WEBSITES & SOCIAL

THE AUCTION SITE

Launched 18 years ago, the-saleroom.com is Europe’s leading website for buying art and antiques at auction. Bids can be placed in advance, or you can follow the bidding online. They will send alerts to your phone about pieces you are searching for, and you can request extra information and more pictures of the lots that interest you.

THE PORTAL DEALER SITES

These provide a quick way of searching the stock of hundreds of dealers and finding those who specialise in the kind of pieces you like. loveantiques.com antiques-atlas.com decorativecollective.com www.sellingantiques.co.uk

INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS @SOCIETIQUE

Based in north Lancashire, Howard Byrom is constantly on the road, searching out interesting furniture and quirky decorative accessories, which he sells unrestored – the way interior decorators and grand antique shops prefer them.

@ANDYGIBBS65

Andy Gibbs has been dealing in 18th and 19th-century estate furniture and some arts and crafts pieces since 1990. He photographs every item as it comes out of the van, on the pavement outside his shop, Blank Canvas Antiques in Ross-on-wye.

@TALLBOYINTERIORS

With 8,000 Instagram followers, 23-year-old Matt Dixon scours his native North Yorkshire and all over the country, and ventures as far as France, for brown furniture, antique and mid-century upholstered seating. His Instagram finds sell lightning fast.

@TRADCHAP

The most famous of the Instagram antique dealers with 33,000 followers, Jack Laver Brister, 33, sources everything from a splendid Georgian library bookcase to quirky painted Regency chairs and grand chintz curtains.

@ANTIQUEHADDEN

Darren Miller Hadden specialises in period oak and country furniture, there are wonderful 16th-century carvings, chunky sculptural chairs, 17th-century rent tables and carved boxes that would look equally good in a cottage or a minimalist flat.