Nigel Wiggin is potty about teapots.  Not to mention toast racks, coffee pots and sauce boats.

It all started when Nigel's grandmother asked his grandfather why he couldn't make tableware out of that new-fangled stuff being produced rather than silver which took some polishing.

Grandfather was William Wiggin, one of the five sons of James Thomas Wiggin of the Bloxwich based company J & J Wiggin.

James Thomas started the company in 1893 with his eldest son, James Enoch, as hardware manufacturers for the saddlery trade of Walsall, then moved on to bathroom accessories in chromium plating.  Eventually, all the family were involved, and everything from 1918 was known as Ye Olde Hall.

It was William who in 1928 took his wife's suggestion seriously and obliged by making her a toast rack.

So the first stainless steel tableware was born.

Nigel is the proud possessor of the world's very first stainless steel teapot which was also soon on the scene.  A teapot which cost 25 old shillings then is priceless now.

It was the forerunner of what was to become the internationally famous Old Hall tableware - Black Country made and to become known the world over.

Now Nigel, great grandson of the founder, is putting Old Hall back on the map in a big way.  To find out how to join the Old Hall Club, please click here.

Reproduced by kind permission of the Wolverhampton Express & Star