We’ve had a brief mention in a print article in a local publication that came out today. It’s interesting, because, although we were extensively quoted, our consideration of the antiques trade is overshadowed by the blather of another dealer who is a known blowhard. Sadly, he’s one of those folks who is less eager to sell his material than he is to tell you how much his inventory cost him to purchase. Between ourselves, we believe he’s actually demented, but this isn’t the point of the blog.

As so often happens, the article coincided with a gallery visit from a gentleman who we’ve seen from time to time over the last year or so. A property developer, he’s done okay and currently, while possibly not thriving, seems to be holding his own. He’s made the occasional small purchase from us, with his interiors designed by one of the up and coming designers. He’s chatted to us before about the fine and decorative arts we offer, and we have the strongest sense that he would love to move toward a measure of connoisseurship. His business background doesn’t leave him, of course and, though he wants to buy something that is aesthetically pleasing into which he can also achieve a measure of intellectual satisfaction, whatever he buys has to represent value for money. This, of course, is when we start to discuss art and antiques as fungible commodities. As a property developer familiar with appraisals, the notion of market value comparisons has a particular resonance within this discussion. It dawned on me as we were having this discussion that the components of market value, intelligently arrived at, have been a consistent entre in our beginning discussions with private clients who aimed to become serious collectors.

For someone not in business, the business of business may seem dry as popcorn, but no one who is successful in any endeavor does not pursue it with a degree of passion that feeds something in them other than a desire for monetary gain. Frankly, we’ve never seen anyone who has been successful in anything that did it just for the money. Consequently, Keith and I, with backgrounds in finance, are fortunate in that we’re able to speak the language of a number of people who, despite being well-heeled, would otherwise be at sea in the world of connoisseurship.

Back to our demented colleague, he was quoted as saying something along the line of how some dealers’ material may be expensive, but successful people who’ve worked hard owe themselves fine art and antiques. I wonder if he ever tells any prospective buyer that. Perhaps he does, and I suspect what he ends up with are the types of transaction-oriented parvenu who would, on another day, purchase a flashy car. Interestingly, our property developer client drove up the other day in- wait for it- a Chevy Impala, albeit a new one.

Walking to work this morning, I noticed a bit of doggerel painted on the sidewalk ‘Know Obama Know Marx’. Someone had made some effort to do this, as the lettering was carefully stenciled in red paint. 20 years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall, I feel a bit of nostaligia for the Cold War, and who under the age of 50 has even heard the phrase ‘red baiting’, much less knows what it means.

What’s happened today, with the chairman of GM resigning the result of pressure from the White House will cause those who would like to paint the president red screaming about controlled economies and fearful of the president’s tax and spend agenda that will so completely redistribute wealth. As someone well into his sixth decade, I have to say I look forward to the fruits of that most massive redistribution of wealth perpetrated by that other red president, Franklin Roosevelt. I’m referring, of course, to Social Security. For me, the mixed economic system we’ve enjoyed in this country for 8 decades seems just fine.

Frankly, top executives at General Motors- and that includes union officials- as with the banks, should get what’s coming to them. President Obama, as the people’s elected chief executive, should be the hatchet man. It is astonishing to me that, up to this point, GM’s stockholders have not arisen insisting on a clean slate. But, on second thought, there must be some sort of commercial and ecological myopia that afflicts GM stockholders. That must be it, otherwise GM’s single-mindedness in stamping out SUVs and pickups- products that for years could not be justified either commercially or ecologically- cannot be explained.

With all that, the slash and burn mentality seems to be pervasive within corporate governance. Does anyone do any strategic planning anymore? As the money center banks were packaging subprime mortgage loans, did they honestly believe that the actual performance of those loans would never be an issue? Returning to GM for a moment, emblematic of all smokestack industries, who that works there does not believe that environmental spoliation is not an issue? It seems clear that companies generally are managed from quarter to quarter (or more precisely, from bonus period to bonus period), with the devil, then, taking the hindmost. Unfortunately, the hindmost, consisting of a world on the edge of disaster, affects all of us, including those who profited inordinately. What do they say to themselves to justify behavior that has left global conditions in shambles? Where will they go to avoid the upshot of their actions? What do they tell themselves? What do they tell their children? These people must have physical access to some earthly oasis of which the rest of us are unaware.

