Posted by MarcusAdams on Apr 12, 2009 in
Antique Rants This sometimes does not go very well in our favour. Some of our colleagues vary their prices depending on where they are marketing their wares; up them for a London fair and reduce them to get a deal if they want to turn some money over. This can result in see-saw pricing that can confuse the customer. “Hey this is nice, how much is it?” comes the Texan drawl, the dealer replies “£30,000 sir” then as the prospective customer starts to look interested the dealer quips “But we can let you have it for £20,000”. Kind of makes a mockery of that dealer’s prices doesn’t it? Especially when it is on sale in his gallery for £23,000! So his American prospect sensing the dealer might strip the price to the bone offers £15,000, they eventually settle for £18,000 – a huge discount off the original £30k and still a huge discount off his £23k gallery price.
You've just got the best deal and now you want to charge it to your American Express.....
At Millington Adams, we take credit cards like most other antique dealers do these days. However do we want to take these cards or do we take them to add convenience for the customer? Probably the latter, credit, debit or charge cards do make it easier for the customer to part with his or her money, because the large expenditure hit they are just committing to is not coming immediately out of their bank account. We, unlike a lot of dealers, do pride ourselves on a upfront pricing structure, that is visible on the web and is exactly the same at an exclusive London fair.
So now our customer from Texas really moves in for the kill, he produces his American Express card! Our dealer’s face goes white and he swallows imperceptibly, he has been hammered down completely on the price and now with the production of this gentleman’s Amex, he is about to lose another 3% or so. This dealer has had his “old friend” piece of stock for a while and is now seeing any last bastions of profit disappearing, he would like to move this piece on and try something new, so the customer has got him over a barrel we will have to take another £540 hit on the commission – the Amex card is run through the machine, the stony faced dealer is struggling to smile as the delighted Texan billionaire shakes his hand and heads out of the fair with the bargain of the year.
Millington Adams pricing structure is fairly uniform, we do not add onto the price of any piece just so we can “sell a discount”. When asked for our best price, that is what we will give you – our best price possible, please don’t be offended when we do not take offers below that level! Our best price will always be for payment by cheque, bank transfer or debit card. We are happy to accept credit cards and American Express, but not however when every last penny has been wrung out of the deal, we do have to try and run a business, so please be gentle with us!
Tags: american, amex, bargan, best price, card, credit, dealer, express, nicely
Posted by MarcusAdams on Feb 22, 2009 in
Antique Rants
So where does the wonderful pieces you see at an Antique Fair come from?
Many people ask this question when buying antiques, I am sure we would all like our new art and antique acquisitions to be provenanced to a stately home where it has remained since its manufacture, generally over 200 years ago. Well quite frankly buys like this are few and far between.
Most dealers do not want to divulge the immediate source of stock they are currently selling, however are willing to mention which part of the country the piece has come from, or if we are allowed by the vendor, be a little more specific than that.
Most antiques that are being sold today are ones that were sold in maybe the late 60’s and early 70’s, and have not always been wanted by later generations. So they are disposed of either directly to the trade, via a house clearance or through auction.
At Millington Adams we tend only to acquire privately sourced stock, the vehicle we use to perform this task could be varied including the three ways mentioned above. We are particular for instance when we buy at auction to know where the piece comes from, we do not generally buy trade hand me downs, except of course for a few exceptional circumstances where we will state this in the “Provenance” section on our website.
- Auctioneers act as agents for the vendor.
However, remember though apart from a few notable exceptions, most things that most dealers are selling today, have been through the trade a generation ago. Some things can be traced back, to over a hundred years ago, some things we know have been in their original home all their life, but most have been with one generation for 30 years or so.
So our provenance statements are for the stocks immediate past unless we know further history. One thing I must add is that auction houses and the like, are just agents acting on behalf of their client. When a dealer buys at auction, he is buying from the private individual using the auction house as the facilitator, likewise the vendor uses the auction house as a vehicle to sell his unwanted antiques, the main winner of course is the auction house, who takes a cut from both sides of the equation…. easy life isn’t it?
