Jersey

When I was eight years old, my father decided to emigrate to Jersey in the Channel Islands. Our family consisting of mother, father and four children, left London to seek our fortunes there.

My Father was always a great entrepreneur as far as business was concerned and he opened a restaurant in St Helier. While it was a great success in the summer months, during the rest of the year trade was non-existent. In 1928 money became a very scarce commodity.

The only way visitors could get on the Island was by boat, as at that time Jersey had no airport. So as the bad weather approached in the off season, the recession would set in for the traders.

There were some planes getting to the Island, but they had to land on the beach when the tide was out. I used to go to the Esplanade beach to watch them land on the hard sand, marvelling at the skills of the pilots. However, not many passengers were happy to support such a perilous journey.

The great problem was always in the winter when trade for the whole of the Island was pretty low. There was a serious depression.

Jersey is famous for its potatoes, tomatoes and the legendary Jersey Cows. When I first arrived on the Island I asked a farmer "why do all the cows have a waterproof cover on them"? He informed me "that it was to keep the water out of the milk", which I thought was a very sensible thing to do.

Every spring for 'donkeys years' a couple of thousand Bretons would arrive on the Island to dig up the famous potatoes. They were not very popular with the Islanders as they were very poor, parsimonious and did not spend one penny of their wages with the local traders. They even made their own bread. In fact they contributed nothing to help lift the recession. When they left at the end of spring, there were no tears shed for their departure.

After a representation from the depressed miners in South Wales, the Government agreed to give the benefit of the work to the unemployed miners, paying their travel arrangements, and guaranteeing them a fair wage.

The Miners were immediately a very warm success. They spent all the money they were making, buying clothes, gifts and anything else they were unable to buy in Wales. They were especially fond of the local ale and the streets would ring out with the male choir voices. 'Danny Boy' and 'Land of my Father' were their favourite tunes. They were a very happy crowd and immensely popular; especially with the local girls. There were not too many virgins left in Jersey after they left us. The local population always benefited by a marked increased of infant numbers and they were made welcome by all the residents.

When Britain went off the gold standard in 1931, precious metals suddenly became more valuable. My father had a good knowledge about this subject, and he decided to open a small shop, for buying old gold & silver. At that time working people were paid in gold sovereigns which was nominally 21 shillings under the gold standard. Overnight these became worth 22 shillings each. The price of silver also increased, so he became busy with people selling their family possessions.

I was only twelve at that time, but I loved looking at all the treasures being offered, admiring all the skills of the long past craftsmen .

My Father, who took to the new occupation, like a duck to water, was mainly interested on the price of the precious metals as it provided a quick return for his outlay.

One of the first memories I have of my profession as an antiques dealer was seeing my father breaking up a beautiful diamond & emerald necklace in its original plush case just for the gold content, telling me it would show him a profit on the price that he had paid.

I told him he could had received much more had he sold it as an article.

After a great deal of nagging on my part and proving that fine goods were wanted for their workmanship, he finally listened to me and started to display his purchases without resorting to melt them down.

Of course I did not get any credit for my wisdom"

Even at that early date, I was fascinated by the skill and beauty of the silver snuff boxes and indeed all the beautiful artefacts that were at that time so plentiful. I was addicted to fine works of Art from a very early age, and it has been my business, and hobby, for over 65 years.