Time stops inside Kolkata’s antique store
sold. He has a China cabinet topped with carved scrollwork and many grandfather clocks, statues standing like sentries near the door. There are architects who often walk into the store because they know what would fit with the type of buyer who’d be looking at the space. “Sometimes, designers and architects trigger the initial level of interest in a condominium. They can have some modern sensibilities and blend such furniture in their modern homes,” says Ashok Chatterjee, a regular at such stores.
Colonial furniture, claims Jones, can be rented most of the time but there are not too many buyers for such furniture or antique products in Kolkata. In short, it can be harder to sell homes that are furnished with antiques. Construction companies say large pieces in particular can make a property feel smaller than it is, sometimes it even hides desirable features of a modern apartment.
“So it works more for film sets, these huge chandeliers, dining tables that can seat 14 and chairs which look like thrones,” says Dibbyo Chakravarty, a cameraman who works with film units.
Chakravarty says only filmmakers are emotional about furnishings on their sets, rest are not. Worse, most antique furniture has dramatically dropped in value over the past couple of decades. No one is offering twice the original price, the antique shop owners are, actually, begging for offers.
Chakravarty further says only a buyer with a traditional bent might want to buy such furnishings. He says selling antiques in Kolkata is actually the art of deaccessioning. In the 70s, there used to be a strong market for antiques in Kolkata, but not anymore.
Antiques were once part of the city’s fashion element, but then, it has little space because life is becoming increasingly less formal in Kolkata.
And then, many in Kolkata say it helps to keep in mind what kinds of pieces are easier to sell. There are high chances that side tables, study tables, grandfather clocks and compact desks are likely to find homes, not huge antique dining tables, big roll-top desks and slantfront cabinets because people do not eat, read or write the way they used to.
Ashok Banerjee, a retired state government engineer, says once antiques gave many homes in Kolkata both richness and comfort. Not anymore. Many have emptied their traditionally furnished bungalows, moved into expansive flats. Some cherry-pick pieces for their homes. “There are ways you need to deal with antiques which look good if they are kept in a white space. Monumental pieces need a lot of breathing space. In the modern age, one must keep antiques to less than 20-25 percent of the furniture,” says Banerjee.
So what is the way out for antiques? Jones says whenever he is not dealing with precious antiques, he elevates the product—before sale—with a fresh coat of paint. “I normally do not change the leather of antique furniture but there are times I have changed some leather and paint and the furniture looks magnificent,” says Jones.
“Very few understand the importance of individualistic, pre-owned items,” says Bilal Ahmed, who has worked in many antique stores. Ahmed says buying vintage lends itself particularly well to stores one can actually visit. “Across the world, vintage shopping is going all online but the trend has not caught up in Bengal, maybe it is working in Goa and Kerala.”
Inside his expansive store, Jones sits on his chair, surrounded by his thoughtful collection of vintage products. He hopes to find people who will resurrect some of his oversized products. Jones says his store was once part of a destination in Kolkata. He feels the antique market in the city is still not a saturated one, it is a lonely business. And it is about to get lonelier. “You must have the right eye to select the right thing.”
That is the key for any antique store. You need to spend long hours like a vintage-obsessed person and