HISTORY:
Our family is very much into "the Arts" in all it's forms, from music, works of art and including handcrafted items in a using a variety of materials such as porcelain, china, silver and even timber.
While we tended to purchase 'traditional' oil, water-colour based artworks but sometimes a beautiful handcrafted piece in other materials would catch our eye, this plate is one of those items.
The company producing this piece was called Old World Timber Art (Pty Ltd) up in Port Macquarie, NSW. They had a gallery open practically every day and at least one of their creations is now in the Port Macquarie museum (Laurel Camphor Candlestick).
We particularly liked the philosophy of the company in that they use reclaimed old timber for their products.
However, the company is a bit of mystery to me. Searching ASIC records reveals no information about the company (both current and historical records) but it appears they were very active in the early to mid 1990's and then.....vanished! Actually I feel they "sold up" as the address location is now a self storage facility.
This item is one of our timber pieces (Rosewood) which now needs to find a new home due a lack of space at the house these days.
OLD WORLD TIMBER ART (Pty Ltd)
Circa early to mid 1990's
Circular plate
Material used: Rosewood (presumably local to Port Macquarie or at least reclaimed from a local item?)
Small lip around the rim, rolled edges
Timber is protected by a very high lustre clear resin, probably polyurethane based (Guess)
Dimensions:
Top - 198mm diameter (7-3/4") with a 5mm rolled edge lip
22mm total thickness
Slight Inwards bevel from the top to the base of the plate
Base - 168mm diameter
On the base is a commercially printed deep brown circular paper label which reads:
OLD WORLD TIMBER ART (Circular path text)
120
HASTINGS
RIVER DRIVE
PORT MACQUARIE
N.S.W.
AUSTRALIA
(The section of text from 120 down to here is overprinted on a silhouette of a tree)
ROSEWOOD
HAND MADE
COSMETIC CONDITION:
In a word, stunning!
NO scratching to the external resin - in the photograph you can see circular lines, these are the result of my attempts to make sure the surface was clean! The lustre is so high that it shows every tiny little mark.
High lustre
A couple of very small "dings" to the top area of the plate, one looks to have been present BEFORE the resin was applied.
The rolled lip has no dents, dings or marks.
Underneath in one small spot there is a mark, this is the result of it being dropped once (Woops!) - the timber has not chipped or broken off but the resin went a little 'milky' so you can clearly see the spot in the photograph.
None of these things are consequential (in our view) and this is one very impressive looking piece of craftsperson workmanship.