Unfortunately, there exists now a term- I’ve heard it for years, but now hear it frequently- that describes the mindset the upshot for which we are all now paying: ‘mindless capitalism’. Mind you, I consider myself what’s termed a classic liberal, by which is meant a capitalist who maintains a mindset of enlightened self-interest- what’s good for me in the short run, if it is not good for others and/or good in the long run, is actually bad for me. What is of lasting benefit is, ultimately, good for me, too. Maintenance of this type of outlook requires critical, reflective thinking- something that doesn’t seem to even occur to most people- with rather sad consequences when this sort of thinking is not employed in business. Classic liberalism, moreover, probably doesn’t work as well for those with mortgages to pay on 10,000 square foot primary residences and payments to make on $125,000 cars. With all that, the government intervention in business, coupled with tax changes necessary to pay for it, seems to some like a nationalization, precedent, then, to a wholesale redistribution of capital as part of a movement toward a planned economy.  I don’t buy that. In my view, the government has lately only been trying to extinguish the economic firestorm brought about by mindless capitalism.

From what I read, a factor driving the current stock market rally is the spike since the first of the year in home sales- both new and existing. One pundit was quoted as saying that more homes turned over because of ‘aggressive’ (his term) seller pricing.

Well, gee…given how explosively housing prices had appreciated between 2001 and 2007, is it any wonder that some significant moderation has occurred? Simplistic, of course, but we’ve all seen bull real estate markets that are then followed by some correction. I’ve seen four- 1982, 1990, 2001, and now.  With all that, within sight of San Francisco- still a strong market- the desirable, close-in, built-out areas are holding steady or appreciating. The remote areas- by which I mean green-field developments, beyond public transportation, services, and anything other than basic infrastructure- are still suffering, but not as much as they were. Granted, the median home price locally is declining, but this has more to do with the fact that it is mostly relatively inexpensive homes that are on the market, naturally skewing the median price downward. My good friend and San Francisco residential real estate guru Greg Normart tells me that, for better residential properties he has many more buyers than he has sellers. The why of this, too, is simple- those better heeled sellers in the 7 and 8 figure properties are not, in the main, of a mind to sell possibly for less than they might wish in what is touted as a slow market.

When expensive homes are either being built or trading hands in fairly large numbers, we see our business, if not burgeon, at least expand. The first thing that starts to move in our regular stock of English antiques is dining room furniture- dining tables, sets of dining chairs, and sideboards. Although our craftspeople have told us that their clients tend to ease into projects with an increasing number of small orders, ours go what appears whole hog. Conversely, when fewer large houses are trading hands, it is the accent pieces- small tables, mirrors, object d’art- that sell.

Stay tuned, then- we’ll alert you to the running of the dining tables.

Another opus from Jack Tremper

Working in a high-end English antiques gallery is unique.  It’s like many other places in that we have work stations complete with computers and even a water cooler in the back, but instead of a cubicle we are instead surrounded by rare and costly pieces of furniture and works of art.  I remember remarking to a friend once that I felt as if I were working in a museum.  In some ways we are like a museum, except that all of our pieces are for sale.

Thankfully, this thinking soon disappeared as I became more comfortable in the showroom and less worried about knocking something over while vacuuming or scratching a piece while dusting.  Not to mention, the near daily saying by Mr. Chappell of “this isn’t a museum” in response to some less-engaged browsers (‘looky-lous’ as we call them) coming through the gallery reminds me that everything is for sale and if the gallery were a museum, we’d surely charge an admission fee.

