Such stuff as dreams are made on

The weird and the wonderful have a strange allure and could ‘brown’ be beautiful again?

When I visited Oliver Hoare’s fascinating show ‘Every Object Tells a Story’ at 33, Fitzroy Square W1 (until June 26), I half expected to hear that a contemporary from our early days at Christie’s had been one of the first buyers. Among the assembled works of art and curiosities is a group of 19th century erotic scrimshaw, of which one is engraved with his family motto; the accompanying crest would certainly not have been acceptable to the College of Heralds. If he had heard of it, he would have been too late, as Oliver had already sold the group as one collection.

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