Antiques Don't Bounce

Amusing Antiques Memoir, #1

It was once quipped that *"you can maroon a bunch of British antique dealers on a desert island, and they would all make a very good living out of each other!"* The premise for this joke might have held true in the 1970's, but certainly not today, as the 'antique trade' and the lifestyle of the average antiques dealer has changed dramatically over the last 30 to 40 years.

Colourful characters have come and gone. The plethora of little antique shops, like charming freckles that once used to dot the face of the British countryside have almost faded away from our towns and villages. They have, in part, been replaced by gigantic energy-sapping antique fairs held at stadium-size venues, where everywhere you look there are perfect, shiny antiques with high ticket prices and dealers nearby in smart suits hovering, ever eager to close a sale.

Where are the small ramshackle little antique shops, full of cobwebs and the lingering hope of unearthing a bargain? Where are the dealers with threadbare jumpers huddling around a single bar electric fire cradling a cuppa-soup? They are mostly all gone, along with the quirky and interesting items that used to be found in outdoor markets at 6.00am in the half light and drizzle, by the flicker of a shaky torch. The thrill of the hunt is all but over - it used to be so different!

Antiques Don't Bounce is the first book in a trilogy. It takes an amusing and nostalgic rummage through the inner and outer workings of the antique and fine arts trade, from the mid-1970's through to the modern day, but from an unusual perspective!

Richard Bullivant, the author, has spent the last thirty years connected with the antiques trade, and has an unusual tale to tell. Antiques, when brought or sold, invariably have to be moved from one place to another. This may be from Acton to Barnsley or, if further afield, from Andover to Boston. Since the days when the first layers of dust were polished into furniture to give a warm, glowing 'patina', there have been specialised companies (shippers) offering fine art and antique packing services to move antiques safely around the globe.

Richard joined his first antique shipping company in 1977 (the year the Antiques Roadshow was first screened) and still has connections with the trade to this day. He quickly rose through the ranks from student trainee through to company sales director, but always preferred the time he spent in the company of the antique dealers themselves. 

He spent many years driving American dealers around the English countryside on buying trips, acting as an 'antiques courier', as well as clocking up thousands of air-miles visiting American dealers and decorators in the USA in an effort to solicit their shipping business, with some hilarious adventures on the way.

Antiques Don't Bounce pulls back the curtain to give a glimpse of the workings of the antiques shipping business and gives an entertaining peak behind the scenes of what really happens to your precious antiques as they are packed up to be moved around the world. You will meet the characters that make this strangely addictive world of antiques 'tick' and maybe have some empathy with the antique-adage that *"sometimes the best way to avoid 'damage' to a valuable antique, is not to move it in the first place!"*