He will be selling the piece at the 150-stand antiques and fleamarket at the Carmarthen Showground on Sunday, March 1. The event is organised by Robert and his wife Carol (as Towy Events).
Pugh said: “It’s painted by Samuel Shufflebotham and is from the period that is the most sought after. It’s pretty rare. Shufflebotham’s work on Llanelly Pottery all collectors want, but strangely his work on the Bristol or Torquay potteries is comprehensively ignored, such are the vagaries of collecting.”
Pughs on the move
The Pughs are prolific collectors, most notably of antiques, art and formerly Welsh pottery – on which Robert is an authority, having published two books on the subject.
For the past 20 years their collections have filled up their early-19th century hillside home a mile outside Carmarthen. Now the Pughs are selling up and Cwmoernant, their four-bedroomed Welsh longhouse-style house set in 11 acres, is up for sale at £495,000.
The couple bought the house in 1997, when it was first on the market in 40 years, and began its transformation. Robert said: “We now no longer feel the need for fields and woods and are currently living in a friend’s barn conversion on his farm while we decide where we would like to move to.
“Since I sold my collection of Welsh pottery to the local council we now tend to collect more widely – usually items with a Welsh interest but pictures, miners’ boxes, ceramics with Welsh names and some ephemera.”
