About Butler's Antiques

Butler's Antiques principal, Robin Butler, joined his family antiques business in 1963, and took over the running of the business in 1967. He was elected to the British Antique Dealers' Association in 1970, and set up on his own account in 1978. He was asked to write The Arthur Negus Guide to English Furniture in 1976, which has become a best-seller in its field. He carried on his business and lived in Bristol for 20 years from 1981, before moving to East Anglia in 2001 with his wife, Carol.

For many years he lectured on the history of furniture construction at the Study Centre for the History of Fine and Decorative Arts. He has given talks and lectures to interested groups in Britain and the USA including the Silver Society, The Furniture History Society, The Smithsonian Institution, NADFAS and local collectors groups. He has appeared on the 'Antiques Roadshow', 'Arthur Negus Enjoys', and 'Collectors Lot' television programmes, and has written specialist questions for 'Mastermind'.

In 1986, with Gillian Walkling, he wrote The Book of Wine Antiques, and in 1993 he wrote several long entries in The Oxford Companion to Wine. The Albert Collection, published in 2004, was a monograph on a fine collection of silver. He has served on the councils of the British Antique Dealers' Association and the Furniture History Society.

Robin's interest in antique wine accessories began in 1976 when he started to assemble a collection of such pieces for an exhibition as part of the diamond jubilee celebrations of the BADA two years later. The exhibition was a huge success and his subsequent book - a pioneering work - spawned a fresh branch in the antiques collecting world and one equally appreciated by those whose interest is wine.

In 2004 Robin decided to make the business of antique wine accessories a full-time occupation, and his "Great British Wine Accessories 1550 - 1900" was published in September 2009.