That familiarity with period revival pieces might begin to equip someone who wishes to move toward collection of period English antiques evinced some surprise amongst my 20 or so devoted readers.
Certainly, the availability of multiples is greater amongst period revival pieces, and a low table that may have been a non-existent period form might have been available as a period revival piece but the person who has decided to change out revival for period has, often as not, already been apprised of these facts. Consequently, as a dealer, some of the hard work has already been done for us. Someone else has probably told them the things that, even gently put, often give offense. To wit- there is no such thing as a ‘period’ coffee table. A low table that is represented as period is doubtless something that has been adapted for the purpose and, the result of that adaptation, is not the type of thing we would handle. When confronted with a set of side chairs sans armchairs, we’ve had discussions without number about the original function of Chippendale period chairs, specifically that they were only incidentally for dining, more likely for arrangement at the side of a drawing room or parlor, hence the name ‘side’ chairs.
In any event, the person that becomes the collector has invariably been a party to these kinds of discussion at least once before, so we are not then the bad-news messengers who get shot. At this point, let me say thank you, you proud but battered nameless antiques dealers and auction house experts, who have subsequently been shunned by a client merely for telling them the truth: you’ve done yeoman work.
Mercifully, for the sometime concern expressed about pricing, we’ve only seldom had to remarket material on behalf of a client- even non-period material- where the client did not recover their initial investment. This may get me into trouble, as this is no guarantee that a Chippendale revival piece from 1900 will be worth tomorrow what a body paid retail for it today. However, the passion for interior design has exponentially increased the demand for period look, if not price, and has certainly fueled a price escalation for pieces with some age and venerability that, in terms of percentage, might even be in excess of the appreciation for 18th century pieces. Further, there were some excellent makers in the period revival business- Edwards and Roberts, and even the vaunted Gillows of Lancaster and London, not to mention the Parisian firms of Linke, and Sormani, with anything stamped by these makers in high demand. James Archer Abbott’s 2006 monograph on Maison Jansen has had a marked effect on pieces made by or for that remarkable and prodigious interior design firm. At the most basic level, of course, even period revival pieces are in finite supply, with demand continuing to increase.
That a private client can upgrade with oftentimes no loss on their initial purchase makes the prospect of purchasing finer quality period pieces an even happier prospect.