William Carr Antiques offers this British folk art First World War tin dreadnought at The Decorative Fair for a price in excess of £2000.
The pair are unlikely bedfellows. HMS Dreadnought (later models were named after this original) launched in 1906 and was notable for its quantity of heavy-calibre guns and steam turbine propulsion. It led to a battleship arms race and rapid advancement in naval engineering and successive generations outclassed the first.
There was also a proliferation in the demand for crisps after mass production started c.1910. By 1920 Smiths Potato Crisp Company was manufacturing half-a-million packets per week. They were sold both in greaseproof bags and tin boxes.
One enterprising maker brought battleship and snack together in a folk art model of a First World War dreadnought – the hull fashioned from Smiths crisp tins.
William Carr Antiques offers this British folk art First World War tin dreadnought at The Decorative Fair for a price in excess of £2000.
As well as the three tinplate funnels, there are eight hinged guns, two rotating gun turrets and two masts with rigging. Four lead British sailors stand on deck.
At the base of the ship a slip of metal with nail holes spells out the maker’s name K. Coulbeck and underneath is scratched Grimsby.
It is offered for a price in excess of £2000.
Huge range
The Decorative Fair runs at Battersea Evolution in Battersea Park from January 20-25. It is fresh off last year’s 40th anniversary celebrations and plans, as usual, three fairs for 2026 including spring and autumn.
A perennially popular event, the fair offers a huge range of antiques, furniture, decorative items and fine art, many by well-known names. However, several of the featured items, such as the dreadnought, prove the value of items coming from unnamed makers.
Sue Norman London brings this English transfer printed platter 20 x 16in (51 x 40.5cm), by an unknown maker, c.1820s, A view of Batalha, Portugal, which is priced £470 at The Decorative Fair.
For example, regular exhibitor Sue Norman of London, who specialises in blue and white transferware, brings a c.1820 platter by an anonymous maker which shows a Dominican monastery in Batalha, Portugal.
This c.1760s double comb back Windsor chair in ash and elm is offered by first-time exhibitor Extraordinary Objects for £4500 at The Decorative Fair.
Fellow exhibitor Extraordinary Objects, a newcomer at the event, features a rare 18th century West Country triple comb back Windsor chair in ash and elm. The dealership says that it has come across only one other recorded example.
Newcomer at The Decorative Fair Louise Hall Decorative offers for £3650 this 1760s blue painted Rococo Swedish commode with original locks and key, three drawers and a scalloped front.
Extraordinary Objects joins an assortment of fresh faces including Sheldrake, Louise Hall Decorative and Frank Storey. Returning to the fair after some time away are Shapero Rare Books and Dinan & Chighine, which was a regular at the fair until the early 2000s. Another new stand is helmed by Mimi Roberts appearing for the first time under her own banner with a selection of vintage glass and her own still-life pictures. Roberts is already a familiar sight at the fair where she has previously shared a stand with her husband Geoffrey Stead, a regular exhibitor.
Among the 130 or so standing plenty of other well-known names include Holly Johnson, Mary Cooke Antiques and Wakelin & Linfield.
Priced £14,000 on the stand of Arenski at The Decorative Fair is this Fornasetti four-panel screen ‘Strumenti Musicali & Uccelli’, c.1953, which is decorated to one side with birds and to the other with musical instruments.
This edition’s foyer display, which is designed by the organisers by bringing together stock from a number of exhibitors, focuses on the early 1920s. According to the fair, this seeks to capture “the moment before the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes transformed the world of design”.
The London Antique Rug and Textile Art Fair runs simultaneously on the venue’s mezzanine.
