Thoughts of a christchurch antique dealer
If you have a question, let me know and I’ll try and answer it for you – email enquiries@academyantiques.co.nz
This is an accumulation of information I have gained over the years. Don’t take it as gospel – it is my experience and opinion.
To repair or not to repair
Unless you are repairing an item with sentimental value or for decorative purposes, avoid repairs. I'm a dealer and I focus on money, not aesthetics. Once an item incurs any damage, it is only worth a fraction of it's original value unless it is exceptionally rare.
The simplest way to spot most repairs if just looking. You can see the tell-tale tiny dots left around the edges of the over spray. As glaze is essentially glass, and could to the touch, most repaired pieces feel different. They are not cold, sometimes even warm and feel softer. Occasionally you get items over sprayed and the back stamp will have been scrapped to expose it. In these cases there is a small ridge around the back stamp - dead give away. There may be a slight variation in the colour. This is especially visible on gold items where the original would be shiny and the repair is slightly matte. Seen this quite a bit on Royal Worcester hand painted items. Other ways to tell are the use of black or ultra-violet lights though this can be tricky to tell. Repaired items often ring flat but crazing can do that too so keep an open mind.
Whatever the quality of repair, just wait till you put it into warm water to wash it. On more than one occasions I have returned to the sink to see bit of overspray clumped and floating on the surface and the item disintegrated into its broken pieces.
Repaired or not, the general rule of thumb is a repaired item is worth only slightly more than a non-repaired item - it's still broken! It will definitely display well however and if treated carefully may give pleasure on display for many, many years.
Difference between collectable and decorative antiques
In real terms, there is no difference between collectable (collectible) and decorative items. People can love displaying or collecting anything. However, I made this arbitrary distinction because it explains how prices offered for items can vary quite a lot despite retail prices being very similar.
How to sell on Trademe
Selling on Trademe is both incredibly simple and yet interestingly complex. The first thing to remember is it's an auction site but can also function as a retail website so let's look at how it works.
Start with your items for sale. The first question is - will anyone buy them? The second question is - will they pay enough to make it worth my while? The last question is - can I be bothered?
Many people have items that they over-value. I have heard stories about heirlooms and their family history. And it's true, some items get passed down from generation to generation but, the cold hard fact is, if they weren't worth much money then they may not be worth much money now or what was worth a lot then may not be valued much today.
Let's assume your items are worth listing, how to sell. Mostly, it's easier to sell items exactly how they are. Unless it's really obvious that time spent preparing them for sale - cleaning, polishing, sorting - will make you more money, save yourself the work. Take photos that have little to no noise for the main photo at least. By noise, I mean the main photo should show the item and nothing but the item. Other photos can show the item in situ - displayed as it might normally be seen - a doll in a pram or china in a china cabinet - but the main photo will be seen as a thumbnail and it's better to cut the clutter.
You don't have to be overly professional with your images either. However, because TradeMe allow quite a few free photos - 12 or 20 from memory- you can take a lot of close ups and different angles so buyers know what they are buying. Don't post blurry photos, include any back stamps or damage, a picture really is worth a 1000 words. Tip: if you use a neutral grey background, the true colours are more likely to show.
When photographing, jot down accurate descriptions to put in your auction later. What make, model, pattern, era, height, weight, width, colour (some people's monitors aren't so good), any damage like cracks, crazing, stains, marks, chips, repairs etc. If in doubt, write it down, honesty pays. It may hurt the price but will boost your reputation and that will make you more in the long run.
When listing, you need to find the best category and this is crucial. People will not look for a Ferrari in the Antiques column and they will not look for a Moorcroft vase in the Mobile Phone category. I say this because sometimes it is not obvious which is the best category but also that the listing page usually remembers the previous listing category used and many a time that has caught me out - be careful.
Price, well you could write a whole blog on this too! If you want to get rid of it, go low. If you value the item and would feel bad giving it away, decide on the price you need to be happy. The general rules are these: list at a conservative price that gives people a good deal, that you will feel happy with, and so long as you have no buy-now then it can always go higher. Never put a buy now on an item unless you absolutely know the value.
