About us:
We are a family- run business based in the Elham Valley, near Canterbury in Kent. We scour the country (and further afield) to source unusual, rare, interesting and often wierd items - Items that stop you in your tracks and make you take a second look. Be it Antique, Antiquities, old, vintage, retro - it must be either useful, beautiful or interesting and preferably all three.
Sometimes I break the rules and will buy something just because !!!. ie: the duck -billed platypus smokers companion - Not content with shooting and stuffing it the Edwardian gentleman who created this little masterpiece then decided that a mammal with a beak wasn't odd enough and would only be complete with a match striker and an ashtray added to its body for good measure. Absolutely barking mad, totally wrong and grimly fascinating- three very good reasons for buying anything. Before you ask - sorry - it went in a flash!!
Everything we have for sale is old and has been used and loved by someone, often for a very long time. We rate very highly the signs of age, patina and wear that denote the passage of time.
If you have wandered in here looking for pristine, shiny or new then you are in the wrong place. However if you want something to enrich your life, add a level of elegance to the everyday or just to fill your house with unusual objects that will make visitors walk around with their chins on the floor then you are in the right place
FAQ
I am not a disgruntled customer but what would happen if I were to become one?
Please telephone or email us immediately and we will do our utmost to soothe you back into a state of gruntledness forthwith, assuming you prefer being gruntled to disgruntled.
The nature of Antique dealing means that we are buyers as often as we are sellers and have encountered all manner of customer service from the perfect to the utterly dreadful. We are certain of the type of service we prefer and we try to go out of our way to ensure that your buying experience is as it should be.
Can I come to look at something before I buy it?
I don't usually open the door to people who have cast aspersions that my photographs are so bad that they need to see the item in the flesh.
However, we are more than happy for you to view any item by prior arrangement and would positively encourage and recommend it.
Providing you haven't rung me up at three in the morning we might even make you a cup of tea, or a Pimms if its sunny, and maybe blast you with an Edith Piaff 78 to get your purchasing juices flowing
We also have a small range of items available at Petticoat Lane Emporium, Ramsgate, Kent (Where you will also find another 100 or so dealers in all manner of vintage and retro stuff plus a jolly good cafe upstairs ) Open seven days a week, you will find us in Fleet St approximately three quarters of the way down on the left hand side
How can I make a purchase ?
If you are in a hurry, to purchase online simply add the item to your shopping basket and proceed to the checkout. We will then contact you to discuss / arrange deliveryAlternatively you could send a brief email telling us which object you are interested in and we will call you to discuss, or simply just do things the old-fashioned way and phone us ! We accept payment by paypal as it is quick, simple and safe
Do you provide International delivery?
We are happy to arrange a carrier on your behalf or work with your own carriers. Please contact us to discuss the details
How do I return an item?
Having been lucky enough to lay your hands on one of our fantastic objects what on earth would you want to send it back for ? But if you really must then please follow the detailed instructions on our deliveries / returns page