Tags: antique, antique dealer, auctions, bonhams, christies, furniture, painting, provenance, sothebys, source, sourcing
Posted by MarcusAdams on Feb 6, 2009 in
Antique Rants
The 2008 Antique Furniture Index
First compiled in 1968 by John Andrews (also a writer of price guide books for antique furniture) the Antique Furniture Index (AFI) is now in its 40th year. The index represents a blend of retail and auction prices for 1400 typical (rather than exceptional) pieces of furniture from the seven different periods pictured in Mr Andrews’ book, British Antique Furniture.
Standing at an initial value of 100 in 1968, the index peaked at 3492 in 2003, and today stands at 2942 a “dramatic” fall of 1% on 2007. Historically, the AFI has tended to track, and sometimes even better, the fortunes of the stock market or house prices in the South of England. But since 2002, when the AFI registered the first of four consecutive years of correction, it did not keep pace with house prices in the South East.
But now things are different, this year’s basically static index figure contrasts with a more dramatic dip in the housing index over the last year and a plummeting FT250 Share Index, which is I’m sure a good sign for collectors and enthusiasts alike. The top end of the furniture market in particular is even showing a modest rise in values. During the current recession it probably can be said that good quality Georgian furniture is one of the few stable homes for your money!
To help you invest for your hard earned cash during this down turn, Millington Adams have some fantastic pieces in stock and available shortly – click here to view our “Recent Acquisitions”.
Tags: 2008, AFI, antique, furniture, guide, index, john andrews, price
Posted by MarcusAdams on Jan 24, 2009 in
Antique Rants 
British prime minister Gordon Brown
It appears that British prime minister Gordon Brown’s, business minister Baroness Vadera has denied she is out of touch after claiming she could see “A FEW GREEN SHOOTS” of economic recovery. With the un-employment queue growing in the UK every day, what are they talking about? Probably vote gaining twaddle as usual.
However I must say that since the first week in January I have notice that we are having enquiries again, both by phone and e-mail and I feel that there is a little interest stirring in the depths of the UK’s nearly bankrupt economy!
Talking to friend yesterday who’s wife runs an interior design business, confirmed my suspicions, she has had virtually no enquiries at all since the beginning of November and yet in the last 10 days or so, they have started trickling in again, just the same as us.
Maybe not the green shoots that Mr Brown et all talk about, but maybe people are getting fed up hanging around putting off the decision to buy, so maybe the feeling is that we are at the bottom of this, who knows, let’s see what the spring brings…..
What do you think? I welcome comments to this thread. Please click the comment bubble at the top right of this article.
Tags: britain, british, economic, economy, gordon brown, green shoots, prime minsiter, recovery, uk
Posted by MarcusAdams on Jan 6, 2009 in
Antique Rants One of the things that I found infuriating when I was collecting and visiting a shop or fair, was the ambiguously labelled or un-priced item, or even the letters – POA. “Price on Application” eh? – does this mean that we will see how posh you sound and charge appropriately? Does it mean that at today’s fair in London an item costs more than last week’s in Birmingham, just because we are exhibiting in London; or does it mean that we will undercut the other dealers at a fair once we see what similar pieces they may have to offer and what price they are asking?
A Millington Adams price ticket - described and priced!
“POA” is bad enough on a price label but on a website? Well for one, I would like to know where I stand before even speaking to someone, if an item is totally out of my league then I won’t waste the vendor’s time, either by asking them or calling. So many art & antiques websites have “POA” or at best “price bands” instead of an actual price for each piece. I personally think every website should be priced and every ticket should be comprehensively annotated at every antique’s fair.
When Millington Adams started I always made sure that our stock was priced at fairs with pre-printed tickets which mirrored the website price; we do not add on a bit because the fair we are doing happens to be at Olympia. We think that adding a fair margin to our cost price and being happy with it is the best way forward, you the customer know where you stand at the outset, and it is your decision then to make an enquiry, possible purchase or not.
What do you think? I welcome comments to this thread. Please click the comment bubble at the top right of this article.