What You Should ALWAYS do When Buying an Antique
A Step by Step Guide
1. Ask for a written Certificate of Authenticity, which includes a written description containing a date of manufacture and country of origin.
2. If the seller is comfortable selling an item, then they should be comfortable agreeing at the time of purchase, to take back any article at full purchase price, in the event that the article is not as described by the seller in writing or the article has any serious defect not drawn to the attention of the buyer prior to purchase.
3. Question how long the business, and or the proprietor have been around. No one is born with a blistering knowledge of antiques. It ios developed over a lengthy period of time and is not easy to acquire.
4. Descriptions of antiques containing words such as ‘antique style’, ‘antique wood’, ‘antiqued’ and others should be treated with circumspection. Descriptions should be clear. For example…’a 19th century French chair circa 1820.’
Over the next few weeks, for those that wish to follow the article we would like to give some clues as to what to look for to establish whether a particular piece is genuine or not. If you’re buying in a shop you should be following these clues before purchase. If you’re buying online you should be doing this at the time of delivery having purchased based on photographs.