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TMCNet: Collectors have the advantage in antiques market

[March 06, 2009]

Collectors have the advantage in antiques market

(Chicago Tribune Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) CHICAGO _ Add it to the list along with the unemployment rate, housing starts and lipstick sales. Apparently, plunging antiques prices are an early indicator of a pending recession.

"The antiques business always leads a recession by 6 to 12 months," says Chris Jussel, senior vice president of Philadelphia auction house Samuel T. Freeman & Co. "Ultimately, antiques are a luxury, and luxury items are always the first to go." In his 37 years in the antiques business _ which included the original hosting job for PBS' "Antiques Roadshow" _ Jussel says he has been witness to four or five recessions. Our current chapter, in his view, ranks fairly on par with most, maybe slightly worse.

"At the moment, certain pieces of furniture are selling at about half of what they would have sold for 5 or 10 years ago," Jussel says.

An even surer sign that antiques are in a full-on recession is when the pricing cuts infiltrate even the most upscale sectors. On Saturday, Jussel will speak at the 40th Annual Winnetka (Ill.) Antiques Show, which he considers to be one of the finest of its kind. It, too, is seeing significant discounts compared with years past.

The good news in all of this is that many collectors will find themselves in a position to take home more antiques than ever _ or that one, previously unattainable gem.

"In real estate, right now, it's a buyer's market," says Susan Gancer, whose Chicago antiques shop Malcolm Franklin Inc. is participating in the Winnetka show for the 15th time. "The same goes for antiques. It's a collectors' market." Looking ahead to the show, Jussel points out three antiques that he considers particularly good buys: ___ 1930s cut crystal lamp $1,000 Guia Trutter, owner of The Chameleon of Lake Forest, Ill., hasn't exactly been slashing prices on her "rescued lamps," but she has noticed a certain shift in the types of antiques that are selling.

"I've had some people tell me that rather than spend $20,000 on a piece of furniture, they'll buy a lamp for $1,000," Trutter says.

A rewired, re-shaded crystal number is sure to tempt collectors with its green silk shade and Art Deco pedigree.

___ Circa-1710 Queen Anne walnut bonnet top bureau bookcase $75,000 "It's hard to call anything that costs $75,000 a bargain, but in this case, that's exactly what it is," says Jussel of this bookcase from Malcolm Franklin. Gancer agrees. "It's a tremendous value," she says. "Ten years ago, this piece would have been almost 50 percent higher." What makes it special? Its age, craftsmanship and condition. "It was made by the finest of cabinetmakers," Gancer says.

___ Circa-1825 Biedermeier side chairs $4,000 (single chair); $16,000 (set of four) These walnut-veneer, heart-shaped side chairs are associated with the Biedermeier era of design in central Europe (1815-1848). "Biedermeier had a great run in the 1980s, then it went down in popularity, only to go back up again," Jussel says.

___ (c) 2009, Chicago Tribune.

Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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Copyright ? 2009 Chicago Tribune

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