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Kaboodles

Name: Kaboodles
Address: 208/212 High Street, Rochester, ME11JA, GB
Telephone: +447969738754
Rating: 5

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Kaboodles are four friends, Kim, Lindsey, Jan and Sue, with a shared passion for anything old or unusual.
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Antique and vintage traders or collectors for years, they came together in 2024 as a collective to sell online, hold events and connect with others.

28/10/2026

‘What's it?’ Wednesday

All the recent talk about deception (the Deception Glasses piece got us going), someone told us about their 'Deception Table'.

What? It's not really a table? Well it is, but it isn't ...

What is it?

A deception table was a clever piece of furniture in the late-Georgian/Regency period, designed to look like an ordinary small table but hiding another purpose. That's why it was seen to deceive/be ‘deceptive’.

As an example, at first glance you might see what you think is a small drop leaf table with two standard drop leaves. However, this will not be what it seems. One apparent leaf will actually drop down, instead of flipping up, and reveal a hidden cupboard.

A very useful and popular deception table concealed a pot cupboard. While it was very necessary to house a toilet pot in the room, an elegant mahogany occasional table was wholly more acceptable with its somewhat less elegant content remaining discreetly and secretly hidden.

As well as the deceptive drop leaf table design, some tables looked like they had conventional drawers but the deception was dummy drawer fronts forming one large hinged flap concealing a secret shelf/cavity.

Deception tables weren’t designed to have secret compartments for hiding valuables/preventing theft (many desks and bureaus had these) but to discretely house things that the home owner would rather not have on show.

Clever!

Next week: Deception Clothes! [Kiddin’! 😉]

22/10/2026

All about the new page just for The Emporium! 👌

21/10/2026

‘What's it?’ Wednesday

“Spongeware” ...

You keep it in the bathroom, makes the soap all frothy, right?

So you may, but that's not the stuff antique hunters are looking for.

What is it?

Spongeware is pottery. It is so called because it is decorated by applying coloured pigment with a sponge as opposed to painting with a brush or using transfers for all the decoration.

There are two main types/designs:

Sponged or dabbed - this where an ordinary piece of sponge was used for dabbing colour onto the item. It produces an effect which is irregular; mottled or speckled.

Cut-sponged - pieces of sponge have been cut into shapes (flowers or leaves, diamonds or other geometric shapes, for example). Effectively the sponge has been used as a stamp.

A typical example might be where you see a repeated item (say, a flower) that looks a bit fuzzy round the edges and they all look a tiny bit different. That’s a good clue to the fact you’ve a piece of spongeware.

Spongeware was produced in England from the 1830s. It reached the height of its popularity during the mid- to late-19th Century. Production did continue until much later, though, and in fact some studio potters still use the technique today.

Generally, bright colours will be found against creamy or neutral backgrounds. The background may be dab sponged, the pattern cut sponged, or both.

Because it was originally everyday pottery, it is rarely marked. It was not a lot of money in its day because sponging was a quick and inexpensive way of decorating useful earthenware items for the home.

Today, however, good early pieces are very collectable.

Spongeware was used on bowls, plates, mugs, jugs and storage jars but also, apparently, basins and toilet ware.

Oh ... So, you might find it in the bathroom after all!

14/10/2026

‘What's it?’ Wednesday

With all the recent talk about mirrors and toilet glass and so on, when someone started talking about ‘deception glass’, we thought we were still on the same topic.

But it wasn't.

What is it?

A deception glass is a drinking vessel.

It has a thick and heavy base supporting solid interior walls This creates the illusion that there is far more liquid in the glass than there really is.

They were popular in the Georgian and Victorian eras.

Toastmasters would use these so that they could lead the many toasts that might be required at an 18th or 19th Century banquet with what looked like a full glass but without getting drunk. They could not be slurring their words!

The extra-thick glass had the added benefit of making the glasses really sturdy, helping survive rowdy dinner tables.

It is also suggested that some hosts used deception glasses to serve short measures that looked like glassfuls This is why sometimes they’re referred to as ‘cheater glass’.

So, not to confuse our ‘glass’; We’ll do our hair in a toilet glass and drink a deceptive amount from a deception glass!

07/10/2026

'What's it?' Wednesday

We had heard of a type of pottery called “Raku Ware” but this week realised we weren’t entirely sure how to spot it.

What is it?

Raku is a distinctive type of pottery originating in Japan. It is characterised by dramatic crackled glazes and smoky black areas, latterly with multiple random bright colours.

There is a difference between antique Japanese Raku wares and modern British though in the construction process and the addition of colour but the outcomes are still classed at Raku.

Raku originated in Japan in the 16th century. It was closely connected with the traditional tea ceremonies. This is how the name came about, so the story goes.

It is said that a Kyoto potter, Chōjirō, in the late 1500s waa making hand-formed tea bowls for the tea master Sen no Rikyū. There is a Japanese ideal called 'wabi-cha' which centres around finding beauty in simplicity, imperfection and naturalness and his tea bowls fulfilled this ideal fully.

The name Raku, which in Japanese roughly translates to comfort, pleasure, ease or enjoyment, became associated with Chōjirō's family through this work and his descendants continued making Raku pottery for generations and actually continues in Kyoto today.

Raku pottery is unusual because it’s not thrown on a potter's wheel. A classic Raku tea bowl was formed by hand, then carved and shaped.
It was also fired at a fairly low temperature and, instead of allowing a whole kiln-load to cool in the normal way, pieces could be removed from the hot kiln individually. This unusual firing added to the uniqueness of Raku.

Early Japanese Raku will look simple and restrained. Mostly it comprises black Raku and red Raku tea bowls which we now tend to associate with the word.

The colourful, rainbow-sheened Raku more commonly seen today is Western-made. Contemporary Raku developed from the Japanese tradition but was altered during the 20th century.

Today the Raku potter will typically remove individual pieces from the kiln, as is tradition, but, while they are still red hot, they will place them into a combustible material - sometimes sawdust, sometimes paper, maybe leaves. The material ignites and covers all or part of the pot. Restricting oxygen in this way creates areas of blackened unglazed clay (caused by carbon production), fine crackle lines and beautiful copper, turquoise, blue, green and metallic effects. The process also means that every firing will be different.

When you look at the base of a piece of modern Raku you'll often see the bare clay with clearly smoke-blackened areas.

So, two quite different looking items will still be Raku depending on whether traditional Japanese or Western contemporary but we now understand how the production process connects them.

01/10/2026

New trader alert!

Kaboodles welcomes its newest trader: 'Gas Monkey Antiques' who specialise in automobilia and toys.

Come see!

Address

208/212 High Street
Rochester
ME11JA

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 5pm
Tuesday	10am - 5pm
Wednesday	10am - 5pm
Thursday	10am - 5pm
Friday	10am - 5pm
Saturday	10am - 5pm
Sunday	10am - 5pm

Telephone

+447969738754

Website

facebook.com

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