LETTERS Have your say Your Let ters

Our star letter receives a copy of British Designer 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

Left Have any readers visited the famous braderie in Lille?

Above right Chris was reminded of his family’s old ironmonger’s shop

Now my wife and I are both retired and are blissfully unencumbered by children, we are keen to spread our wings and visit antiques fairs abroad. As such, I was wondering your readers could recommend any?We are both taken by the Braderie de Lille.We have readthat it is also known for its moules marinière and chips,so if we find nothing else we will be able to feast on oneof my favourite meals. However, any othersuggestions for further fairs are gratefullyaccepted.

Terry Sawby, by email

ank you for your article in last month’s magazine (Saleroom Spotlight May issue Antique Collecting magazine) on Guinevere, the famous antiques shop on the King’s Road, which is closing down.

I lived in Chelsea in the ‘60s and it’s di cult to describe the excitement of taking a stroll down it on a Saturday. Fabulous looking people and outrageous looking clothes. Mary Quant had been there a while in her Bazaar boutique and I well remember the boutique Hung On You, on Cale Street, a boutique almost too trendy to enter. anks for a trip down memory lane.

Mike Percival, Ipswich, by email

Below e closure of Guinevere on the King’s Road took readers down memory lane

Intelligence (May issue of Antique Collecting magazine). It brought to mind memories of my family’s former ironmongery business, and particularly my late grandfather, the third generation to head it up. I remember the old shop counter, its top worn by the countless notes and coins that had been passed back and forth over the decades, and a wonderful old safe which had a handle shaped as a hand grasping a bar. Under the stairs was a haul of old shing gear and lace-up leather footballs, which I regularly plundered, and would now, no doubt, be snapped up by a canny dealer to sell on to a themed pub or sports bar. Chris Greenage by email

The answers to the quiz on page 30

Q1 (c). Q2 (a) Although Spain learnt the art from the Arab invaders. Q3 (b) Wooden trenchers had been the ‘plates’ ofchoice but were thought to be the first to be replaced by ceramics. Q4 (c) Territorial Girl wore a soldier’s jacketand a very full skirt. Q5 (b) 16th/17th-century chairs. Every part of the frame had been turned on a lathe. Q6 (b) I have seen theyear 1652 suggested. Q7 (d) It was an early scouring and polishingpad for knives. The original came from Bridgwater in Somerset Q8 (b) It includes the Prayer Book of Henry VIII given to him by his sixth wife, Katherine Parr Q9 (a). Q10 (b), (c) and (d). The flat end of the bullet was hollowed out and the bullet expanded slightly as the rifle was fired making a tighter fit in the grooved bore. It could then be smaller than usual. The sighting was not good and by 1853 the Enfield rifle had superseded it.

Germ theory can be rearranged to form the word hygrometer; sniper lens can be rearranged to make the word linen-press; fled water can be rearranged to make the word Delftware and tracery bun can be rearranged to make the word Canterbury.