Even more antiques are green..........
20th September 2010
Robin Silverman has written this rather encouraging article on antique silver and how it can be desirable.
Antiques are Green by LAPADA - Association of Art & Antiques Dealers ,
Article kindly provided by Robin Silverman of B. Silverman, London.
http://www.silverman-london.com/
The antiques shops of England are rapidly disappearing. Increased rents and rates and the difficulty in acquiring stock are making life much harder for the general antiques dealers. Here in Kensington Church Street however, the home of a wide range of specialist antiques dealers, we have something of a new lease of life. We are seeing a new clientele of younger buyers who have woken up to the fact that antiques are truly green. In the current climate of recycling it is comforting to remind ourselves that there is nothing as green as an antiquity which might have been loved and used through several generations and even several households and, as the dealer responsible for finding a new home for a beautiful item, one feels considerable satisfaction. Our speciality is antique English silver. A few weeks ago a lady with a young child in tow was walking past my shop on her way to the West End to purchase some new dining room cutlery when she noticed a set of antique silver cutlery on display in our window. She stopped and inquired about the price which turned out, according to her, to be priced even less than the new one she was on her way to purchase. Our fine antique silver cutlery set was from the Victorian period, made in London in 1862 by George Adams of Chawner & Co. It was made in a simple style called fiddle pattern and she loved it. It was not only the pattern that she loved; what really appealed to her was the idea that she could reaffirm her green credentials by buying an antique. Needless to say the lady purchased it and will no doubt, one day, pass it on to her daughter. There was the added advantage that the child did not need to be dragged around the West End on a hot June day.