In saying this, I’ve come to realize it’s a terrible idea to look at period furniture only as historical items or pieces to admire.  We certainly have many things that are undoubtedly museum-quality, but the pieces that we deal in are far more than nice looking old furniture; they are practical pieces that were created to be used.  If it’s a chair – sit in it.  If it’s a table – work, eat, or, at the very least display something on it.

Through a few interactions with clients, it’s become evident that I’m not the only one adjusting away from a “museum” mentality.  I have seen numerous clients or potential clients hesitate before sitting down in our pair of giltwood George III John Linnell salon chairs.  It’s not just me noticing the hesitation in their body language, but they actually ask if it is alright to sit in these chairs.  And of course we let them know that it is fine that they sit in them and in fact we encourage it.

Sitting in these chairs helps to see that they are not just for decoration or collecting, but they actually are quite comfortable to sit in.  I don’t know if our visitors find it surprising that these chairs are reasonably comfortable but they shouldn’t because the chairs were made with the intention of being sat on and I’d hope our clients see this aspect as well as continue to enjoy how they look.

Though, I suppose, the idea of sitting in one of a pair of chairs with a price of $88,000 takes some getting used to but the fact of the matter is that a chair is for sitting.  And an antique chair is for both sitting and admiring.

MSN has a news story online this morning citing various idiosyncratic measures of economic recovery. Given last year’s crash that caught even Warren Buffet unawares, these grass-roots gauges- including spikes in expensive cupcake sales- are as valid as a measure of economic strength, or continued doldrums, as anything else.

Even we have some measures that we use to gauge, if not overall economic performance, than at least what our own business portends. No one will be surprised to learn that we track hits on our website very carefully. What might come as a surprise, however, is that we don’t find any connection between an overall spike in site hits and a spike in sales. What we find more significant is when during the week that we have site hits. For instance, if we see quite a disproportionate amount of our internet activity occurring on the weekends, we believe that it is people surfing with no particular objective in mind, beyond general interest. Oddly, we engender our greatest number of website-related inquiries during this time- my Monday morning is given over to responding to these- but our rate of sales based on weekend inquiries is quite low. If, on the other hand, our site hits are greater during the working week, we find that this generates a significant amount of business both from private clients and interior designers. Moreover, we find that browsers with money to spend also take the time to browse during the week- not at the weekend. This certainly makes sense considering interior designers: their legwork, including all shopping trips, even to virtual shops on the internet, occurs during weekdays. Evenings and particularly weekends are very often given over to client meetings. While increases in our site traffic during the week don’t always translate into more internet inquiries during the week, we always find that actual visits to our galleries increase. When we inquire of new visitors to our galleries, they with nearly 100% frequency tell us that they visited our site precedent to an actual gallery visit.

While the maintenance of our website- and maintenance of placement on the major search engines- is important to us, the most telling indication portending good sales is actual gallery visits. We log in every single gallery visitor- who they were, what they were interested in, price quotes- absolutely everything germane to the visit, even, if appropriate, what they were wearing. Call me old fashioned, but while coiffure may not signify, jewelry and handbags do. For the gentlemen, Prada loafers don’t mean much, but we can always spot a DAKS jacket. This is probably our most important internal management tool, with our gallery log a record of subsequent activity. It is accessible for review and data entry by all gallery staff, with each week maintained as a separate document in 12 point type. When our Weekly Report extends to in excess of 3 full pages, we know some good sales are likely to follow. Although typically the longer the report indicates that we have had more gallery visitors, this is not always so. Occasionally the report can run long because we’ve had some pretty heavy-duty gallery visits- lots of interest in lots of items. So, rather than just a measure of gallery visitors, the length of the report reflects the earnest nature of those visits.

Much more palaver on this subject and I then will begin to give away proprietary information. Suffice to say these are informal measures, but things we take seriously. Moreover, while Wall Street and the other money centers are the big stage upon which economic dramas are publically played out, the larger economic engine is one that employs every individual consumer and every business, even small ones like ours. We firmly believe that when we can sense economic trends as well as anyone can. The one thing we know for sure, amidst all this, is that when the news media reports on any trend, it is, in this age of information, already old news.