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By Christopher Proudlove

The nation might have pulled itself out of recession by only the slimmest of margins – the naysayers are

already predicting that we’re heading for a “double-dip” decline – but never has there been a better time to buy antique furniture. Says who? Me, that’s who.

Statistics published this week by the Antique Collectors’ Club (ACC) show that prices fell overall last year by an alarming seven per cent, the biggest ever 12-month decline since it began its annual survey in 1968. Some market watchers expected a small recovery, but after two years of static figures, the latest findings make depressing reading.

It was front page news in the trade press and yes, it’s worrying if you’re a dealer with a warehouse full of stuff purchased at the height of the market in, say, 2002. But if you’re looking to furnish a home with period furniture, that’s craftsman-made with quality materials and which will give a lifetime of pleasure to both you and your grandchildren, then reach for your chequebook.

John Andrews started the ACC antique furniture price index in 1968 with a notional baseline figure of 100. It reached an all-time high of 3492 in 2003 and has traded downward since. It stands currently at 2736, says Andrews, reflecting dull bidding at auctions and thin trading at antique shops, fairs and markets. “Outside London it proved difficult to sell low quality pieces and many good middle range items either failed to sell or only achieved the low end of conservative estimates,” he says.

It didn’t help that far fewer pieces of furniture were consigned to auction as sellers decided to wait for better times before consigning. The survey is based on both auction and retail prices recorded across the country, but salerooms handled by far the greater number of transactions.

It was somewhat ironic, therefore, when organisers of the luxury antiques weekend at Kilhey Court, in Standish, Lancs, contacted me this week to report strong furniture sales at their recent fair.

Fair newcomer Graham Smith Antiques from Newcastle Upon Tyne sold steadily throughout the weekend, all to new customers. “One couple from Frodsham told me they had been looking for five years for bookshelves that they bought from me,” he said. “I sold them a dwarf mahogany bookcase for £4,500 and a set of Gillows designed open bookshelves for around £2,000. This has been a good fair for us.”

His other sales included a Regency rosewood card table with satin cross-banding, for around £2,500, while sales by Chester dealer Mike Melody (of Real Deal television fame) included a 17th century elm coffer and a continental oak and ash cupboard, the latter priced at £1,800.

Nick Stanley from Church Street Antiques in Altrincham sold several pieces, including a French mahogany display cabinet, circa 1860, to new customers from Bolton for £2,200 and a mid-19th century walnut marquetry inlaid Davenport desk, for £4,500 to clients from Oldham, who had passed it on display in his shop window.

So why the dichotomy? It’s probably just a simple case of convenience. By its nature, antique furniture will have suffered the

odd knock and scrape from years of giving service in a household. Move it into a saleroom and somehow those defects become all the more apparent. Most private buyers have neither the inclination nor contacts to enable them to have furniture restored (or the ability to do it themselves).

A dealer, on the other hand, sees past the defects and for him, restoration – and its associated costs in time and effort - is part and parcel of his business. I’ll wager a pound to a pinch that everything on display and sold at Kilhey Court was in tip-top condition. That’s something to ponder on next time you view a furniture sale.

The Antique Collectors’ Club annual furniture index (AFI) comprises seven constituent indices: oak, walnut, early mahogany, later mahogany, Regency, early Victorian and country.

“There’s never been a better time to buy antique furniture”

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Furniture will bring pleasure for generations and now is the time to buy.

Photo: Antique Collecting

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All showed a fall on last year, the biggest being recorded by late mahogany and country (each down nine per cent), closely followed by Regency (minus eight per cent). Oak and walnut fared best (each down five per cent).

Late mahogany, that is furniture from the George III period, suffered from buyers’ hostility to “Georgian Brown” and failed to attract the investment for which it was tipped in the survey last year.

Chairs and dining tables suffered from a decline in formal dining, while large carcase furniture such as wardrobes and chests-on-chests were also not wanted.

Serpentine-fronted chests of drawers and bedside tables “with a hint of Gillows” design fetched some surprising prices.

Country furniture experienced a shock fall, possibly because of the current desire among buyers for perfect condition, which by its nature, country pieces will never have. Everything fell except for pieces with exceptional charm and colour.

Exuberant Regency furniture has struggled since 2001, perhaps because of the move towards Modernism and plain lines.

Oak, which suffered its first reversal in four years, is very much a specialist field but only interesting or regional features prevented reduced demand. Refectory dining tables were wanted more than gatelegs, coffers remain desirable but even the usually stable dresser declined.

Similarly walnut showed a drop for the first in four years. Dining chairs, occasional tables, carcase furniture and writing bureaux all suffered, but good bureau bookcases and lowboys in immaculate condition held their ground.

The separate Victorian and Edwardian index, started in 1973 plummeted by a heady 12 per cent where once spectacular gains were recorded. Pieces that can be attributed to recorded designers have enthusiastic followers and have maintained or increased in value, but standard late 19th and early 20th century fare continues to languish among the unfashionable and unwanted.

The complete survey and a full analysis can be found in the February edition of the Antique Collectors’ Club magazine Antique Collecting.

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