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Some people make a living from antiques, but very few.
#Antiques dealing looks easy, in the U.K. we have been brought up with it from the #Lovejoy books and television to “Never the Twain”, and there always seems to be a dodgy dealer making a living on the longstanding soaps.
All a man needs are mustard or red cords, a checked shirt and a wad of cash, and he is ready to go! Sadly, this is not the case. In 1587 Dr John Bridges said “A foole and his money is soone parted.” (sic). This is correct in the #antiques business, but you don’t need to be a fool.Most dealers who deal from an antique centre are of a certain age. Let’s face it, “I dabble in antiques” is a fantastic opener at a dinner party.
I think that at this stage I should explain how the antique trade works.
There are levels of dealing, starting with the person who buys from a jumble sale on a Saturday to sell at a car boot sale on a Sunday. This is how I started, an apprenticeship really.
Next is the runner, he will buy from the boot sale and sell to a dealer in an antiques centre or shop. Runners will also buy and sell to all tiers of the trade. Runners are important; they travel, they know the going rate for items, and they know what is in demand.
Dealers will buy from each other. If someone sees a specific piece of silver in an auction and knows of another dealer who specializes in it, he will buy it and keep it for that dealer and turn a quick profit. Dealers will also visit shops and centres. In the antiques trade you cannot know it all. Mistakes are made and pieces are undervalued.
From entering the trade until the final sale, a piece can go through as many as eight dealers, everyone making a profit – or not. #Antiques can stay in the trade for years waiting for their forever home.
This is where money is lost by dealers. If you do not have knowledge of what you are selling
or a basic understanding of business, you will be the custodian of less than average #antiques for years and lose money. Retail rent is not cheap and the value of your stock at cost will soon dwindle; you will be eating into your profit, if you have any.
If a dealer is happy losing, say £200.00 a month, and making that up with their own money, it is not a business, that is a hobby, but you still get to mention it at dinner parties and wear red trousers! This could be why in my opinion 50% of what we see in some #antique centres and shops is total rubbish and unsaleable; coins cleaned to within an inch of their lives, reproduction enamel signs and Nat West pigs!
Reproductions of any sort should not be in an #antiques shop or centre. It confuses the public and puts them off buying anything at all. A top tip is that if a piece is marked “Victorian chair c1880” it is a #Victorian chair. If it looks like a #Victorian chair, smells like one, feels like one but is marked “Chair” it is a reproduction and there are some very clever ones about. Either the dealer is passing a repro or is ignorant, if you know your #Victorian chairs this is where you can make your money.
Some dealers try and sell certain items because they are #antiques, and most other dealers have them. The reason that a dealer has anything is because he has not sold it. In the 18th and 19th centuries the gentry and middle classes had fire guards, these were a tapestry or other flat decoration on a pole to stop the ladies wax based makeup from running due to the heat of the fire. Who in their right mind would want or need one today? Next time you are out looking at antiques make a note of how many you see, and you will realise that no one wants one apart from inexperienced dealers (and possibly a film set here and there). The same goes for decanters, bed pans, oil lamps, pre 2023 decimal stamps, commemorative crowns, gin traps, nursing chairs etc. etc.
Other signs of inexperience are dealers cramming as much as possible into one space. How many times have you seen someone trying to sell a table for £600.00 which they have covered with £2.00 Royal Wedding mugs? Personally, I think the worst thing must be having a small space to sell from and seeing a dealer sitting in the middle of it or stood in the entrance reading a newspaper. No one, just no one, will enter that area.
Well, the above is how not to make money, the question is how do you make money from antiques? As with so much in life you only get out what you put in. What I am saying is you need to work and work hard.
Spend as much time as you can in auction houses, going to #antiques fairs, talking to people, looking in #antiques shops and centres. Handle items, get a feel for them, even smell them; do you know what cedar smells like? Find out why Rosewood is called Rosewood. I picked up a period #Chippendale tea caddy last week for £5.00 at a local market. It was lunchtime; why had no one else spotted it for six hours? How did I know it was right? How did I know it was by Thomas Chippendale and probably made in his Covent Garden workshop? One word; knowledge.
Go to the big antique fairs, #Bermondsey, #Newark, #Kempton etc., be prepared to sleep in your car at some or park by Tower Bridge at 2.30 am for others.
After a while you will take more interest in some items than others, first editions, treen, militaria, silver, tools, antique maps or perhaps jewellery. Try not to get into anything too heavy, loading 400 books on a cold, wet December evening is not funny.
If you are handy with a paintbrush perhaps you could learn to restore paintings, maybe take a course to restore furniture?
What I am trying to say is specialize, become the dealer in your area for your chosen specialty, then, in a few years, after a lot of work, networking and advertising, you may have a chance of making money.