Vintage Black Bakelite Rotary Wall Cradle Telephone & Dictograph 1940s

This is an interesting vintage  pair of French bronze cannons dating from the late 20th century. The cannons have highly decorative barrels and splendid openwork carriages. They ar...

This is a wonderful Derbyshire Ashford pietra dura obelisk, inlaid with lillies, circa 1880 in date. The obelisk is beautifully inlaid with a Pi...

This is a superb decorative antique Italian Grand Tour marble Pietra Dura mounted desk paperweight, circa 1880 in date. This splendid rectangular paperweight is exquisitely inlaid with a sumptuous arrangement of semi-precious stones including malachite, agate, onyx and amethyst. It is beautifully inlaid on a slate base. Not only is this desk paperweight very functional, but it is also an exquisite mineralogical wonder that can be admired by all discerning collectors. Condition: In excellent condition, please see photos for confirmation, Dimensions in cm: Height 2 x Width 17 x Depth 10 Dimensions in inches: Height 1 inch x width 7 inches x depth 4 inches. Pietra dura is a term for the inlay technique of using cut and fitted, highly polished coloured stones to create images. It is considered a decorative art. Pietre dure is an Italian plural meaning "hard rocks" or hardstones; the singular pietra dura is also encountered in Italian. In Italian, but not in English, the term embraces all gem engraving and hardstone carving, which is the artistic carving of three-dimensional objects in semi-precious stone, normally from a single piece, for example in Chinese jade. The traditional convention in English has been to use the singular pietra dura just to denote multi-colored inlay work. However, in recent years there has been a trend to use pietre dure as a term for the same thing, but not for all of the techniques it covers, in Italian. But the title of a 2008 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Art of the Royal Court: Treasures in Pietre Dure from the Palaces of Europe used the full Italian sense of the term, probably because they thought that it had greater brand recognition. The material on the website speaks of objects such as a vase in lapis lazuli as being examples of "hardstone carving (pietre dure)" The Victoria & Albert Museum in London uses both versions on its website, but uses pietra dura. "A method of inlaying coloured marbles or semi-precious stones into a stone base, often in geometric or flower patterns...." Giovanni Montelatici...

This is a stunning decorative antique Italian Grand Tour Vatican Micro-Mosaic inset black marble desk weight, in the form of a miniature table, circa 1870 ...

This futuristic Teledome (model #3005) phone was patented and manufactured in 1972 by Teleconcepts and included internals made by Northern Telecom Inc. Chrome-plate handset with blac...

Bakelite leather covered table phone, made in Denmark in the late 1940s. Used marks.  

Vintage white Swedish Bakelite rotary table phone by Ericsson, circa 1950. Measures 6" H x 9" W x 7.5 " D.

Vintage white bakelite 1930s glamor telephone made by Bell Systems for the Western Electric company. This phone is present in many Hollywood Glamor fi...