The Joan Cooper Memorial Lecture – Cracking Glass
The Joan Cooper Memorial Lecture – Cracking Glass
Lecturer: Mark Hill
This lecture gives an overview of Britain’s ‘Big Four’ postwar glass companies – Whitefriars, King’s Lynn (Wedgwood), Caithness and Dartington.
As well as company and designer histories, Mark Hill’s special slides examine, compare and contrast ‘Good, Better, Best’ examples from each company. The emergence of these factories is put into context and major influences behind them are discussed. The current glut of Whitefriars fakes is covered, including tips on how to spot them.
Mark Hill studied History of Art & Architecture (BA Hons) and began his career as a porter and Junior Cataloguer at Bonhams, before moving to Sotheby’s where he was a Specialist in the Collectors’ Department. He became a director of an internet company forming and running a ground-breaking deal with eBay Live Auctions.
Mark was also co-author of the internationally published Collectables Price Guide with Judith Miller from 2002-17. In 2005 he founded his own publishing company and has since published over 12 books on specialist subjects in 20th century design and decorative arts.
However, Mark is perhaps best known as a Miscellaneous expert on the Antiques Roadshow since 2007, and has co-presented three primetime factual TV series on antiques and collecting for BBC2. Mark is also a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars and a Freeman of the City of London.