AD antiques, the dealer specialising in British art pottery

AD antiques was formed in 1997 by Alison Davey. Alison's background is not in the fine arts; she graduated from Edinburgh University in 1995 with an MA and thereafter practiced in the field of Criminal Justice. Her last appointment was at Edinburgh prison where she undertook risk assessments and therapeutic intervention programmes with long term prisoners. Throughout her training and employment she developed an interest in the decorative arts, and during this time she began "trading" at car boot sales. This quickly developed into a passion or obsession, and for several years used her annual leave to attend and exhibit at show-ground antiques fairs throughout the UK. In 2000 Alison decided that she had to get the dealing bug out of her system once and for all; she resigned her job, moved to Staffordshire and began trading full time.

During the early years, the business retailed all manner of decorative arts including glass, metals, jewellery from the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau Movements. However Alison developed a particular interest in British Art Pottery. The appeal comes as much from the social and political dimension that inspired the manufacturers, as to the aesthetic quality and originality of the ceramics. The designers and factories of the era were pushing the boundaries of creativity, chemistry and design. Many of these studios were actively rebuking the machine age and supporting the social philosophers of the day who were proposing the return to local crafts, the dignity of the worker and the movement away from elaborate ornamentation to simpler lines and design.

In business Alison too was pushing her own boundaries; she stepped up from the Showground Fairs and embarked on the Vetted Fair Circuit. These Fairs were mainly traditional Antiques Shows with no tradition of British Art Pottery. However over the years she established herself and her client base. During one year AD antiques exhibited at 37 antiques fairs across the length and breadth of the UK! Simultaneously she developed a website and was able to keep in touch with clients and showcase her stock on line.

Now based in the North Cotswolds, AD antiques is a well established business with an International reputation for selling some of the rarest and most sought after examples of British Art Pottery. Having exhibited at the Leading Antiques Fairs in the UK and vetted at a number of these Shows, Alison is at the forefront of the field; over the last 3 years she has curated 5 important selling exhibitions, offering some of the finest examples of the product. Items regularly stocked include artists and factories such as Martin Brothers, William de Morgan, William Moorcroft, Doulton Lambeth, Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian, Ruskin and Wedgwood. In addition she sources examples of small studio factories such as Della Robbia, Compton and Morrisware that, along with their larger contemporaries, made important contributions to the British Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco Movements. In 2009 Alison became an elected member of the British Antique Dealers Association (BADA), the trade association for the leading antique dealers in Britain.

Alison is committed to the highest standards of product and service. The company is diligent in its research and labelling and offer specialist advice to collectors and auction houses. AD antiques always guarantees its products to be exactly as described. Occasionally items of stock have restoration (of the highest standards) but this is always detailed to clients in the form of comprehensive condition reports. In amassing a collection, buying with an eye to investment, or simply decorating a home, clients are assured that they are purchasing items that are genuine, and in the condition described.

It is this experience and integrity that means that Alison is regularly asked to offer an independent assessment of the authenticity and condition of the stock of her peers at vetted antiques fairs and to provide consultation to major auction houses and valuation advice to the “Antiques Roadshow”. The business became a Limited Company in 2011 and continues to go from strength to strength with the support of the loyal clients that have become as much friends as customers over the years

 For more information please visit AD Antiques website