Sotheby’s to auction extraordinary chess collection. In the world of chess, few names command as much quiet authority as Lothar Schmid.

"In their view, we Londoners know little about God, and nothing about pottery". Royal Doulton's rise from London makers of domestic stonewares to an internationally-recognised Staffordshire Potteries ...

When they first came into use in the 1830s, friction matches were hazardous and could combust without warning, so vesta cases were something of a necessity. But as their production became more ...

Burmantofts Pottery was born out of James Holroyd’s architectural brickworks, taking advantage of the rich local deposits of both coal and clay. However, today, the church built in Shakespeare Street ...

While the origins of the game date back over a millennium (early precursors have been traced to the 6th century AD), its popularity in Europe really started to grow in the Medieval period as the game ...

It was very much a local concern and local is the best word to describe the scope of factory and its wares, the geographical spread of its original clientele and, by and large, the nature of its ...

They did this to avoid the perils of travel and (after 1784) to escape paying duty in a region where a heathy distain for the Hanoverians persisted well into the 19 th century. Currently some 30 ...

Although now familiar to generations of children, the industrial process of die-casting only came into being towards the end of the First World War. Forcing a molten alloy into a mould under pressure ...

After 1840, F. & R. Pratt of Fenton in Staffordshire, became the leading (but not the only) manufacturer of multicoloured transfer printed pot lids and a huge range of related wares. Long admired for ...

That, at least, was the theory. In fact, relatively little Irish ‘provincial’ silver made the journey to the metropolis to receive official approval – for reasons of security and economy. It is a ...

Up to the mid-1670s, English glasses, like their Continental counterparts, were made of soda glass producing thinly constructed, lightweight vessels of fluid design. The patenting by George ...

Within the broader context of 18th century drinking glasses there are certain areas which form the basis of specialist collecting fields. One of these is Beilby glassware, a class mostly of drinking ...