HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Have a fantastic Christmas and New Year from everyone here at Alfies. We are looking forward to what the next year will bring! Here are some lovely vintage Christmas treats for you!

Christmas Party

A big thanks to everyone who came to this years Christmas Shopping Party! It was a fantastic night and hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did. Here are some pictures.

The wonderful Marianne Cheesecake putting on a show in The Girl Can't Help It's window



The Smoking Calaveras providing fantastic music for the guests

Newsletter

Our newsletter now has a new look, it has the same header as the new one for the blog! We would love to hear your feedback if you are on our mailing list and received Decembers newsletter this week. If you are not subscribed then email info@alfiesantiques.com to join.

Gift Vouchers

For those stuck with what to buy for friends and family, you can purchase Alfies Gift Vouchers that are valid for all the shops and even the Rooftop Restaurant!

Christmas Opening Hours

Alfies will be opened until 4pm on Christmas Eve so plenty of time to get your last minute gifts, and will reopen again on Tuesday 4th January.

Gift Ideas

We are now in December so you have only a few shopping weeks left until Christmas. To help you with some ideas here are some fantastic items around the market at the moment.

Love this vintage bridge counter from The Originals

Sweet vintage Christmas Cards from East West Antiques and Books




Love this bakelite Bourn-Vita mug from Ian Broughton



Gouache by Joyce Morgan from Louise Verber

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all you lucky Americans today; a time for everyone to get together, to offer thanks and eat some delicious holiday food! If you are lucky enough to be in England this year you might also get to enjoy some snow with your turkey!

Here at Alfies we have some fantastic items to help you serve up something special over the holiday season!

The Orginals have a fantastic collection of herb cutters to help you prepare for the big meal.



Here is just a selection of silverware from Goldsmith & Perris to dress your table with...

Old Sheffield plate meat cover

Silver salt and pepper owls


Silver & Ivory Crumbler

Happy Holidays from Alfies!

Alfies' Annual Christmas Shopping Party - 9 December 2010

Dear vintage lovers,

Please allow us to invite you to our annual late night shopping evening here at Alfies Antique Market. As you might have heard, or experienced for yourself, it is always a very popular event which will turn pretty much anyone into a vintage and antiques enthusiast, as well as wake the festive spirit in you!

It is a perfect opportunity to do some gift shopping for your dear ones, find items to add to your own wish list, or simply shortlist items to sleep over and come back another time to take a second look at.

We will do our best to keep your stomach happy by offering a delightful choice of snacks as well as beverages kindly provided by our wonderful Rooftop Restaurant.

The Alfies team is very excited to announce that we have booked the following musicians for your musical entertainment: 'The Smoking Calaveras', who will provide some burning tunes inspired by the music of the 50's, and 'Nick the Squeeze', who will play some classics on his accordion.

And as every year, we have no doubt that our vintage and antiques dealers will have a treat or two planned, too...
Click here see some impressions from last year's event:

Remember, the 9th of December is this year's only opportunity to shop at Alfies after hours and, if that is not enough, we will be open right up until 4pm on Christmas Eve!


For your complimentary invitation please call 020 7723 6066 or email info@alfiesantiques.com

Alfies also has Gift Certificates that make a great alternative if you still can't make up your mind! They can be spent anywhere in Alfies, are valid for a year and come in denominations of £10, £20 and £50.


With festive regards,

Your Alfies Team.

Design A Greener Future Winner!

We are pleased to announce Susan Taylor as the winner of our canvas bag design competition in association with Antiques are Green!

Head down to Alfies next week during National Antiques Week and see an exhibition of the shortlisted designs and pick up one of these highly collectable bags! They're limited edition so get one early to avoid missing out!

Support Antiques are Green here.

Find out more about National Antiques Week here.

Bonfire Night!

Only last week we celebrated the very last of the semi-warm months with a magnificent scare but with the clocks changed it's official: winter is here, and here to stay. Nevertheless, that's no reason to hide away, the cosy Christmas weeks will come soon enough. Now is the time to create a fire hazard in a park and light up the sky with explosives in all colours of the rainbow! Surely there isn't a better way to welcome the season then to chant 'Remember, remember the 5th of November' in front of a small inferno!

And to do our part in embracing the season and sweeten the night we had a little look around Alfies and picked out a few treasures to sparkle up those winter coats and capes!

