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. . . is the headline of an interesting article in Wealth Bulletin about the investment potential in 'high end' collectables. It just illustrates what a varied market there is for collectables and how fluctuations in other areas of the financial market can play a part. Well worth reading.

After considerable pressure from The International Fund for Animal Welfare, eBay has said that it will ban sales of ivory products from January 2009. Apparently the IFAW's latest investigative report "Killing with Keystrokes" said that in a six-week period, IFAW investigators tracked 7,122 online auctions, advertisements and communiqus offering ivory trade.

The U.S. as responsible for more than two-thirds of the trade, nearly 10 times more than the two countries with the next highest volume, the United Kingdom and China. EBay said it will allow the sale of some antique items that contain a small amount of ivory, such as a table with a small ivory inlay or an antique piano with ivory keys. The company said it classifies "antique" as items that contain a small amount of pre-1900 ivory. The policy takes effect in December and will be enforced in January. Items that contain a significant amount of ivory, regardless of the age, such as chess sets, ivory broaches and ivory jewellery, are not permitted under the new policy.

Worcester porcelain has had an interesting history since the factory began production in 1751, initially turning out porcelain soft paste and soaprock. Six years later the first transfer printed wares appeared and by the following decade they were producing a lot of rich enamel painting. In 1783 things started to get complicated when the company as bought by Thomas Flight, ten years later it became known as Flight & Barr which meant that there names began appearing on their porcelain; from 1814 to 1840 they added another Barr becoming Flight Barr & Barr. In 1852 another change of ownership saw the company become Kerr & Binns, this lasted ten years,  until the now familiar Royal Worcester appeared for the first time.

If you a book collector let me tell you about a great web site that a friend of mine swears by, in his search for books, not only rare and out of print books, but books of any kind. It’s called Addall and what makes it so good is the fact that it searches, what seems like every, second hand book sites on the web. My friend told me of a first edition he’d seen at the wonderful Barter Books in Alnwick, which they had for sale at £60 – it was beyond his budget. When he got home he checked on Addall and found the exact same edition for $6 plus $12 shipping from the USA to England – a saving of around £50

We had a fabulous time recording the Antiques Roadshow at Bodnant Gardens in North Wales. This week I’m again heading west from London, but this time to Wells in Somerset; this coming Thursday, 18 September, we’re at The Bishop's Palace. This medieval Palace has been the home of the Bishops of Bath and Wells for 800 years. There are 14 acres of gardens including the springs from which the city takes its name. Together with all the other experts I'll be looking forward to seeing as many of you as can get along. The doors will be open from 9.30am to 4.30pm and as long as you are in the queue by 4.30pm you will see an expert.