That darling of interiors magazines, Peter Hone, formerly of Notting Hill's own private Soane museum, has had a Damascene conversion from collecting Coadestone and antiques to making new plaster reliefs and plaques in the grisaille taste.
 
His moulding skills undoubtedly match Brucciani, the great Victorian plaster master, and now his colourwork - a fetching shade of grey with what sometimes seems like an ever so slightly greenish tinge - is set to take the London interiors scene by storm. Everyone who is anyone will want a Hone.
 
So his old stuff had to go - to Christie's for auction. His long time colleague and business associate, David Bridgwater of Bath, wrote the introduction to the sale catalogue:

Peter Hone, one time British Rail chef, Antique Dealer, sometime English Heritage guide, raconteur, wit, autodidact, dyslexic, cultural icon and now Master Plaster Caster is disposing of his collection of objects acquired over fifty years.
 
Mr. Hone, who worked for fifteen years for Lord Rothschild's Clifton Nurseries, Little Venice, will not be retiring or downsizing! He will be grisaille-ing. Peter's now empty apartment in Notting Hill, London, is to be a fantasy of white plaster plaques on grey walls, all of his own making.

The 143 lot collection will include many choice items by some greats of the English decorative arts and sculpture: William Burges, Sir Francis Chantrey, Eleanor Coade (23 lots of Coade stone), William de Morgan, Christopher Dresser, Damian Hirst, Howard & Co, Bernard Leach, Liberty, Minton, Louis-François Roubiliac, Peter Turnerelli, Wedgwood and Whitefriars.
 
Then there is 'The Trafalgar Urn', an extraordinary reduced alabaster copy of the Warwick vase made for Alexander Davison, lovable rogue, scandalous rascal and convicted fraudster, to commemorate the death of his best friend Admiral Lord Nelson. The Warwick vase was dug up in pieces at Hadrian's villa outside Rome, then speculatively reassembled by local marble masons and sold to Sir William Hamilton, husband of Nelson's lover Emma. Sir William sold the vase to his brother, the Earl of Warwick to be placed on show at Warwick castle. The Trafalgar Urn was one of the earliest copies made, possibly ironically using the vase model as a nod to Nelson's love for Emma. The lot is estimated at £5,000 - £8,000.
 
The sale will be held on 26 October at Christie's South Kensington, London