ANTIQUE DEALER'S PERSONAL COLLECTION UP FOR AUCTION Rare and important Minton porcelain, fine furniture and works of art collected during the lifetime of well known Potteries antiques dealer the late Mr Tony Tunnicliffe will be auctioned on April 25.
News-Antique.com - Nov 30,-0001 - Rare and important Minton porcelain, fine furniture and works of art collected during the lifetime of well known Potteries antiques dealer the late Mr Tony Tunnicliffe are expected to set the North West art market buzzing when they are auctioned on Tuesday April 25. The sale is expected to raise many thousands of pounds.
Bachelor John Anthony 'Tony' Tunnicliffe was the proprietor of Five Towns Antiques, a shop in Broad Street, Hanley, and a second shop in Basford, each of which became a Mecca for antiques lovers and collectors throughout the region.
A contemporary of Hanley Museum's learned curator, the late Arnold Mountford, Mr Tunnicliffe will also be remembered for his talks and lectures on Minton pottery - the main love of his life - and his appearances on BBC Radio Stoke.
When he retired to the North Wales coast 20 years ago, he took with him his remarkable private collection of the rare and valuable discoveries he had made during a career which spanned 30 years. He died in November last year aged 75. The collection will be sold by Colwyn Bay auctioneers Rogers Jones Co on Tuesday April 25.
"Mr Tunnicliffe was clearly a knowledgeable and discerning collector with an eye for a rarity," said auctioneer David Rogers Jones. The collection contains many museum quality pieces which we expect to fetch considerable sums. Now that production at the Minton factory has ceased, interest in the porcelain manufactured there during the 19th century is at an all time high. We anticipate huge interest in the collection, particularly from buyers in America."
Tony Tunnicliffe was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, but the family quickly moved to Trentham where he was educated. The boy seemed drawn to pottery from an early age. Instead of toys, he seemed happiest collecting cups and saucers and his grandmother often remarked that he had china clay in his blood. One of the first pieces of Minton he owned - a turquoise powder bowl given to him by his grandmother - is in the Rogers Jones sale. It was no surprise then when he found work in the pottery industry, joining the management and sales team at Bullers of Milton, where he learned the various production techniques.
He subsequently turned to teaching in several Potteries schools, but his love of antiques never left him and in the late 1950s, he opened Five Towns Antiques, followed by the Basford shop which was run by his parents. A devout Catholic, quiet, reflective and well respected by his customers, he built the business through honest and reliable dealing and a reputation for giving fair prices for things he purchased. Interestingly, his great-grandfather was Councillor Moses Tunnicliffe JP, Mayor of Hanley from 1895-98, and Mr Tunnicliffe had retained the illuminated address presented to the Mayor together with a framed portrait of him in his splendid Mayoral outfit and a ceremonial key which the Mayor had used to officially open Hanley Park. They will remain with the family.
