Dear Friends
As I write this newsletter update I had anticipated being sat in the beautiful Algarve sunshine, escaping the cold and damp Autumn nights here at home in the UK, sadly it wasn’t to be. Business demands and visiting clients have curtailed my plans, for now at least. It was probably a little naive of me to think I could launch my exhibition catalogue in early October and then simply run for the sun, no such luck.
The response to this year’s exhibition catalogue has been simply overwhelming in terms of positive feedback received, followed by multiple sales. Then of course begins the logistics of safely shipping these pieces around the globe or making myself available to meet valuable clients aiming to collect their purchases. So, despite the last-minute changes to my holiday plans it’s an enviable problem to have. As such Mrs Sly and other family members have jetted off, leaving me and Ted to keep the home fires burning, literally 😊
I am delighted to report that I have sold approximately 70% of the catalogue pieces (16 of 23) to clients scattered as far afield as Japan, the USA and Europe, as well as multiple sales to new and existing clients based here in the UK.
My sincere thanks to every subscriber, of which there have been hundreds so far, and of course to those buyers that have once again supported this year’s campaign.
An unexpected sale during this period was a pair of Shibayama vases that actually featured in last year’s exhibition catalogue, the buyer had missed out on our stunning gold lacquer Elephant okimono and instead spotted these in the gallery.
For this month’s featured item I now revert back to our marvellous one owner garden collection to highlight this most charming pair of life size bronze Geese.
In other news I have really been enjoying taking little Alice training with the AFCB ladies’ teams on Friday evenings, it really feels special to play a small part in her development, albeit from the sidelines. She is certainly relishing the challenge at this level, so much so that in her last game for her club side on the following Saturday morning she scored two hat tricks and walked away with the coaches and parents’ player of the match trophies, a clean sweep, what a little star.
I look forward to catching up in December, hopefully finding a star item to offer you as our parting shot for 2025.
And finally, missing out on a trip to Portugal does have its upsides, Ted and the girls loved the annual pumpkin picking event, and the weather conditions, well, somewhat cooler perhaps ☹️
Best wishes
Steve