COVER STORY

*** After years of waiting, antique dealers have their wish – brown is in once more, writes Elfreda Pownall

For years, like prophets in the wilderness, antique dealers have been heralding the return of “brown furniture” – pieces made from such dark woods as mahogany, oak, cherry and walnut – the stuff that made their fortunes in the Eighties and Nineties. This was the era of the English Country House look, when furniture, from the finest Chippendale to container-loads of dull Edwardian dining chairs, was shipped to the US every week.

It was a time when well-heeled British buyers were competing for the best of these pieces, while the rest of us, pre-ikea, were putting up with stripped pine. At last the dealers have their wish; brown furniture is beginning to sell again, but this time prices are rock-bottom: the Antique Collectors Club index shows antique furniture has fallen in value 45 per cent since 2002.

Price, and the fashion ashion for interiors with strong dark colours and vivid patterns, which work well with dark wood, have driven the revival, al, as well as a revolt against gainst the predictable cookiecutter look of many any fastfurniture shops. In n the past 20 years, mid-century d-century modern furniture has moved from the pavement ent outside the junk shop to the specialist gallery, with prices es to match, and now, the signs ns are that undervalued 19th-century th-century mahogany is about ut to follow the same trajectory. y.

“People on a budget udget will see a nice Georgian, early rly Regency, mahogany chest of drawers rawers in their local auction room, with an estimate of £80-120,” says Guy uy Tobin, of Rose Uniacke, in Pimlico co Road, London, the street for upmarket antique shops. “Beautiful timber, it’s sound, it doesn’t wobble, the drawers might stick a little bit.” So o for £100 they get a piece of furniture e built in 1805.

“But,” he cautions, ns, “with a buyer’s premium of up to 33 per cent on top of the auction hammer mmer price, and the cost of transporting ng it to your home, the £100 chest could uld end up costing almost £200. Or they could go to Ikea and get something mass-produced in MDF, which has been shipped in, and it’s going to be in landfill in 15 years. Second-hand shops don’t want to take things like that.” The green argument for using existing antiques is irrefutable: the Antiques Trades Gazette has calculated that an antique has a carbon footprint 1/17th of th that of new furniture. We throw away 300,000 tons of furniture furnitur every year. Falling prices and rising rents have driven many antique shops off the high street, but there are a still some hotspots, mostly mostl in tourist-friendly towns, where wher a weekend of ferreting through throug shops and antique arcades will reveal re treasures. Tetbury is one of these t towns, and at Twig of Tetbury, Tetbur Su Daybell’s shop in the town, she s displays antique brown furniture furnit with her own abstract paintings. pain At home, too, she might decide de to place a bowl by a modern ceramic ce artist against 17th-century panelling. pane “It’s a question of o buying good quality design and craftsmanship,” craft she says. “In 20 years’ time a piece of good brown furniture will be in great condition.” Increasingly, tho though, antique dealers are retreating f from the high street to their showroom showrooms in stables, barns and industrial estat estates, taking stands at antique fairs, while keeping an online presence on antiqu antique dealer web portals, where you can look through their stock and contact t them directly. The most impor important recent change for antiques has be been the rise of Instagram. One antique dealer has doubled his turnover in th the past three years, since he has been showing his stock on the site. It has also enabled young dealers, who can’t afford a high-street rent, to see what the grandee antique dealers are selling, to copy them, and sell to them.

Instagram allows them to present their stock quickly so they can sell without the expense of a high-street shop. Speed is of the essence in Instagram antique buying; you have to decide and stick to your decision, as there is always hot competition.

Despite that, auctions are still the cheapest way of buying this kind of furniture, and with online auctions, can also be the easiest. Portals like the-saleroom.com make buying very easy – with pictures and descriptions of lots from auction houses all over the country, and a few from abroad. You can also find details of shipping and it updates its information on new arrivals daily. At auction you pay the same price as the dealers and it helps to learn about the piece you are after.

Guy Tobin began 20 years ago as a porter at Phillips, handling up to 1,000 objects a week, a brilliant education in finding a good piece of furniture. Before he bought his shop, Blank Canvas Antiques in Ross-on-wye ( blankcanvasantiques.co.uk), Andy Gibbs had spent 24 years as an antiques “runner”, discovering rare finds in small salerooms, including a handsome linen press, by Chippendale the younger, under the noses of many other buyers.

If you buy from dealers like him, you benefit from his experience. The good news is that there are young furniture antique dealers coming along too, including 23-year-old Matt Dixon of TallBoy Interiors, who is soon to move out of his showroom in 18th-century stables near York – success means he needs bigger premises.

You buy a piece of antique brown furniture if you love it, and it is easy to love a piece by a craftsman and polished for 200 years.

NEWARK INTERNATIONAL ANTIQUES AND COLLECTORS FAIR, NEAR NOTTINGHAM

Europe’s largest antiques fair, with up to 2,500 stalls. Like Ardingly, six fairs a year on Thursday and Friday – bring a van, a backpack, a tape measure and cash. Newark and Nottinghamshire g Showground, Newark, Nottinghamshire, re, NG24 2NY; £20pp Thursday ay (9am-6pm), £5pp Friday (8am-4pm); am-4pm); iacf. co.uk/newark holders, selling antiques and 20th-century furniture and works of art. Three fairs a year. North Ave, Marston Green, Birmingham B40 1NT; next fair April 4-7; 11am-6pm (Sun April 7, 11am-5pm); antiquesforeveryone.co.uk

DECORATIVE ANTIQUES AND TEXTILES FAIR, BATTERSEA PARK, LONDON

With 120 stands in a marquee, q a mix of fine and affordable antiq antiques and 20th-century furniture, rugs and tex textiles. The stands are ar arranged with great ta taste and knowledgea knowledgeable dealers are genero generous with their ad advice. It takes p place three times a year. Lon London SW11 4NJ 4NJ; entry £10; nex next fair April 9-14 9-14; opening tim times vary, che check website; deco decorativefair. com