Every picture tells a story

James Teubler, Kent Life’s Antique Collector of the Year 2019, talks about his extensive collection of Tonbridge School memorabilia and photographs

- Sarah Sturt

A collector from the age of 10, when his grandfather introduced him to coin collecting, it wasn’t until the introduction of eBay some 30 years later that James Teubler got the bug again in earnest.

“When eBay came along, it changed everything,” says our 2019 Antique Collector of the Year speaking at his home in Rusthall.

“Suddenly collections could come to you, you didn’t have to trawl around the antique shops and fairs like you used to.”

For our photoshoot, James has taken over the back room in his characterful 1904 property, where he lives with his wife Anna and two children, Eleanor and Julian.

Everything is so beautifully laid out, it’s a surprise to learn that this isn’t a permanent display. The family aren’t quite so keen on ‘pictures of dead people around the house’, apparently, so once it’s all been immortalised for these pages, back it will go to the attic.

James started collecting memorabilia and photographs related to Tonbridge School, where he was a pupil, in 2005.

“At the time I was interested in old postcards of Tunbridge Wells, then a register of pupil names from Tonbridge School came up and I bought it,” he recalls.