In the 50 years I have been in the antiques business I have seen many changes. When I had my first shop many years ago, I used to sell pieces of Clarice Cliff pottery for about £3 for a cup and saucer. The price today could be £100 for the same 1930s cup and saucer. Albums of old post cards were worth about £5, now the same album is worth £50-£100. Silver and gold items have gone up about 30 times in value, I could sell Victorian and Edwardian bedroom suites for £400, now they are virtually worthless. China figurines used to be really sought after and are now almost unsaleable. 40-50 years ago, war medals could be bought for three or four pounds and can be now worth hundreds of pounds.
What I am saying is things go in and out of fashion, sometimes quite rapidly, and being an old- fashioned dealer I quite often get caught out by different trends. I keep buying things that I think I can sell quickly and six months later still have, and on the contrary, I buy things which I think I will struggle to sell and they go the first day in the shop. It is very unpredictable. I enjoy every day in the shop and never know what is coming in next. I do not buy on the internet or at auctions. Over the years we have built up a reputation for being fair when buying so all our stock is bought from people bringing things to the shop and by word of mouth.
Another example of value increase is English silver coins. In 1947 just after the war, British silver currency changed from having a 50% silver content to no silver, so up to and including 1946 coinage is now worth approx. 10 times more than face value and up to 1920, coinage which is 100% silver is worth at least 20 times face value. That’s inflation for you!
If you have any old coins, medals, postcards or jewellery broken or not, please bring to the shop or I will call out without obligation.
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