The Antiques Trade, It’s Now a Big Show
January 31st, 2008 by admin
The antiques trade has seen a vast change in how dealers procure and turnover inventory. Today, you don’t have large numbers of American dealers and decorators annually making multiple grand buying trips to Europe, or for that matter Europeans with their over valued Euro doing that here. You do see dealers getting older with little new blood coming into the industry, sources to buy are more competitive, and a very segmented market subjected to evolving styles and price points.
The dealer trade has retreated to the show format and for all practical purposes is abandoning the independent showroom/warehouse location. As a kid I remember Pine Street in Philadelphia as a bustling antiques dealer row with a great mix of local and world wide decorative arts to buy. Even the famed New York City “University Place” market now caters more to the carriage trade than the dealer trade.
Paris and London aren’t what they use to be either. And with the incredible expense of travel and cost of inventory, there is a tremendous pressure on profitability. I remember when I turned 13, my grandparents, who founded Newel, took me on a summer buying trip through Europe. They took all their grandchildren on the trip when they both were alive. I still have home movies of us in the Paris flea markets and the English countryside, circa 1963. Incredible merchandise was all over the place, and it was being bought not only by my grandfather, but anyone who wanted it. Auctions, who needed them when the dealers had all the goods and they wanted to sell.
But I must confess I also have a very jaded perspective of the whole state of the market. My grandfather was quite different than the other dealers because he rented his items to TV (a new industry), window displays, and of course Broadway and the movies. He also knew that no one else understood how to do it. As a little tid-bit about “those days”, he use to put a sign in the front window: “closed-taking inventory” to deter buyers, as he was too busy with the massive demand for renting his period pieces.
But just as people used his inventory for display or to create period settings, so now the antiques trade has evolved showing their stock in some upscale, haughty, antiques show in an opulent hall, in an ever changing city venue. The show must go on the road; New York, London, Palm Beach, Masstricht, Miami, LA, Basel, Moscow, Dubai…..on the SeaFair yacht. Dealers have lost any confidence in their own self survival and now depend totally on the show format. The show format extends to every level of dealer, as recognized by the many listed each week in the Arts and Antiques Weekly in the US, or the Antiques Trade Gazette in England.
With the reality that dealers are now dependent on the show format, it has caused a blandness and commonality as to how they can be creative and dynamic. Dealers, restricted by show promoter rules on space, vetting, and fees, have no alternative. Maybe not; liquidation at auction has recently proved to be a most efficient way to eliminate all dealer business problems.
Daryle Lambert wrote on 02/6/08 at 10:40 pm :
The successful dealers today have changed their method of doing business. No longer do they sit in their shops waiting for people to bring them Treasures or travel 52 weeks a year doing shows.
They now spend their time in the search where if they find a treasure it will mean a great reward to them.
No longer paying booth rents and show fees that drain their resources. No longer having to pay employees are utilities.
The new successful dealer is internet savvy and understands the auction arena. They no longer buy just to buy but spend their time looking for the rare and unusual items that will make them a fair return on their investment.
To learn more of my views on this market you can find them at http://www.31corp.com
Daryle Lambert
Mike McNabb wrote on 03/17/08 at 10:51 pm :
We’ve found that locally the antiques market seems to be dropping off by the roadside lately. With the acception of a few good shows the entire industry seems to be grinding to a halt. I’m not seeing values decline so much as interest and participation. We are auctioneers and it used to be that we’d host an auction and there wasn’t enough room to seat all of the people. Now days it seems they’ve got something better to do. Our solution has been in the global market of the internet.
Thank You for the reading and insight.
Mike Stiles Auction, LLC Antique Auctions
admin wrote on 03/17/08 at 11:47 pm :
Mike,
Thank you for your comments and interest in my blog. You are right on target with what I also see as a changing market, for both auctioneers and dealers; and it will continue to get tougher. The economy I’m sure has been and is going to take a toll on the discretionary spending of our clients and their participation in the market.
Unfortunately, I feel that our industry will be experiencing a shake out of both dealers and auctioneers. There have been more dealer liquidations recently than ever before; the overhead of operating today makes it difficult to be a profitable venture. With fewer dealers, that also puts pressure on auctioneers who need the trade for price and inventory support.
It is forcing everyone in the industry to expand their horizons and to use the internet to capture a worldwide audience, as local clients are not enough.