The Sage Speaks

He gave a talk to the *local town* Society this evening about L'toft china. He came home very cheerful, as it was well received by the audience of over 100 people. He had decided to give it a fairly personal slant - he started by explaining his start in auctioneering and the development of his interest in the porcelain. In the 1960s, he worked in Ipswich and knew a local expert, who had organised an exhibition to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the founding of the factory. This had taken place in 1957 and the Sage marked the 250th anniversary in our sale earlier this month by the inclusion of several pieces from this exhibition, and one of the catalogues. He also had a cake made -

The icing was white and the lettering blue, but the light above was pink, so the colour isn't accurate. The knife was made by the modern L'toft Porcelain factory, moulded from one of the original knives.

After this, he talked about the history of the factory and the discovery, in the late 60s, of fragments of china and moulds when the area around the old factory was being redeveloped. Then he talked about the china itself, illustrated with slides and, afterwards, answered questions.

It must have gone well, as he even mentioned his age, which is something he is normally discreet about...