Andy Garth welcomes the arrival of rareties

In the lull before Christmas, I have been restocking and updating the display of my shop, hoping for the crowds to arrive for those one-off presents that I just happen to have in the Brighton And Hove Stuff world of anything and everything to do with our City (town), from the very old to the more recent.

So when looking at what I had new to display I just couldn’t decide – do I go colourful and modernist or black and white and old?

The bubble question mark above my head was suddenly burst by the entrance of a good client who popped into the shop carrying some extremely unusual and rarish prints.

The first one is a beautiful hand coloured lithograph from 1842 of an intended Harbour at Brighton which would have encircled the Chain Pier, and actually starts at about the point of the yet-to-be-built Palace Pier – and is almost a dead ringer for what is now the modern Marina built 135 years later.

A beautiful hand coloured lithograph from 1842 of an intended Harbour

Ironically the main reason it was never considered to be viable was that it would have affected the leisure pursuits, i.e. swimming and bathing, which were the town’s very raisin d’etre.

The second print is also a great piece of social history which dates from around 1830 and shows the hustle and bustle of the interior of Brighton’s ‘New Market Place’, with entrances on Market St and Black Lion St close to Brighton’s old town hall.

As you can imagine my window dressing job was suddenly made into a no brainier and both prints hang proudly in the window waiting to be snapped up, which I’m hoping will happen very soon. But that will only force the ‘?’ bubble to reappear.

So if you have anything Brighton and Hove that is sitting around gathering dust that should be displayed to be sold, bring it along to the shop at 28 Western Road Hove or email me on brightonandhovestuff@gmail.com

I am open Monday to Saturday during December so more chances to grab the gift that will be unusual or quirky and show the thought and effort made for those you are buying for!