Around The Block

Horace Champagne is one of Canada's foremost pastelists — a master of dry pastel on paper, recognised by the Pastel Society of Eastern Canada, with work in private and corporate collections from Calgary to Vancouver. Collection Hero

Misty Afternoon in December is a Quebec countryside landscape, inscribed on the reverse with the artist's own hand: the location (near Ripon, PQ) and date. The Artlenders Gallery tag on the verso adds a layer of documented provenance that serious collectors appreciate.

Signed lower right, pastel on paper, 18" x 24". Champagne's Quebec winter landscapes are among his most sought-after subjects.

Hermès scarves have a collector market of their own, and Attrape Tes Rêves is one of the more sought-after designs in it.

Designed by Leigh P. Cook, the pattern centres on the Hermès H medallion surrounded by radiating ribbons — a dreamcatcher built from the house's own iconography. This is the long shawl format, 27" x 72", in a rich amber and chocolate colourway. In very good condition.

Hermès in the showroom doesn't last long.

Venini is the name in Murano glass. Founded in 1925, the Venice island workshop set the standard for mid-century Italian art glass, and the pieces that came out of it in the 1950s are among the most collected in the world.

This amber inciso decanter and stopper carries the circular acid stamp consistent with Venini's mid-to-late 1950s production. The inciso technique softens the amber glass into something almost luminous.

Nicholas Hornyansky is not a name that needs much introduction to anyone who follows Canadian art seriously. Born in Budapest, he arrived in Toronto in 1929 and spent the next three decades defining what aquatint printmaking could be in this country. His work is held in the National Gallery of Canada, the Royal Ontario Museum, Hart House, and the Library of Congress. He taught his own method at the Ontario College of Art for twenty years.

Windmills is an original signed mixed media work on paper — coloured crayon and watercolour — hand-signed by the artist. A different side of Hornyansky than his well-known etchings, and a genuine opportunity for a Canadian art collector.

Some vintage costume jewellery holds value remarkably well — and knowing the difference comes down to a handful of names and what to look for on the back of a piece.

We've put together a guide to the brands serious collectors actually seek out. Sherman makes the list. So does one name that might surprise you.

aroundtheblock.com/blogs/news/9-high-end-costume-jewellery-brands-worth-collecting