That piece of sagacity from the mouth of one of our friends of long standing, a prominent Federal jurist and, I am happy to say, a collector of English antiques. He said it while waxing eloquent in front of a number of his colleagues and clerks while in our stand at an antiques show, the strong implication that we were the jeweler worth knowing. Hang on- let me back away from the self service by deleting the definite article. We are ‘a’ jeweler worth knowing.
Of course, despite the thinned ranks in the antiques world, there remain a number of good dealers, but buying from a good dealer does not necessarily mean that one has made a good buy. I say this apropos of an investment newsletter soon to be released by Deloitte LLP, citing the present as a good time to buy antiques. Further, in comparison to the purchase of new furniture, we are told, antiques represent better value for money as they are better made of better materials than new furniture and, relative to the likes of IKEA, retain their value.
Well, yes…but all this is certainly old news, old that is, to anybody that’s given the matter any thought- or sold a formerly new, formerly expensive but now relegated to the garage item at a yard sale. Have dealers yet been swamped with any number of buyers looking to park their entire furniture budget in quality antiques? Not in our experience. While everyone, and particularly private collectors want to make certain that they are getting value for money, this usually takes the form of driving Keith and me down on our prices. Does this assure our buyers, then, they have made a good buy? ‘Further assures’, I’d say, as we with most dealers who remain in business price their material to sell, with our stock in trade perforce representing value for money. This sounds like I’m begging for some financial understanding (read ‘mercy’), albeit in a roundabout fashion. I suppose I am.
With all that, for the occasional buyer of antiques, the pricing differences between ostensibly similar material may be a cause for significant confusion, and it is this confusion that results, unfortunately for us, in buyer’s wanting to grind us down on price . Condition, color, timber quality, and many, many more factors you’ve read about before on this blog contribute positively, or negatively, to the value of any given piece of furniture. People will often look to auction results as the current benchmark price for just about anything in the fine and decorative arts. While auction sales can be a tool, it is nearly impossible to completely divine what made a piece sell for a particular amount on a given day. 
The Antique Collector’s Club annually publishes an index on antiques with the aim of establishing current market pricing, through canvassing innumerable auction and dealer records. While the index should be thought reasonable information with The Antique Collector’s Club an honest broker, it should be considered more a baseline than a benchmark, because it is an impossibility to account for the very often and very subtle differences between a good piece and a great piece.
This, of course, is where the jewel-jeweler trope is most appropriate and very much worth bearing in mind. The difference between the best and indifferent quality bears as close an inspection as viewing two stones under a jeweler’s glass.