We are thrilled to announce that Pendulum of Mayfair Ltd was highly commended in the category ‘Best Interiors Boutique’. This was at The Mayfair Award which was in association with the Mayfair Magazine, Small Luxury Hotels of the World and Perrier-Jouet.
Family Business
Our family antique clocks business has a passion driven by over 40 years in the business. We have our own antique clocks and furniture workshop in Cheshire. Undertaking both small and large work for clients. Antique clock and furniture repairs are carried out to a superb standard therefore we do very little advertising. Word of mouth and recommendations provide most of our referrals. We can provide many vip cusomer references if required.
Antiques on Television
In recent years there are many antiques programs such as, ‘ Bargain Hunt’, ‘Going for a Song’, ‘Cash in the Attic’ and of course the Antiques Roadshow. These have fuelled a nostalgic enthusiasm for the past. The general public have been drawn to the auction houses for either selling or more riskily buying from with little or no drawbacks.
Risks of Buying at Auctions
It is about time for the general public to understand what they may or may not be venturing into. Buying at auction is fraught with risks. Outlined below is a pracee from a superb book on Old English Furniture by G.Owen Wheeler. (Third Edition 1924) It is one of the few books that picks up on the risks at buying from auction as far back as the early 1900’s. I believe these risks have increased in the subsequent times since the book was written.The extract given below is just as relevant for antique clocks or antique pictures. It is also relevant for antique furniture.
Chapter IV. On Buying, Collecting Allocating Origin by G.Owen Wheeler C.1920
The Antique Dealer
“There is no tradesman so generally misunderstood as is the antique dealer of today. His profits are assumed to be on a large scale, and to such an extent does this belief obtain that many collectors adopt the very doubtful expedient of buying at auction sales.
Fine Antique furniture is of great scarcity and sought after by a host of dealers and collectors. Beautiful examples are far harder to come by than prices would indicate. There is not enough fine furniture to go around, as the saying is. The time will come when the old English furniture – already freely demanded in the United States and Canada – will be sought for in our Colonies and probably in the Argentine.
Differences between Auctions and Dealers
The dealer’s expenses in journeys which prove abortive make sad inroads into any profits. It is on the relatively rare occasions when he meets with success. His stock is costly to bring home. Costly to handle in every phase of business, and particularly susceptible to depreciation from damage.
As a general rule the antique dealer has a small and slow turnover. He makes a reasonable profit, which he expects a smaller percentage than that does many a shopkeeper. Especially those who turns over his wares with relative frequency.
Guarantees
There are many honest dealers, and they can be found all over the country. Facts which the young collector would be well advised to bear in mind before developing a predilection for the sale-room.They test old hands, whether professional or amateur, often to their undoing. It is easy to lose one’s head under the stress of enthusiasm, goaded, too, by the lust for victory.
Everybody who studies the market today will endorse the statement. Collectors are daily paying prices out of all proportion to the results which they could achieve in cold blood. It is a matter of common knowledge that many laymen will give more at auction. Specimens will be barely examined. Sums of money far in excess of those at which they could purchase equally fine examples from the local dealer.
Conclusion
The saleroom confers no general title of authenticity. It yields but small facilities for adequate examination, whilst auction prices in themselves are extremely misleading. With knowledge and experience the collector comes to lean more on the honest dealer. Buying his wares and entrusting auction commissions to him for execution.
The above book is just if not more relevant today as it was when it was written. If you need more information on the risks of buying at auction. Pick up any auction catalogue and read the Conditions of Business. These are printed in the back or front of any of them. The following statements you will notice on a regular basis. “Goods are usually of some age. We do not guarantee the age the authenticity, the origin, the date, the condition or provenance of any lot.”?
It does not matter whether these remarks are made in print or orally.If you buy something that is later proved to be altered in some way, there are many escape clauses for the auction house.This does not apply the same for the dealer.