Fashions dictate antique furniture is now old hat

It may be down to smaller living spaces or the ready availability of cheap, self-assembly tables and chairs – but whatever it behind it, the reality is that antiques are now officially, well, an old story.

The value of old tables and chairs is now back to 1930 prices in the UK, because people are living in smaller houses and apartments and have no space for a dinner table that seats six.

And anyway, if they did ever need one, they can go to Ikea and buy something that folds to the size of a stool and when needed expands to the scale of a football pitch.

Even the antique dealers in the UK acknowledge that part of the problem for them is that younger householder see old furniture as something treasured by old people.

They see period pieces as old-fashioned and lacking the modern sleek styles that they covet.

They also associate them with their own childhood – and not in a good way – when the parlour was full of sideboards and chests of drawers that were to be viewed only on special occasions and, even then, never to be touched.

So the new generation have no wish to turn their modern space back into their parents’ dream.

All of that has seen a drop in prices across the water that was last seen back between the two World Wars.

Back then the reason was that death toll from World War I had seen a large number of pieces on the market with fewer buyers left to take advantage, as so many had been killed in the fighting. But the end of World War II saw Britain began to recover – and the demand for furniture went up.

As a consequence of that, antiques regained some of their popularity, particularly among young couples setting up home – and that then saw a jump in price.

Then came the penchant for furniture restoration – a mad notion really that it would be preferable to buy a rickety old chair and strip it, sand it, polish it and upholster it rather than just going out to buy a new one.

Owning a couple of antique pieces was a sign that, not alone had you a few bob, but you were also a person of good taste who knew how to cherish the finer things in life.

Then came a new way to flash the cash – a new car; a holiday home in any part of Turkey where there wasn’t a war; a new kitchen, patio furniture in case you got a fine week every three years and thought it would be nice to have your tea in the open air.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.