‘Lots’ of interest, as investors boost antiques market

BUYERS looking for alternative investment opportunities are giving a welcome boost to the antiques market, confirms a Cotswold auctioneer.

Responding to a report by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, which suggested that lot prices at auctions were rising, Moore Allen & Innocent confirmed hammer prices at the Cirencester salerooms were going up.

The RICS Arts and Antiques Survey found that 19 percent more chartered surveyors were reporting a rise, rather than a fall, in lot prices compared to minus-32 percent during the preceding quarter.

“In the current climate, it appears that savers are now looking at the arts and antiques market as a safe haven for their money,” said the report.

“The start of the year has seen a renewed interest in traditional fine arts and antiques as buyers continue to seek tangible investments away from traditional saving avenues.”

Philip Allwood, from Moore Allen & Innocent, said: “It is certainly the case that individual lots are generally making more money.

“This is no doubt due in part to people investing in antiques. Why risk ploughing your money into a volatile stock market, or leave it in an interest account to gather dust, when you can buy an antique, enjoy having it in your home or office, then sell it at a profit when the market is right to do so?”

The report also suggested that the lack of transactions in the housing market was having an effect on the number of lots coming to auction, which in turn was pushing up lot prices.

“It’s simple economics,” said Philip. “At the moment there is a reduced level of supply, but an increased level of demand, which is pushing the prices up. At our selected sale in March we sold the same sale total figure that we achieved at the corresponding sale last year, despite having 100 fewer lots. And at our sporting sale in February we sold antiques to twice the value of the corresponding sale in 2008 – despite heavy snowfall on the day.”

For the first time in the history of the survey, chartered surveyors reported a rise in the oil and watercolours market with a net balance of 10 percent more surveyors reporting a rise rather than a fall, compared to minus-47 percent reporting a fall rather than a rise, last quarter.

At Moore Allen’s biannual selected picture sale on April 17, prices for oils and watercolours were generally up. The top price of the day was achieved by a still life in oils by the 17th century Dutch painter Edwaert Collier, which sold for £11,000 against an estimate of £5,000 to £7,000.

Meanwhile, a Victorian watercolour by George Richmond, several of whose paintings hang in the National Portrait Gallery, sold for £2,900 – “a cracking price, and contrary to recent experiences in the watercolour market” according to Philip Allwood, who estimated it at £1,000 to £1,500.

And Philip’s advice for investing in antiques? “There are no certainties, and antiques go in and out of fashion. Anyone who invested in copper and brass, or a Victorian wardrobe, in the past twenty years – with the odd exception, for instance signed or stamped pieces by collectable makers – has probably made a loss in the current market, but, like English watercolours, these things won’t stay in the doldrums forever. Like all investments, you have to buy and sell at the right time to maximise your profits.”

A full set of eleven Wilkinson Toby jugs depicting Allied leaders from the First World War, which sold for £7,400 against an estimate of £4,000 to £6,000 at the selected antique sale in March	A still life by the 17th century Dutch painter Edwaert Collier, which sold for £11,000 against an estimate of £5,000 to £7,000
A Victorian watercolour by George Richmond, which sold for £2,900 at the selected picture sale in April.