Britain's biggest collection of antique loos
Britain's biggest collection of antique loos is up for sale for £300,000 - including a potty with Hitler's face on the bottom.
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00:00We are here in South Warwickshire on an old 18th century country estate to come and see
00:06an extraordinary private museum which has never been open to the public.
00:14The Thomas Crapper Museum is being sold so this is a rare chance to explore its entirety
00:19as it's uncertain whether it can remain together or will be broken up.
00:25Solely in charge of the collection is Simon Kirby, the former owner and managing director
00:29of Thomas Crapper & Company and we're here to soak up some of his expertise with a tour
00:34of the collection.
00:35So what are these then?
00:38These are, there's no reason why you should know, these are stall urinals.
00:42Oh well, usually when I see one I run the other direction because I realise I'm in the
00:46wrong place.
00:47Quite so.
00:49What's particularly rare about these two is, can you see the little B?
00:54Yes, yeah.
00:55It's in a transfer on both of them.
00:59The Victorians realised that if they gave them something to aim at then the janitor
01:04would have less clearing up to do.
01:06Okay, right.
01:07They'd just be, you know, neater, if you know what I mean.
01:08Well this is something pretty to look at at least.
01:10Is there anything else behind that?
01:12Yes.
01:13Why did they choose a B?
01:14They chose a B because, well it's a very rare sanitary wear joke in that they knew that
01:20most of the gentlemen using these things would have been educated in Latin and Latin for
01:25B is apis.
01:28Okay, so what started your interest in antique bathroomalia?
01:31Well I think it was probably my mother who was a book dealer and I was a strange little
01:36child who liked old things and she gave me a copy of Lucinda Lambton's book, Temples
01:41of Convenience, when I was 11 years of age and this book is full of colour photographs
01:48of decorated Victorian lavatories and washbasins.
01:51So that might have started me off and certainly only a few years later when I was 17 I was
01:57dealing in architectural salvage and specialised in antique bathrooms and before long that's
02:02all we were doing is salvaging antique loos and basins and baths, restoring them and selling
02:08them to people who wanted period bathrooms.
02:11And I believe some of the pieces photographed in Lucinda's book are actually part of your
02:15collection now.
02:16As a child do you think that forms a bit of a wish list for the future?
02:20Well I've never actually thought of that before.
02:23Maybe you're right.
02:25Well there's at least one item in there that I definitely always wanted and that's a potty
02:30with Hitler's face in the bottom of it.
02:32It's a bit of fun like this, raised morale.
02:34It's a wonderful thing, it's the only one I've ever seen apart from the one that featured
02:40in Lucinda Lambton's book, Temples of Convenience.
02:44From unusual rare items to remarkably ornate WC pans and huge old fireclay baths, it is
02:50easy to neglect the pristine quality of Simon's collection as much of the pieces assembled
02:55over the last four decades could be plumbed in today ready for use.