Business Investment
Now is the time to invest in good quality Georgian and Victorian wooden furniture
ANTIQUE CHIC
WITH GEORGIAN AND VICTORIAN FURNITURE PRICES DOWN, NOW IS THE TIME TO SNAP UP A BARGAIN
words: hugh st clair
NOW IS THE time to buy good quality Georgian and Victorian furniture. With the design magazines exhorting us to go minimal and modern, well-made brown antique furniture is a bargain. Guy Saville, Department Director of Bonhams Fine Furniture in London’s Bond Street, tells how last year an 18th-century George III bureau bookcase sold for a mere £900. “But 12 or 15 years ago it would have made £1,600,” he reflects. His colleague, Patrick Toynbee, recently saw a good Victorian dining table sell for a few hundred pounds instead of a few thousand, which it might have made in the late 1980s-early 1990s – the years when antique mahogany and walnut furniture was at its price peak.
Many dealers attribute the fall in prices of antique furniture to the decline of American tourists to the UK. “America was a huge market for English antique furniture and when they stopped coming to Britain, there was less competition, more choice and therefore good deals to be had,” says Keith Phillips, of Number 1 Castlegate Antiques in Newark, Nottinghamshire.
But all this is likely to change because of a shift in taste. Style predictors reckon that people are getting bored of bare walls and glass furniture. The new trend is for a more luxurious textural feel using natural materials such as wood and leather. The new buzzword is ‘eclectic’, which translates into ‘mix and match’. It has become acceptable to put 1960s plastic chairs round a Georgian dining table, a modern painting above a 19th-century mahogany sideboard. This hails the reappraisal of brown antique furniture and prices are starting to rise again. Designers and investors alike are snapping up Georgian and Victorian furniture to compliment modern pieces because it represents good value and will always be worth something because of the quality of workmanship. “You will always do better with antiques than something made today for a modern interiors store; and at today’s prices you could even make a profit,” says Tom Sargent, of Christie’s South Kensington.
However, pieces have to be in pristine condition. “The scruffy look isn’t at all desirable,” says Robert Stones, of Peter Wilson Auctioneers in Nantwich, Cheshire. Decorative is what clients are looking for.
Martin Cornish, of auctioneers Ramsay Cornish in Edinburgh, has noticed a new type of client at auctions. “Young couples who might have once visited an out-of-town warehouse selling modern furniture, are now buying from us because they want original pieces. And at the moment they can afford the prices.”
Victorian burr walnut chests of drawers and wardrobes are catching the eye of these young buyers, he has noted. “This furniture is honey-coloured and has beautiful patterns in the wood. Chests of drawers fetch £250, wardrobes £350 – half the price you would have had to pay 15 years ago.”
However, there are some caveats to consider when buying. “Large, heavy, dark brown mahogany Victorian furniture such as Kilmarnock or column chests of drawers are not being bought,” says Cornish. “People still don’t want cumbersome and overly carved pieces. Large cabinets are too big to fit into most people’s homes.”
Other dealers remark that Davenports (writing tables with a writing slope) are not selling because they don’t fit in with our modern lifestyle, where we need flat surfaces for computers. However, bureau bookcases are rising in price with the advent of the laptop. People like to be able to hide computer equipment in the bureaux when guests come round.
Charlie Thomas, of Bonhams Knightsbridge, reckons that mahogany Victorian folding breakfast tables are perfect for the way we live now. “Many of us live in Victorian terraced houses and folding breakfast tables fit perfectly in to bay windows.” Good examples can be bought at auction for around £600-£800.
Quality is the most important factor when buying. “Pieces made for the family quarters of a large Georgian and Victorian house will always be better made and in higher quality wood than ones made for the servants’ quarters.”
Martin Cornish’s very good reason for buying antiques is that they are the ultimate in recycling. “Think of all that cheap MDF stuff that gets sent to landfill sites when it is no longer wanted.
“We have been recycling Georgian and Victorian furniture for over 200 years and will be able to continue doing so with well-made pieces for many years to come. If you think about it, we auctioneers and antique dealers are the greenest business people in the world.”
AUCTIONEERS
■ BONHAMS FINE FURNITURE 101 New Bond Street, London W1S 1SR;
+44 (0)20 7447 7447; www.bonhams.com
■ CHRISTIE’S SOUTH KENSINGTON 85 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3LD;
+44 (0)20 7930 6074; www.christies.com
■ SOTHEBY’S 34-35 New Bond Street, London W1A 2AA;
+44 (0)20 7293 5000; www.sothebys.com
■ PETER WILSON AUCTIONEERS Market Street, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 5DG;
+44 (0)1270 623 878; www..peterwilson.co.uk
■ NO 1 CASTLEGATE ANTIQUES 1-3 Castlegate, Newark, Nottingham NG24 1AZ;
+44 (0)1636 701877
■ RAMSAY CORNISH 88 Jane St, Edinburgh EH6 5HE;
+44 (0)131 553 7000
TOP TIPS
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
■ Small, versatile, space-saving pieces of furniture are always a good investment.
■ Pieces with recognised makers are very sought after. If you find a stamp or label from makers such as Gillows of Lancaster, Holland and Sons, Maples and Wright and Mansfield, it is worth buying.
■ Check for obvious repairs – nails in unexpected places, for example. Quality furniture was pegged, not nailed, together. Bad later repairs bring down values.
■ Be wary of highly polished, flawless furniture. Original antiques have a bit of wear and tear, known as patina, that won’t be found on reproductions.
■ Provenance will send values soaring. This means knowing the house a piece of furniture was made for, or a very old receipt from an auction house or dealer.
