再Antiques, May 24th 2014 P47 (骨董家具)
For the past four decades Britons have been hooked by“Antiques Roadshow”, a television programme in which dusty old chairs discovered in a corner of somebody's attic are occasionally revealed to be worth thousands of pounds. Over 5m people watched the episode on May 11th. But while format of the show has hardly changed over the years, the antique market has. Technology, immigration and changing tastes mean the televised idea of the trade is dating quickly. Antique shops used to dot British high streets, particularly in southern England. Dealers - usually middle-aged men who inherited the business from their father - would build relationships with rich clients, selling them tasteful things they acquired at country auctions. Now many shops are closing and dealers are disappearing. Between 2003 and 2009 the number of dealers fell from 8,500 to 6,600. The guide that listed them has since gone out of print, but falling memberships of trade bodies like the British Antique Dealers' Association suggest the decline continues. Many relied heavily on a tourist market that has shifted over the past decade. Between 2003 and 2013 the number of Americans visiting London fell by 9%. Anthony Outred, a dealer, remembers shipping crates of antiques to America. That is rarer now. Tourists from Asia and Europe are more numerous, but they are much less keen on English furniture. Rising rents and business rates, especially in London, have made things tougher, says Sarah Percy-Davies, the former head of LAPADA, another trade body. The internet has allowed dealers to reach more customers, but has also increased competition. And the ready availability of auction prices online means fat markups are harder to get away with. Older buyers in particular are becoming better at research, complains one dealer. But the biggest changes are social and cultural. Ten years ago wealthy people might deck out their houses entirely with antiques, says Mario Tavella of Sotheby's, an auction house. These days they tend to buy only a few old things, and only if those pieces look good next to more modern stuff. Rich immigrants and their interior decorators want to furnish properties immediately rather than building antique collections over the years. They tend to like impressive things that are rare and expensive but also slightly flashier than standard British stuff.“There's no point buying a blue and white cup which is the only one in the world if no one is going to recognise it,”, sighs Antonia Agnew, a dealer. Britain's remaining antique shops are trying to adapt to these changes. At Butchoff Antiques in Kensington, a rich part of London, bright lights illuminate prancing cherubim candlestick-holders and dark ebony furniture, which is especially popular with Russians. Inside Apter-Fredericks in Chelsea, another rich area, a third of the stock has been removed and the walls on the main floor are now painted blue rather than covered with old-fashioned green wallpaper. Buyers are encouraged to see“a table, not an 18th-century table”explains Harry Apter, the shop owner. The future of antiques, it would appear, is in making old stuff seem new.
