How far do traders come to stand on Boston Market? Albert Fawcett came all the way from Australia!
Well, he came home from Australia about five years ago, but after 50 years trading in antiques made a beeline for Boston to man his very first market stall.
Albert, who currently lives near Grimsby, took up an offer to encourage more new and exciting traders onto the market. He paid for his first four weeks, but then received four weeks free.
He plans on sticking around until the summer when he and his wife emigrate back to Australia for a climate more agreeable to his wife’s health and to be near their son and daughter. Until then you can find Albert on the market at Bargate Green on Wednesdays.
Albert (77), and with no plans to retire any time soon, came into the antiques trade by an unusual route. As a steelworker in Consett, County Durham, in the 1950s he developed an interest in rare-breed fowl.
“But not every bird you breed is a show bird,” explained Albert, so he sold excess stock to friends who worked down the mines. When they couldn’t afford to pay him in cash he’d take something offered in kind, and soon found himself with a collection of pocket watches.
He then began deliberately collecting pocket watches, many dated from before the 1800s, and then found he had enough to sell which had increased in value to provide the capital to set up his antiques business.
Items attracting attention from potential customers included quality hand-hammered pewter and Sheffield Steel plated items, late Victorian and Edwardian crockery, a rare ceramic dog dating from the 1830s, water colour landscapes and deceptively antique-looking mantle clocks with hidden up-to-date and maintenance-free quartz movements.
If you are interested in the four-weeks-free offer to stand on Boston Market contact Kristina Willoughby at markets@boston.gov.uk
Albert Fawcett on Boston Market – 50 years-plus experience with antiques