Collecting ancient artefacts, or antiquities offers the collector a chance to possess the everyday objects that were in use in the ancient world. Their appeal lies in he fact that they were all made by hand, and their attractive style and form. Antiquities are often very decorative and display very well. They don't have to be hidden away and often fit in splendidly with many styles and tastes of décor. Broadly speaking antiquities that are affordable for most collectors range from around 2,000 B.C, until around 500 A.D., a period of about 2,500 years or so. But we also occaissionally offer items from later periods, up to the late medieval times. The first thing collectors generally ask is how is it possible that such ancient objects have survived all those long centuries? There are several reasons. Some were buried with the dead, as grave goods, such as the Ushabti, servant figures of the ancient Egyptians. Some were buried for other reasons, and never recovered, perhaps during times of hostile invasions, or even natural disasters. Some were discarded when no longer useful or perfect, on the ancient equivalent of a rubbish dump! Some, particularly ancient arrow heads, axes and spear points have been recovered from ancient battlefields. In the ancient world there were many great cities with quite large populations, Rome had a population of over a million, others had populations of tens of thousands over periods of several hundreds of years. So all these people had possessions, many were rich and owned huge numbers of everyday items . Therefore it is not so surprising that some items survive. Some survive intact, a some items that are highly prized may be just a decorative fragment of a large ornate piece. A lot of the antiquities that survive today were originally amassed by collectors from as early as the eighteenth century up until the earlier years of the twentieth century. As an example Sir William Hamilton, the husband of Nelson's mistress was an avid collector. During his time as British Ambassador to Naples he built up a collection of hundreds of vases, statues and ancient glass. There of course were many thousands of collectors over this period, and one thing is often certain, that once they had accquired their antiquities, people most often took very good care of them. Collections of antiquities are often passed down through the generations. When they finally end up with someone who does not want them, or needs the money they will be sold at auction, or to a dealer. Thus giving a whole new range of collectors the chance to own an attractive, interesting piece of ancient history. The range of antiquities we offer broadly starts off at £30 or so up to around £3,000. At the lower starting end there are Roman Terracotta Oil Lamps from the 4th., to 5th., Centuries A.D., ( the ancient equivalent of the lightbulb) or a Roman Bronze Fibula (The ancient forerunner of the Safety Pin, but much more decorative). At the higher end are the extremely decorative ancient Greek painted vases and urns. In between these two extremes there is a wealth of different fascinating items from various civilisations. Many book collectors have added a piece of Cunieform ( one of the earliest forms of writing), in the form of an ancient clay tablet to their collections. These tablets are usually receipts of financial transactions or agreements recorded on small clay tablets, dating from around 2,100 to 1,800 years B.C.. Ancient Glass is very popular, with smaller, simple shaped pieces starting at around £60 or so. One of the most popular of ancient Egyptian artefacts is the Ushabti figure. These figures were meant to do any work that was required in the afterlife, by the ancient Egyptians. These figures start off at around £40 or so for a small plain figure up to several hundreds of pounds for a large figure with clear features and heiroglyphic inscriptions. We could go on in vein almost indefinitely, the range of different types of ancient artefact available is large. The best advice I can give is buy things that you would like to have around you, things that would look good in your home and you would be happy to have on display. One of the things we are most frequently asked, is how can you be sure they are real, or so old? Well the answer is experience, there is no substitute! On the question of age, the only way an antiquity can be dated, unless it comes from a controlled excavation, is by comparison with objects of certain age. This is how all museums the world over, and dealers can be sure of the pieces they are handling. Again your best safeguard is to only buy from established dealers. All reputable dealers will be happy to give a guarantee of authenticity as a matter of course. That way if ever there is any serious doubt as to the authenticity of a piece, you can easily get your money back! If ever you are visiting an ancient site on holiday, beware of the local who offers to sell you antiquities, 99 times out of a 100 they will be fakes! Several times a week I have people bringing such items into the shop asking if their bargain buy is real. It very seldom is, and they always say they did'nt pay much for it. So what did they expect, there is no Santa Claus, and what ever they paid is too much! If you would like to start collecting antiquities, then go to an established dealer. Any dealer worth his salt will be happy to help, with advice and suggestions if you don't know where to start. I hope this little introduction has been of some help to you. If you ever need any help or advice concerning any of the antiquities we have offered, please don't hesitate to contact me, I'll do my best to help.