Askel Holmsen Plique a Jour Brooch from Gareth Brooks

Gold, Pearl and Diamond Brooch from Sheila Cameron

1930's Costume jewellery Arrow Brooch from Connie Speight

19th Century Japanese SIlver Fish Brooch from Linda Antiques

Enamel Brooch signed by B. Hertz from Gareth Brooks

1850's Diamond Brooch from Peter & Naneen Brooks

Enjoy your Guy Fawkes weekend!

Hallowe'en!

Halloween with its rich history and uncanny nature is, of course, a great favourite at Alfies! But while we are fully committed to fake blood and plastic fangs, the real treat lies in the endless possibilities of costume choice! Anything goes, and to us anything means any period and any effort counts!

From the Victorian Gothic Party - think mad woman in the attic, candle light and cameo brooches - to swank Murder Mystery themed outfits, there isn't an ensemble we can't accessorize! We're buzzing with excitement over period pieces that complete costumes this weekend and wardrobes all year 'round!

Gold Cameo Brooche from Linda Antiques

1950's Pierre Balmain Cloche Hat from Tin Tin Collectables

Austrian Handbag with Silver Enamel Clasp fom Connie Speight

Browse through our broad range of Vintage clothes from different time periods and look out for fantastic Halloween gems hidden between a choice of unique costume opportunities!

Theatrical Cape from Persiflage

And to put you in the right mood, check out The Girl Can't Help It's bewitching window displays!

The Girl Can't Help It

The Girl Can't Help It

A happy and haunted Hallowe'en from all of us at Alfies!!

Cocktail Pyjamas!

Susanna Lau aka Style Bubble has been shopping recently in Alfies. Here she is in a gorgeous pair of 1930/40s 'Cocktail' pyjama's from Tin Tin Collectables.



Included in her post is a brilliant quote from Vogue, 1931:

"A woman may and does wear pyjamas to quite formal dinners in her own house, to other people's dinners in town and country if you know them well and the more iconoclastic members of the female sex even wear them to the theatre." "Pyjamas - When are they worn?" Vogue 1 June 1931

Read the full post here and see more great photos of how to wear vinatge pyjamas in 2010.

This Week

These items have been catching my eye this week in Alfies, loving the bold block colours!

Pair of Tomado shelves from Stephen Lazarus

Coloured wall lights from Bent Ply

1970s desk lamp from Tycho Andrews



1950s Italian Murano ceiling light from Thirteen Interiors

Hanging light with coloured shades from Stephen Lazarus

Lamp from Bent Ply

Collections

This week sees the opening of the 3rd Exhibition from The Museum of Everything (a display of Sir Peter Blake’s private collection of art curious) as well as ‘Things’, a call to update Henry Wellcome’s curious collection at The Wellcome Collection. Essentially this is a week that highlights our obsession to collect, hoard and display items of personal interest.

Alfies is in itself a hand picked collection of dealers with an eclectic range of stock, but here are a couple of dealers with some very specific collections: Georgina Hayman from Hayman & Hayman
(Stand G052-53) offers an enormous selection of antique photo frames ranging from the 1850s through to the 1950s, with a wall dedicated to hanging frames. Georgina also has a fantastic collection of Limoges boxes and perfume bottles.

Views from within Georgina's stand

Magna Carta Antiques shop (Stand F050/51) is dedicated to a very unusual and vast array of inkwells, with many dating back to the late 1890’s.

A selection of items from within Bernard Barkoff's shop

An early 20th century glass inkwell with silver overlay. Circa 1900

There is something that is so exciting about wandering through corridors of other peoples collections, of what has been of interest to them and what you can tell about a person from what they collect. As you wander through Alfies it can be constantly tempting to add to your own collections as much as it is intriguing to delve into others.

Canvas Bag Design Shortlist

Thank you to everyone who entered the 'Design a Greener Future' Canvas Bag Competition. After a lot of tough decision making we have created a shortlist of our favourite designs. These are our runners up and will be exhibited at Alfies from the 16th November along with the limited edition bags! Just to keep you guessing, one of these designs is also the overall winner who will be announced on the 9th November a week before the canvas bags go on sale!

Shortlist (in no particular order)

Mariko Jesse

www.marikojesse.com

Susan Taylor
www.susantaylorart.net

Alex Howes
www.alexhowes.com



Claire Ward-Thornton


Jerome Flinders



Tasha Whittle
www.thecolouringbox.tumblr.com

We hope you can all make the exhibition from 16th November. This will tie in with the start of National Antiques Week and there will be lots of information about the week as well as the Antiques are Green Campaign.

Don't forget to register your support here: www.antiquesaregreen.org