Shipments

Bogwater Jim...Unique and affordable elegance.
Antiques, accessories and decorative objects.

Day One - January 28
Departure

Flight 28's takeoff was delayed for a while, as the cockpit crew
tried to figure out a few "thingys" on the instrument panel.

Day Two - January 29
Heathrow and Beyond

Karen arrived in the UK without a further hitch,
and was off and running immediately.

After checking in to her hotel and buying an "oyster card,"
London's version of a reloadable subway pass, Karen spent
the morning wandering in her favorite neighborhoods.

Her afternoon had been reserved for a special treat: A visit
to the prestigious Battersea Decorative Fair, featuring the
hottest, trendiest merchandise that the UK has to offer.
There, she met up with an old friend, Martin Johnson, of
Martin D. Johnson Antiques , and two very special pals,
Stuart Atkinson and Kiel Shaw of Fontaine Antiques , whom
she has known since they were feral.

The Battersea Fair never dissappoints her. Simultaneously dignified, yet quivering,
it is always brim-filled with cutting-edge ideas, colors and new directions.

New colors? Rich greys and creams.

Rough and rustic, top-stiched burlap upholstery on period furniture,
monchromatic abstract paintings ... and tons of other
exciting, extraordinary and original decorative concepts.

A quick bite, then back to the hotel to prepare for a departure
in the wee hours of the morning. She'll be off to the midlands,
where her first show stop awaits ... Travelling with the anticipation
of what she might find in the pitches of 100's of dealers braving the
frigid, early morning temperatures.

Day Three - January 30
The North Country Fair

...and, yes, the wind does blow heavy on the borderline (apologies to Bob Dylan).

By sunrise, Karen was already north of Nottingham and near her destination.
Her cab was waiting at the station, and she arrived at the show just as
the gates opened.

Her expectations were exceeded!
By 9 AM, she had scooped up a load of great stuff, including:

A large, round country dining table (seats 6-8 friends). A mid-century
drinks table with Bakelite top. Several old globes and lots of decanters.
A lot of hand-blown Hungarian jars in clear and topaz. A half-dozen
slender, steel industrial shelves and a few stools. Prints, including two
splendid animal prints, a rhino and an elephant. A large, reverse-glass
landscape. Two interesting "saw-horse" tables. A set of high-backed
dining chairs. Two great armchairs, one in weathered burgundy leather.
An exquisite, tin-lined trunk with leather fittings ... covered in old
ads. And, of course, loads of smalls.

After a nice chat with two old dealer friends, Iris and Mario, it was
back to the train station for the evening trip back to London,
where tomorrow she will meet up with the mob (Francis, Barbara,
and Sarah) for a day's worth of looting and pillaging in a couple
of venues near London.

Day Four - January 31
Metropolitan Mayhem

Up in the wee hours again and off to her first stop, Karen braved a frigid wind
known the the locals as the "Balkan Express" as she made her way to Market.

Once there, she literally ran into Sarah and Toni, who were tossing the contents
of a pitch in the predawn shark frenzy. Of course, she joined right in!

By the time she caught up with Francis and Barbara, they had pretty much sold
out, as usual, but she was able to score a handsome set of chairs from their stall.

The marketplace was a blur of activity, which Karen attributed to a rebounding
UK economy, and the urgent need for London dealers to restock. It was a
tough market...and, for the most part, picked over before 8AM. "Expensive"
was the word of the day!

Nonetheless, she managed to buy her way out. It was a "Deco" kind of a day.
Missing a wirework wine locker and linen press by a whisker, she quickly rounded
up a nice group of paintings, including a series of 8 nifty landscapes on board.
Among her other finds: a box load of painter's paraphernalia and a lot of 40+
small pottery pieces, all in blue, and ranging from cobalt to navy. Included
in the furniture finds: a zinc-top Deco table with tapered legs and a second
Deco dining table with ebony and mahogany inlay.

The catch "du jour?" A nice, tightly-upholstered, Deco club chair in leather.

Her friends departed early for a party in the south, and Karen, too tired to participate,
made her way back into the city, where she spent the balance of the afternoon
picking about off the beaten track, in search of smalls.

The day ended in one of her favorite places, Covent Garden's "Crusting Pipe,"
where Karen enjoyed a glass of sherry and a light dinner before returning to
her hotel in preparation for still another early morning journey ... this time to
a Thursday show in the Midlands.


Covent Gardens Market, "back in the day."

Day Five - February 1
To Market, To Market

By mid-morning Karen was near her destination, and she stopped in one
of her favorite market towns before continuing on to her distination.



After a luncheon snack, she explored a few shops and found a few prizes:
A collection of silverplate ladles and a batch of bakelite buttons were
among the "smalls." Little furniture to speak of, with the exception of a
neat parlor chair with a shepherd's crook arm.

Then back northward in Nottinghamshire, where she booked into her
room in preparation for tomorrow's antiques fair. Dinner at "The Barge"
then early to bed.

Day Six - February 2
How Cold Could it Possibly Be?

This was the last day of early rising for Karen... and possibly the
coldest 8 or 9 hours of shopping that she has ever experienced.

Dawn found Karen on a half-empty field, due, in large part,
to the numbing cold and wind, but she remained undaunted.


Yep! It was that cold!

Moving quickly to keep from turning into a solid block of ice,
she snapped up some great furniture finds. The picks of the
day? A very modern black leather chaise lounge. A hunter
green, leather Chesterfield sofa. A nice pot cabinet with 9
drawers. A taffy-colored flight of drawers ... and lots of smalls.

Shortly after lunch time, the field was empty. As Karen made her way
to settle up with her shipper, she ran into her friend Thomas Eckert,
of Hadley Antiques in Manhattan. They made arrangements to
meet in London on Friday for some side-street shopping, a visit to
the V and A, and, to wrap up their trip, a modest bit of pub-hopping
in the evening.

By mid-afternoon Karen was back on the train to London, and
thankful to be on her way to the comfort of warmer surroundings.

Day Seven - February 3
Culture Vultures

Delighted that she once again felt sensation in her extremities,
Karen felt fully recovered from the cold this morning, and she
wandered her favorite shops a bit before meeting up with Thomas
for an adventure at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

She caught up with him for lunch at St. Pancras rail station,
touted as the most beautiful transit depot in the history of the
universe (It is also home to thirty ritzy shops, a half-dozen fine
restaurants and cafes ... and even more drinking establishments).
They waited there for two of Thomas' friends whom he had met
on a recent trip to Istanbul.

The main connection for the Eurostar, St. Pancras is famous for
its superior architecture


The interior at St Pancras

....and, its sensational events calendar.

They were too late for the station's Christmas Tree exhibit, a gigantic tree
constructed from over 600,000 legos, and they also narrowly missed a
world-class event for intimacy, sponsored by the UK group, Random
Huggers, who, on January 19th, hosted the world record-breaking
attempt for the longest hug, setting a new record at 24 hours, 44 minutes.

 
Left: "The Hug" in the St. Pancras Promenade.
Right: Two of the eight 2012 Guinness record holders, Lorna and Bryan Tulett

Once assembled, they wandered through the Victoria and Albert Museum,
which was featuring an exhibit of paintings by the Indian polymath, Rabindrinath
Tagore, a poet most famously known as India's only literary Nobel laureate
and the composer of both the Indian and Bangladeshi national anthems.


Untitled (Indian Women) by R. Tagore

Thomas and Karen's
favorite of the day

Then, it was off to supper, and a trip to London's splendid, but sardine-like,
hotel accomodations at the Yotel Heathrow.

Karen returns home tomorrow.