Reasons to be cheerful part three
Yes could be a good song title, many in the trade bemoan the proliferation of these antiques programs. But actually they bring genuine interest and a little more down to earth interest to the general public than say the "Antiques Roadshow" brilliant that it is.
Turning amateurs into genuine antique hounds in search of the crock of gold. Creating genuine discussion and interest in what we do. Whilst any dealer worth his salts knows this is cheap advertising and effectively giving away an item of stock so it can be knocked down at auction for even less, doesn't actually undermine what we are doing, it shows that auction for ordinary items is not the place to sell, even with the aid of the internet.
Note conversely with "Dickensons Real Deal" actually 9 times out of ten the real deal is with the dealers who on the whole are time served and very keen to own and stop the auctioneers from poaching the whole piece of cake, even with the very generous commission rates that David gets, he seems to forget VAT, lotting fees, storage, photo charges and of course the buyers premium.
Anyway overall making antiques entertaining and actually showing how inexpensive many items are is a good thing, we had a Chinese brass figure sold for over £200 at auction when shop price was £60. So its out there, guaranteed every day profits are missed by our dealers in our shop, no one can know it all.
Leave a comment
Comments will be approved before showing up.
