It was reported last week that a number of non-executive directors at Mallett’s resigned, apparently over a disagreement with management about ‘strategy’. Although managing director Lanto Synge demurred when asked whether the company’s financial performance was behind these departures, there can be little question that ‘strategy’ can be better read as ‘how are we going to begin to make money?’ Indeed, the opening nearly 2 years ago of a branch on Madison Avenue in New York has sapped the business, and it is reported that Bourdon House, the former Mayfair residence of the Dukes of Westminster, into which Mallett’s had expanded from their Bond Street galleries, is for sale.
Certainly, over the course of its nearly 150 year history, Mallett’s has emerged amongst antiques dealers as the ne plus ultra, against which any other quality dealer measures itself. But the quality Mallett’s sells is also the furthest thing imaginable from inexpensive. We have been astounded at what the company’s retail pricing for pieces is, and amazed at the depth of their purse in being able to make expensive auction purchases, then keep the pieces in reserve for a number of years before offering them for sale.
Still, no matter how well capitalized a business is, and no matter how glamorous owning an equity share of Mallett’s might be, there has to be an eventual payoff for investors. I noted a few weeks ago about the debacle of the dealers on Mount Street. Now, with Mallett’s and their neighbor Partridge’s trying to fight their way out of the same dark forest, who can say what the antiques scene on Bond Street will look like in a few years?