We’ve started the oral history interviews for the Antique Dealers project. This week I interviewed Kathleen Skin, about her time at Portobello Road antiques market during the 1950s and 1960s; and her time at Grays Antiques market in the 1980s. Kathleen is 93 years old, and has absolutely fascinating memories about buying and selling a whole range of things. Here’s Kathleen, in her home at Cambridge.
Kathleen Skin, 2014
Kathleen told us about life on Portobello Road, antique dealing for ‘fun’, and some extraordinary things she bought – including a silver belt with Wedgwood ‘Jasperware’ plaques and a rare 18th century doll (which she sold to the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood now the V&A Museum of Childhood). Kathleen began to specialize in buttons, (she still loves buttons!), and continued her trading at Grays Antiques Market in the 1980s, as ‘Kath’s Button Box’. Here’s some of the shops and stalls in Portobello Road in the mid 1970s……
Portobello Road in the 1970s
All of the project interviews we are collecting , including the interview with Kathleen, will be archived and made available via the project website as the project develops.
Mark
antiquedealersblog 