notes

This may give me away as something of a swot, but my favorite part of the trade in English antiques is that it does keep me in touch, literally and historically, with the material culture of the 18th century. With trying to run a gallery open to the public, often this enjoyment is vicarious, but none more so than reading Adam Bowett’s Early Georgian Furniture: 1715-1740 just published by The Antique Collector’s Club.  A follow-on from Adam’s indispensible English Furniture: 1660-1714, the books taken together provide an examination of furniture development from the political and economic instability at the accession of Charles II to the world power the country had become by the middle of the reign of George II. This critical period saw the development of a national style, with London a style centre less dependent on aping the Parisian luxury trades.

But both books are really only obliquely about stylistic development and rather more about the important task of putting surviving pieces of high style English furniture in correct date order, taking as much as possible a strictly empirical approach- pieces are dated, and attributed, based on surviving documentary evidence. It is with this that Adam Bowett seeks to overcome the inaccuracies perpetuated by both collectors and members of the trade who should know better.

Quite a few members of the accredited trade do know better, but continue to reduce their speech to include largely empty shorthand phrases like ‘Queen Anne style’ or ‘Chippendale style’. While I cannot argue with any of the conclusions drawn by Adam Bowett in Early Georgian Furniture, it is a plain fact that in common with other dealers Chappell & McCullar would like to remain a going concern and, consequently, would find it difficult, for the sake of historic scrupulosity, to risk intellectually leaving our clients behind. To the chagrin of my long suffering partner Keith McCullar, I will at times bore a client rigid by launching into an unbidden lecture on 18th century material culture when all the client really wants to know is if the Pembroke table will fit next to the sofa. What Keith has found, as a number of others know, is that certain phrases constitute a comfortable patois that, times being the way they are, we will continue to use if the client wants it that way. To thine own self be true…

Don’t think, however, that, because of my stamp of approval, Early Georgian Furniture is a tome. Large in size, yes, but textually very accessible, and profusely illustrated with pieces in public collections and those that have passed through the trade mostly in the last few years. Really, a must have that a devotee of English furniture of any stripe will both enjoy and find useful.

One of the issues of   that I most look forward to is the January issue that names the vaunted AD100. For those handful worldwide for whom this does not register, the 100 are the most professionally accomplished interior designers and architects and, although not privileged to know what empirical measures the magazine uses in their determination, I can say personally that rarely could I find any exceptions to their judgment. In the world of English antiques, it is gratifying to find that AD 100 firms in San Francisco, The Wiseman Group, Suzanne Tucker, and Douglas Durkin Design are good clients.

With all that, for all of us in the trade, last year’s economic malaise resulted in a dearth of interior design activity. Not surprising, as so much design work takes place in new homes, and, with so little home sale activity, new projects were rather thin on the ground.
Our sense is that, starting this month, interior design activity, gauged by the numbers of contacts we have already had, is up significantly from this time last year. Fingers and toes crossed, we hope that the new year contrasts markedly with the last, with new and existing projects proceeding apace for 2010.

MSN is reporting today that retail vacancy rates are at their highest levels in 18 years. Not surprisingly, asking rents have fallen over 2% in the last year. Note I said ‘asking rents.’ With vacancies as high as they are, one opines there exists shall we say a divergence between ‘ask’ and ‘agreed’. As those of us in the English antiques trade know very well, in established venues we find ourselves fewer in number. Replaced by- what? Lately, it has been vacant storefronts.

While my blog yesterday may have seemed almost celebratory, believing the current rental market would constitute for antiques dealers an economic boon, no merchant wants to see an inordinate number of vacancies. In the manner of the fellow who will not enter a sparsely patronized although otherwise appealing restaurant- and I am one of these- business districts need to be vibrant places, with active shops and plenty of street traffic. ‘Buzz’ is the popular term, and buzz is always a vital component not only within a gallery, but in the environment surrounding it.

Mercifully, Jackson Square has a fair number of dealers, actively pursuing their varied specialities. Though arguably the most prominent and certainly the longest lived venue in this part of the country, the neighborhood buzz is not as yet deafening.  Still, we are all still open and embarked on a new year. To repeat my sentiment from yesterday, time, and optimism, will tell.

One inexorable factor in the trade in English antiques is the payment of premises rent. Mind you, the placement of one’s stock in trade in a rural barn makes operating somewhat cheaper than, say, Jackson Square or Madison Avenue in the mid 70’s, but, then, location is everything.

Or has been, and certainly luxury merchants have known this for centuries, if not millennia. However, the capitalization and consequent proliferation of international luxury brands, Prada, for example, has rendered these formerly boutique retailers as fierce competitors for retail space in the best venues.

So it has appeared over the last few years, but one wonders whether the worm has turned. That luxury brands have gone mass market has made their retail outlets mere showrooms. Why buy in Union Square in San Francisco and cart something around when you can order it online and have it shipped directly to you? Very little question, at-store sales are declining, with what is lost in-store replaced by online sales activity. Since it isn’t hard to determine that a virtual as opposed to an actual store is much cheaper to operate, so-called national tenants are bailing out of leaseholds right and left.

What might sound the bane of the commercial landlord should prove a shot in the arm for the art and antiques trade, with downward pressure on commercial rents making landlords somewhat, shall we say, tractable. Will this result in the rebirth of waning venues? Time, and a bit of optimism, will tell.

Nothing quite so portentous as my blog title implies, beyond my sister and brother-in-law hitting town to enjoy the incoming with Keith and me. Breaking from their teaching duties, and us from minding the store, we will enjoy our rib of beef and Yorkshire pudding on New Year’s Day. My readers may not all know this, but our London residence coincided for a number of years with my sister and her family living in Hertfordshire. As it happened, we were separated by only 40 minutes door to door, with a convenient train service and their proximity to the station. Consequently, one  thing we did with some regularity was enjoy a Sunday roast lunch, an enjoyment we hope to reprise day after tomorrow.

With just the four of us, the table will be a little less grand, although I will again haul out what heirloom silver and linen, as they are my sister’s heirlooms, too. A smaller Regency period dining table will be pressed into service but with contemporary upholstered dining chairs. Astoundingly, with my sister now in Pasadena, I see less of her than when she lived in England. Keith and I want all of us to be comfortable while having a good long visit.

Given a bit of luck, and a tot or three of champagne, our visit will hopefully avoid focus on what has been a challenging year for all of us, and challenging for my loyal readers who are doubtless sick to death of my complaining. Let’s then, all of us, look forward with optimism to the New Year and gleefully turn our backs on the memory of 2009.