In Love with Lewes

Today was a beautiful sunny day on the third day of a two week holiday. It was touch and go whether i'd be doing anything at all today other than the housework as my partner's paycheck was not expected to be cleared - but miracle of miracles it was, so we headed off to Lewes in East Sussex. This beautiful town is a favourite haunt for antiques shopping and has half a dozen or so places to go for a good rummage. On my last visit, I bought a splendid oriental ivory jug which now sits in a line of other jugs on top of a bookcase, and the time before that I came away with a splendid Miako patterned tazza ( the rest of the set is still in the same shop, but it's heavily overpriced, so i think i'll wait another year to see if it's still there and whether there's room for negotiation! On this occasion, I didn't expect much in the way of the Bisto front as I thought i'd completely cleared out the town of it on my last trip. How wrong I was. In the first place we visited, the splendid Lewes Flea Market, I unearthed several plates and a trio set (cup, saucer and sandwich plate). These pieces were: a P.B&S (Powell Bishop & Stonier) oriental ivory range plate with the pattern name "Pagoda" ( i have the same pattern on a much fancier and more colourful plate which i've previously blogged - can you spot it?); A large soup bowl/dish with the Nankin pattern - my first piece with this pattern; a large, colourful plate with a chinoiserie pattern of a boy holding a flower - again a pattern that I have in another colourway; a handpainted trio set which is probably my youngest piece and bears the wand of caduceus mark with Bishop England underneath. This one shop's haul shows a wide range of the factory's wares and timeline. The trio shows clear influence from designers like Clarice Cliff. and the octagonal Pagoda plate is similar in style to Mason's Ashworth Ironstone. Whilst I would love to have complete services of all these patterns, it's almost impossible to track them down, complete services are usually extremely expensive and where would i put them? I'm now starting to think of boxing up much of my collection, cataloguing it and storing it in the loft. If this happens, i feel i may have to have a loft conversion if only to have the floor up there strengthened to take the weight of it all. Of course, that is the curse of being a collector, living with the consequences of your hoarding addiction! (Tom, you see, i was listening...)