The Ravenscroft Lecture 2006
A Potaholic looks in a crystal ball.
At the end of February over 100 Glass Sellers and their guests gathered at Glaziers’ Hall to hear the Ravenscroft Lecture. This year our guest speaker was Henry Sandon who gave us a wonderfully informative, insightful and entertaining talk from the perspective of a ‘potaholic’. Henry, who is known and loved by millions for his appearances on The Antiques Road Show, is the president of ‘Potaholics Anonymous’, a society dedicated to those addicted to the finding, buying and keeping of pots. Henry’s lecture began with a magical journey into the past achieved with the help of a crystal ball. Transporting us back to 17th Century London he led us into Lloyds coffee house where the very latest in restorative and remedial beverages was being served – a dish of tea that cost a penny ha’-penny. Browsing Mr. Lloyds’ newsletter we learned how vast quantities of Chinese ceramics were flooding into London, carried in ships that returned to China ballasted with flint, a material in short supply in that part of the world. At a nearby glass and china shop run by a Mr. Tombs we heard how this china was decorated in London and auctioned according to stringent rules. A feature of these china auctions was ‘bidding to the candle’, at which the secret of success was to place the winning bid just as the flame went out. ‘A bit like e-bay’ Henry explained. Showing us a picture of an elegant glass bottle made for a Mr. Hanson in 1668, Henry told how the bottle had been bought in a junk shop for ten shillings in the 1950’s. Years later it appeared on the Antiques Road Show where he was delighted to identify it for the treasure it was. The bottle was subsequently sold at Bonhams for £21,500. With another touch of the crystal ball we arrived at the Glebe Tavern in 1785, where, upstairs, The Master of the Glass Sellers, Miles Mason, was busy with colleagues working out ways to stamp out the iniquitous practice of ‘ringing’. This involved a group of bidders secretly agreeing not to bid against each other for particular items they wanted. After the auction the conspirators would get together for the ‘knockout’. Here they bid between themselves for the objects they had acquired uncontested. The elegant, if illegal, finale came when the ‘ringers’ divided the profits generated in the knockout between themselves.
The crystal ball now brought us back to the present day. Henry painted a sombre picture of the glass and ceramics industries today with many famous names in foreign ownership, a decline in manufacturing and changes in our way of life undermining demand for large sets of china and glassware. Nevertheless our Ravenscroft Lecturer sees signs for hope in the recent upturn in sales of art glass and innovative uses for ceramics including the manufacture of artificial hips. With a final hilarious glimpse of the future in which the world of ceramics has turned full circle and not only Chinese ceramics but Chinese culture dominates in London, Henry concluded his talk with a prayer that there should be no polystyrene in heaven and heartfelt encouragement to all the Glass Sellers present to share his passion for pots.
Afterwards, the audience were privileged to handle and wonder at some fragments of an original Ravenscroft vase found in the Thames mud which Henry had thoughtfully brought along to show us. The Master then thanked Henry for sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm with the Glass Sellers and presented him with a cheque on behalf of the Company for the Pottery and Glass Trades Benevolent Fund.
