Author: Michael Chappell

Having my teeth cleaned is not distinctly pleasant, but a visit to the dentist yesterday  provided a side benefit, allowing me during my outer office wait to browse a couple of magazines including the December issue of Vogue. Well, this is San Francisco… My perusal uncovered an advert featuring a well-known and beloved media person fronting for a line of cosmetics, posing the rhetorical question whether one wished to grow older or be thought ageless. Clearly the ad wasn’t directed to me, as I like being older. Life seems wonderfully compensatory in that regard, for that inevitable diminution in pulchritude is made up for by a comfortability of existing in one’s own skin including confidence in one’s taste and judgment. Frankly, that’s an aspect of our antiques business that we find consonant with our own outlook: everything ages but that it does time itself imparts a tangible dynamism.

Or might do…What seems to ameliorate any kind of ability to age is the unwillingness to. The irony is, a body’s conceit of oneself then becomes occluded, yielding a fair number of people whose age defying efforts result in effects not unlike those of Baby Jane Hudson. Baby Jane is a great metaphor, given the sadly still surviving efforts of some in the trade to fudge or tart up pieces of period furniture. ‘Unknown to nature’ is a phrase equally applicable to the color of a lady or gentleman’s coiffure or a breakfront bookcase. Best leave things alone and let time make an honest declaration.

And that is what makes anything- antiques, artwork, people- au courant, not that it or they aren’t growing older, but have achieved through time a classicism, becoming exemplars of age. We believe that about what we offer, that pieces will speak to our clients, as they have to us, as not only aesthetically pleasing, but, as with all things classic, enduring and iconic touchstones.

While Black Friday numbers are good, it does not appear many people did much travelling over the holiday weekend. The retail fabric of America enables everyone to enjoy the full retail experience without travel, so one can be near home, too. Although this begs the question about the number of outlet malls one nation requires, that will not be addressed here. Well may you ask, though, what has this to do with English antiques?

This, of course- when one stays, and presumably entertains, at home, its charm and comfortability are of a particular importance. Nothing new in this, but significantly more pronounced of late, as people seem to want to stay home. More so lately than in the recent past, interest in those pieces central to entertaining- sideboards, dining tables, dining and kitchen chairs- constitute a goodly percentage of our inquiries. Never fear- for the moment, at least, we still have a good selection.

Black Friday followed by Cyber Monday might not be the same thing to a dealer in English antiques as it is to a big box store. Still and all, it is nice to see the surge in traffic which, frankly, we were able to experience certainly on the Friday and the Saturday. Plenty of gallery traffic and not just walking off the turkey. Well, maybe walking off the turkey, but one could do that without making one’s way to Jackson Square.

We are not exactly sold out- admittedly, our price levels are a bit above that of a Zhu Zhu hamster, but, then, a body might get more good out of what we offer. A pair of Regency period armchairs are, in this person’s opinion, considerably more established in the canon. If any of my cadre of blogophiles are conflicted in this matter, however, let me offer to throw in a Zhu Zhu hamster along with the pair of armchairs!

Despite the wider economic tragedy wrought by Bernie Madoff, I was nonetheless amused by the Fed’s auction of his personal items last week. The question is doubtless begged ‘How many jewel mounted wristwatches does one man need?’ If one has read and been influenced by John Molloy’s book Dress for Success the answer is ‘none.’

Not only for those of us who deal in English antiques, but all art and antiques dealers, a frequent frustration is that a billionaire, real or erstwhile, would splash out on fancy cars, or wristwatches, and neglect fine art and antiques. Keith and I have often wondered, tongue in cheek, if some of our pieces, could they be driven down the road with the price tag still on them, mightn’t we meet with greater sales success.

Of course, the flash and bling, not representative of our personalities, does not find its way into our aesthetic- or those of our clients, either collectors or interior designers. Ultimately, as my loyal cadre of blogophiles will recall, that is what happens in our business, we find common ground in matters of taste with our clients, and that common ground has from the first met with a particular absence of glitter. If that lets us out of a relationship with the Bernie Madoffs of the world, all I can say to the antiques god is ‘Thanks!’

First thing, browse the newly designed website for the Jackson Square Art and Antiques Dealers Association.

Whingeing about the fate of the art and antiques venues worldwide is an essential but hardly a favorite topic, despite the numbers of times this has been the subject of my blog. The nature of the trade, with requisite expertise in buying stock and selling settled in only one or two individuals, necessarily limits nearly all dealers to the ranks of small business. Indeed, given the type of material that some dealers sell, to whom they sell it, and where they sell it makes it appear they are big players. The where they sell it, now and recently, has become a real problem. The competition from mass market luxury goods manufacturers, mainly in the world of fashion, increases rents in a number of what were traditionally the best art and antiques venues. That a retailer that yields more in turnover can afford to pay more rent is certainly not a surprise. I hesitate to cite any figures, but let us safely assume that the fashion retailers’ inventory turnover of 4 times a year is considerably more than that of the best art and antiques dealers. Moreover, no dealer could ever sell that quickly, as, unless he’s planning to go about of business, he could never as quickly obtain replacement stock.

We have heard the argument made that higher traffic retailers do just that, bring more trade into the neighborhood and presumably more foot traffic into adjacent, established galleries. Not likely. The numbers of buyers for the $5,000 couture evening frock are far inestimably more numerous than those for the six or seven figure antique or work of art. For us, no question about it, what brings in traffic that are more than just browsers are the dealers that are nearby. The notion of a crossover buyer that does not exist between luxury mass marketer and gallery exists in spades between galleries.

All this was brought to mind reading a little squib about the tax increases felt most significantly by a small group of antiquarian booksellers in a small but centuries old venue in London’s West End. With all of them small in size and individually owned, they are an easier target for any sort of predation than a large, publically held company that can afford to fight back- or, more likely, give pause to anyone that sought to pick them out as a financial target. In the case of London specifically and the UK generally, there is an awareness that art and antiques venues constitute an important part of the nation’s cultural heritage, and there is a movement afoot to provide some sort of protection, including tax relief, to allow dealers to afford to carry on in business. Hopefully this effort will bear fruit before it’s too late. Even for those who can financially afford to carry on, we’ve seen too often in the last few years that sometimes it is just a matter of a much-harried dealer throwing in the towel.

Whether it is Bond Street in London, the Quai Voltaire in Paris, or Jackson Square in San Francisco, and we can all name plenty of others, venues form a fascinating part of the urban landscape and, local government take note, should be cherished.