When the item sells, wrap it well if sending away or allow the buyer to inspect the item before confirming purchase. Doing this affords an amazing amount of piece of mind and that's important. You want to enjoy the experience without stress. Remember, both parties should be happy with the transaction and never send or hand over goods until you have the money in your hand or account.
If your items does not sell, but it had a lot of watchers, resist at the same price for another week or two. After that, realist at a small discount and continue to discount until it sells.
Selling a lot of items and want them gone? Ok, forget what I said above and follow this: take all photos at the same time, write descriptions, list on the same day, run for 7 days, make sure every listing says it is part of a large consignment - house lot, clean out, deceased estate - and start very low. Generally, interest in one item will increase interest in all and once it's gone, mission accomplished.
I often say - do you want to sell it yourself or ask a dealer? Selling online is a lot of work, more than you think. A dealer may sell it online and make money doing so but they've done the work and accepted the risk. What's your time worth? Happy selling and remember a week after it's sold you forgot anything about price anyway 🙂
Cleaning stained china
There used to be a time when a lot of stained china came on the market. If you could get the discolouration out it could be quite profitable. As the quantity of china has decreased over the years, so too has the amount of stained china. However, here is what I have learned.
To clean stained china, I used two approaches depending on whether I want to use household items or commercially bought items. Napisan is the number one household option. Some say Janola works well but I have found anecdotally that it can cause a lot of crazing to occur. Napisan seems much gentler. Just get a couple of tablespoons in warm water, mix well and soak the item completely submerged for around a day. For some items this will be sufficient. If not, take out, allow to completely dry, might need a day in the sun on a warm day, and repeat. Sometimes it will emerge from the mixture clean but the staining will re-emerge. Repeat until necessary. If the staining is a shade of grey, I have never had much success, beware. Most staining is brown and believed to be from food or fruit. The grey staining seems more like a mould.
Collectible vs Decorative Items
It all started in 1962. A pattern called Kings Romance was shrunk in size and became Old Country Roses. The designer given credit was Harold Holdcroft. It is arguably the most common Royal Albert pattern around with maybe the exception of the older Old English Rose. But as a naive dealer when I started, I realised all Old Country Roses is not created equal.
First off, at some stage Royal Albert, probably as a marketing ploy, introduced dates on to their back stamps. Many people have thought this meant when the item stamped was produced. Instead, it means when the pattern was introduced.
Many collectors have 1962 stamped items believing they were made in 1962 whereas in fact it means it cannot be before 1972. If you see the registered trademark stamp, it is after 1993, and if after 2002 it may not have "England" on the back stamp.
Some people can see the variation in the pattern colours too. I have struggled to see this. However, the later pieces, most makes 1962, are thicker and slightly less defined that then non-1962 back stamp items. Consequently, some collectors only collect non-1962 back stamped pieces though some only go for 1962 back stamp pieces. Each to their own.
The one thing that I say when I get asked to buy Old Country Rose, is 'how much of it fo you have?' I often see n far more than one piece in anyone's house and often massive collections. Two sellers in particular had huge collections, one in a display case floor to ceiling stretching the entire wall of her lounge. Another had collected the Christmas version, with a tree on it, and had well over 100 pieces covering her entire hutch dresser and the cupboards below.
First off, at some stage Royal Albert, probably as a marketing ploy, introduced dates on to their back stamps. Many people have thought this meant when the item stamped was produced. Instead, it means when the pattern was introduced.
Many collectors have 1962 stamped items believing they were made in 1962 whereas in fact it means it cannot be before 1972. If you see the registered trademark stamp, it is after 1993, and if after 2002 it may not have "England" on the back stamp.
Some people can see the variation in the pattern colours too. I have struggled to see this. However, the later pieces, most makes 1962, are thicker and slightly less defined that then non-1962 back stamp items. Consequently, some collectors only collect non-1962 back stamped pieces though some only go for 1962 back stamp pieces. Each to their own.
The one thing that I say when I get asked to buy Old Country Rose, is 'how much of it fo you have?' I often see n far more than one piece in anyone's house and often massive collections. Two sellers in particular had huge collections, one in a display case floor to ceiling stretching the entire wall of her lounge. Another had collected the Christmas version, with a tree on it, and had well over 100 pieces covering her entire hutch dresser and the cupboards below.