LETTERS Have your say
Your Letters
Last month’s letter about a WWII bell chimes with one reader, while another subscriber praises the Hard
Rock Café’s employment policy
Our star letter receives a copy of Designer British Silver by John Andrew and Derek Styles worth £75. Write to us at Antique Collecting magazine, Riverside House, Dock Lane, Melton, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 1PE or email magazine@ accartbooks.com
I loved the section on Churchill collectables (Broad Churchill, August issue). I have nine pieces: a complete collection of three different sizes of Doulton Toby jugs, a bronze statue, a face pot, other jugs and several cigar ashtrays with Churchill wearing his Homberg, plus, of course, a £5 note. They all live in a corner cabinet next to pieces of Irish and English glass in our dining/ sitting room at the front of the house. I also have his WWII books in a mahogany bookcase from Jarrolds Department Store in Norwich. I used to work for the US Air Force who were very good at transporting my household goods across the Atlantic. I’m still using a leather pouffe to put my feet on when I watch the TV that we got in Norwich in 1972. Barry Anderson, Las Vegas, by email
Catherine Southon mentioning of the Hard Rock Café in
Catherine Southon mentioning of the Hard Rock Café in last month’s magazine (Lots to Talk About, September magazine) reminded me of a story passed down from my grandmother. In the early ‘70s she was a mother of two teenagers living in Battersea and in need of a job when she saw an advert in the Evening Standard reading: ‘Older women wanted — late 30s, 40s and 50s’. While you couldn’t get away with it today, the owners of the about-to-open Hard Rock Café, which was modelled on an American diner, wanted older waitresses to make it look more authentic. While she didn’t get the job, she loved the restaurant. Alison Brown, by email
Top right The Victory bell was designed by Conrad Parlanti
Above left Churchill bust cigarette lighter of Winston S. Churchill, 1941, image courtesy of Peter Harrington
Left The first Hard Rock Cafe opened in 1971 at 150 Old Park Lane
Below Answer to Q9 of the quiz: The National Milk Publicity Council was founded in 1920 to promote the widespread consumption of milk in the UK, stressing its health benefits
With reference to last month’s letter from Donald Sharp (Your Letters,
Star letter
September issue)
concerning the RAF Benevolent Fund Victory Bell. These bells were designed by my great uncle,
Conrad Parlanti. Conrad was the eldest child of Ercole James Parlanti, and worked in his father’s foundry in Fulham from an early age. His knowledge of casting was immense, from lost wax castings through to castings for aircraft, and he was even a consultant to NASA at one stage.
There are a number of versions of this bell, and varying quality casts ranging from crisp right down to truly awful! Conrad later made a mould for some larger bells of the same design and invited as many as possible of the Battle of Britain boys to come to the foundry and cast a bell. These larger bells were auctioned off at the Hungaria restaurant in London by Flanagan and Allen to famous people attending the gala. One bell sold for £1,200.
The prototype bell was cast with an open handle, but the cost was too expensive. At least one of the open handled bells was cast, as my uncle owned one. Sadly, this has long since disappeared.
Should any of your readers ever come across one, then I would be delighted to hear about it.
More information about the thought process behind Conrad’s bells is on my website, the address of which is www.parlantibronzefoundries.co.uk, look under the page for Conrad. Steve Parlanti, Eastbourne, East Sussex
Answers to the quiz on page 36. Q1 (c). It claimed there was evidence that bleaching caused it to rot faster. Q2 (b). It refers to The eXtraordinary Young Zoologists club of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). There was an earlier XYZ club dealing with left-wing economics. Q3 (a). Q4 (d). Honus did not want to be associated with the ‘weed’ and strenuously complained. Q5 (b). It just used friction to slow down flow and hence any change in liquid level. Q6 (c). Q7 (a). It was a translucent alabaster. Q8 (d). The cross patonce has the ends of the arms (heads) divided into three, and the moline into two. Q9 (c). They were joined by Susie Sugar, Peter Protein and Violet Vitamin and produced by the National Milk Publicity Council. Q10 (b). It was a wrought-iron pot hook and the use of the word dates from the mid-16th century. It was also associated with fishing and hunting at this time.
Hereto fling cider is an anagram of the artist Frederic Leighton; Ha glean hillmen can be rearranged to make the name of the watercolourist Helen Allingham; Allotment heirs jive can be rearranged to reveal the name John Everett Millais; and Legendary venom is an anagram of Evelyn De Morgan.
10 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
