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“Once upon a time”… those few magical words that instantly had us, as youngsters, spellbound and transported to a fantastical world of impossible make-believe. And few characters are as symbolic of that world as the mythical unicorn.

A couple of weeks ago I had the great pleasure of spending a few days at my friend’s holiday house in the Cape, where I chanced upon a particularly imposing ceramic pot near the fireplace in the dining room.

I thought I was dreaming – or perhaps the victim of a practical joke – when I walked through a shopping mall recently only to be confronted by an array of twinkling lights and sparkling baubles… Until I realized that the end of the year is indeed upon us, and summer and the festive season is knocking on the door!

I was recently invited into the beautifully appointed home of a long-time collector, and was quite astounded by the superb collection he and his wife have put together over the years. The elegantly designed interiors were a perfect setting for the extensive Ardmore Ceramics collection that commanded attention from each polished surface of the antique mahogany furniture.

Good heavens, we’re almost half way through the year!!! Is it just me, or does time seem to go faster and faster? One good way of looking at it is that at least some of your treasures at home are closer to becoming antiques. Unfortunately a hundred years doesn’t seem that long the older one gets…

‘Tis the season of lengthy days and summer holidays, when we finally find ourselves with some leisurely time on our hands. Depending on where you are, it is a perfect opportunity to plan a day visiting one or two antique shops in your search for that elusive collectors’ item you haven’t yet found… or didn’t yet know you needed!

The Annual South African Antique Dealers Association Fair takes place at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg from the 15th to the 17th of October 2010. Entrance to the Fair is R50.00 per person. The gala evening will be held on Thursday 14th October and is by invitation only.

If the definition of an antique is something that was made a hundred years or more ago, then the first Barcelona Chair that the German architect Meis van der Rohe ever designed & made would almost be an antique today. The same could be said of Marcel Breuer’s Wassily Chair, or of Le Corbusier’s classic reclining day bed. The designs of Josef Hoffmann & Charles Rennie Mackintosh are most certainly antique using this definition.

Anyone interested in antiques, fine art & collecting these items, is constantly on the lookout for exciting objects to add to their collections. Many people do not think of the dealer as a collector, but of course he is. He finds unusual items which he then researches & offers them for sale. They pass through his hands & he gets great pleasure out of handling them, albeit for a short time in some cases.

The old cliche of not judging a book by its cover is true in more than one sense. Today the dust wrapper is as important as the contents and the edition of the book itself. Sometimes a first edition is not always the best edition. Here a good example is Captain William Cornwallis Harris’ Narrative of an Expedition into Southern Africa (1852).