones set with colourful enamel and gemstones. Even aquatic dangers presented him with creative opportunities. One ingenious brooch, his Jellyfish from 1967, was conceived after a high-profile client, the philanthropist Bunny Mellon, was stung whilst swimming in Antigua. “In Jean Schlumberger’s imagination and design philosophy, the sea represented an unknown, infinite world. He choreographed unparalleled manifestations of its majesty and mystery,” says Nathalie Verdeille, Tiffany’s current Chief Artistic Officer of Jewellery and High Jewellery. Launched this summer, her first Blue Book collection for the house “is a deep dive” into the sinuous marine forms that so appealed to the designer and reimagines many of his favourite motifs for contemporary collectors. His iconic jellyfish has been transformed into a pair of voluptuous sapphire, tanzanite, and moonstone earrings, whilst his familiar bristling anemone has given rise to a new necklace and ring with neon blue cuprian elbaite tourmalines and white diamonds set with their culets facing outwards, to emphasise their spiny texture.  The new Praise To the Sea collection by Japanese pearl experts Mikimoto is also a bejewelled paean to the myriad creatures that populate the deep. For one abstract collar, undulating waves of white cultured pearls have been interspersed with pastel-coloured beryls, tourmalines, sapphires and garnets to recreate the swirling motion of a shoal of fish, with mesmeric results. Other more figurative pieces take their cue from sea creatures themselves, with graceful humpback whales hunting tiny tourmaline and garnet fish across a collar necklace, a sparkling sea horse taking refuge amongst a branch of diamond-encrusted coral on a long pendant, and even a quizzical-looking threadfin butterfly fish, whose graphic white and yellow patterning is echoed with rows of round yellow and white diamonds on a sparkling pin.  Mikimoto "Praise to the Sea" Collection. Image courtesy of Mikimoto. At fellow Japanese jeweller Tasaki, the sea isn’t just an eternal source of inspiration, it is the lifeblood that houses and nourishes the oysters that produce the maison’s lustrous Akoya pearls, for which it is renowned. This year, the maison pays tribute with its concise ‘Atelier 6: Nature Spectacle’ collection, with pieces that express aquatic phenomena such as eddying tidal movements, mirage-like reflections and pounding cascades in pearls and rainbow-hued stones. The spectacular Ocean Light necklace, for example, interprets the glistening effect of moonlight on white-capped nocturnal swells as ropes of differently sized Akoya pearls suspended from a collar set with inky South Sea pearls, blue zircons and yellow tourmalines. There are fabulous waves, too, at the storied Place Vendôme jeweller Boucheron, where its innovative creative director, Claire Choisne, has conjured a whimsical take on Hokusai’s iconic woodblock print, ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’, for her latest Carte Blanche high jewellery line. Inspired by the iron-on patches which adorned denim jackets in her youth, Choisne’s novel wave brooch is formed from white gold and aluminium and outlined in dark blue lacquer, lending it a quirky, two-dimensional quality, while snow-set round diamonds add a feeling of movement to the wave’s frothing crest.  Mediterranean Muse Necklace by Bulgari Image courtesy of Bulgari. The balmier shores of the Mediterranean were the impetus for Bulgari’s creative director Lucia Silvestri, whose latest designs are a precious nod to the area traversed by the maison’s own ‘modern Aeneas’, founder Sotirio Bulgari, who left his Greek homeland and settled in Rome, where he founded his jewellery house in 1884. “For me, being in the Mediterranean region is an awakening of all the senses,” she says. One of the highlights, the Mediterranean Muse necklace, is an artistic interpretation of the sea itself, and took Bulgari’s master craftspeople 1,600 hours to make. It’s torchon-style body is constructed from rhythmic ripples of platinum and white diamonds, occasionally punctuated with curls of buff-top sapphires. In its centre, an impressive cushion-cut royal blue sapphire weighing 15.13 carats recalls the colour of the water itself, whilst nine diamond fringes, embellished with further polished sapphire beads and contrasted with light blue pear-cut aquamarine drops, glitter like sunlight on a salty spray. At once beautiful and dramatic, seductive and also astounding, it’s a work of art that encapsulates the qualities of the sea that have kept us all captivated for quite so long.