Click to enlarge

“Some people hate the clutter of this house, but I can fit more in yet,” says Geoffery Clark, whose small Paddignton, Sydney, terrace contains an ever-changing display of objects and artifacts.  Most of these are found at fortnightly trips to country auctions around New South Wales and depending on his mood, end up at home or in his nearby antiques shop, Country Trader.  “I get bored very quickly, and am not frightened of parting with things if something better comes along.”

Visits to country auctions and deceased estates yield a constant supply of curious bits and pieces, many of which seem surprisingly mundane: old hat boxes, leather briefcases and oil tins.  On their own the pieces could fall flat, together the effect can be extraordinary.  For instance, on a side table in Geoffrey’s scarlet felt-lines front room stands a display of fish tank ornaments, cheap souvenirs from the Empire State Building, a pepper shaker and a statuette found for $25 at the end of a days buying.  “They’re all fun objects that didn’t really belong anywhere, so I put them all together.”

Geoffrey Clark’s interest in collecting started when he helped buy silver for his mother’s gift shop at Goondiwindi on the New South Wales / Queensland border. “I lived in England for a while and sent her things from there, too.”

His interests gradually developed until he found that he was seeking out the more everyday items, the pieces that other dealers would overlook, but for which he has found a market through Country Trader.  “I like things to be practical – the hat boxes, for example, make great coffee tables and can be used for storage.  I store things in all the old tins on the Shell side board, which itself holds hi-fi equipment and books.  I particularly like old glassware and buy any that I see, and I’m not afraid to use it.  I don’t gwet too attached to anything, so if there are breakages it’s no great disaster.”

That same unconcerned attitude is felt throughout the house.  “The front room with its felt walls is a fantasy room which I don’t use at all in summer.  In winter it’s wonderful to curl up in front of the fire, and it doesn’t feel so formal. It definantly doesn’t feel ‘toffy’.”  The reason for that is clear after a close look at the furniture.  The dining table is an old milliner’s bench pitted with marks from the pattern wheel while the sideboard is a cedar meat safe.  “It had been painted in vivid green shades and finished with shellac.  At some stage it was left outside in the sun giving it a crocodile glazed finish, which I think is very effective.  The chairs on either side of it are early Australian cedar.  I found them in the country and the dealer had almost finished stripping one of them.  I quickly stopped him doing the other.”

The mottled green wallpaper was chosen after the meat safe was bought, and provides a fitting backdrop for Geoffrey’s collection of majolica.  “I’d always thought green was a good idea for the dining room and I’ve carried it through to the kitchen, which I built myself.  I’ve had experience with carpentry – I’m always fixing furniture – and I studied architecture for two years.  The cupboards came from a kitchen company, but the fretwork is from New Zealand and gives the cottagey feeling I was after.”
The main bedroom has a nautical theme, with a collection of shipping prints, oars and a timber model of a sailing boat.  “A friend gave that to me – I re-rigged it and I’m sure I’ve done it all wrong,” says Geoffrey.

Beside the staircase are noticeboards from Masonic lodges, more treasures from country shopping trips.  “I never know what I’m going to find next – the silk and damask curtains in the front room, for instance, are Victorian and just happened to be in the bottom of an old suitcase I once bought.”

Whether these unexpected treasures find themselves in Country Trader or Geoffrey Clark’s house depends entirely on the whim of the moment.

LETA KEENS
BELLE JUNE-JULY 1988
COLLECTORS EDITION

Click to enlarge