What first sparked your interest in antiques?
I was adopted into a family of antiques dealers, so there wasn’t much choice in the matter. Back then it wasn’t so much a case of ‘what will I be?’, you got on with what your family did; and we were dealers.
Was it nature or nurture?
I think it was a bit of both for me. If you’re surrounded by interesting things and interesting people, it makes you hungry to learn.
What was the first antique you bought?
In all honesty, I’m not sure I can remember the very first antique. But, when I was at school, I used to walk past a house with a skeleton clock in the window.
I saw it every day and, as the pendulum wasn’t moving, I was pretty sure it wasn’t working, so I decided I’d ask the owner if I could buy it.
One day I knocked on the door, still in my school uniform, and asked the owner if they would sell it to me, and they did.
While I was at school, I used to work at a clothes store called Gog Shop at the weekends, and I was paid £5.
But, at 6am, before work, I’d go down to Brighton market and buy things to sell. I might make £20 to £100, before heading off to my Saturday job.
Can you share your biggest antiques mistake?
This is difficult – you don’t want to think about mistakes, you want to move on!
But I once bought a set of eight or 10 gilt chairs – armchairs and dining chairs. Just wonderful. I knew that I knew the model, but I couldn’t place it.
At this time I had a shop on Upper North Street, and all the dealers watched what was going in and out of everyone else’s shops.
So, as soon as they arrived, we got a call from another dealer asking to see them. He came by and I gave him a price and he said, no thanks, not for him.
Then another dealer came in. I increased the price and he bought them, and then asked me to put them downstairs with a blanket over them, which I thought was odd.
Then a friend came in, a dealer I really respect, and I showed him the chairs, explained that I’d sold them, and asked what he thought of them. Were they as good as I thought?
He looked at them and said, ‘Ah, yes… the Royal Pavilion.’ I realised why I recognised the design, and I could have asked much, much more.
They were amazing, the same Marsh & Tatham chairs that are in the Saloon of the Royal Pavilion.
Of the antiques you own, do you have a favourite?
That’s like choosing a favourite child! There’s a clock in our kitchen that has been with me and my wife since we started dating.
It was with us when we first moved in together, and it’s been with us ever since. I also have a stick pin that my father gave me, and I still wear it.
I used to collect tie pins – they were for my pension, I told myself. I was a kid, talking about a pension!
When I passed my driving test at 17, I decided that if I was going to go into the business, I needed a car.
The bank manager refused to give me a loan, so I sold my tie pins (apart from the one my father gave me) and they funded my car.
If money were no object, what would you buy?
I have a nice watch – a Cartier Tank – but, if I had serious money to spend, I’d buy a Patek Philippe. It’s all about the engineering and the elegance, and the Grand Complications is an understated statement.
And, finally, any advice for collectors?
Buy the best you can of whatever you love. Don’t be guided by fashion. Don’t buy broken, buy perfect.
If you can’t afford the specific piece you want, start with the best you can afford and gradually trade your way up.
More from Homes & Antiques
- Lennox Cato on his love of antiques
- Antiques the experts love and loathe
- The Antiques That Shaped Me: Annie Sloan
Sign up to our weekly newsletter to enjoy more H&A content delivered to your inbox.