Q&A

ANTIQUES EXPERT LUKE HONEY

- 

Q1 What's more important when buying and selling antiques — provenance or condition?

An interesting question but, as ever, how long is a piece of string? It really depends on what you are buying. As viewers of the BBC’s Fake or Fortune? know only too well, provenance is crucial at the upper end of the fine art market. Any serious collector worth their salt will not want to cough up a vast sum of money for a painting or sculpture that turns out to be a fake.

But, for objects at the lower and middle ends of the market, provenance — although most definitely a desirable attribute — is not strictly necessary. For when you think about it, most household antiques will have lost their ownership history over time, even if they are perfectly genuine. I have sold many hundreds of antique chess sets over the years, and it’s rare to have a documented provenance, even for the more valuable sets.

When it comes to condition, again, it really depends on the rarity of a piece. For many years, I've hankered after a Paul Nash lithograph of The Battle of Britain, published by The National Gallery for the Ministry of Information in 1941. It was supposed to be pinned to the walls of workers’ canteens, so, as you can imagine, very few survived, let alone in a decent state. And so I regret not bidding on one that came up for sale at Christie’s South Kensington auction house several years ago, in a poor, stained condition. The chance of finding another one — although not impossible — is unlikely. On the other hand, there’s no point buying one of the better-known Victorian Staffordshire figures if it's chipped, cracked or damaged. The most popular figures were made in their many thousands, and the likelihood of finding another one in tiptop condition is high. And the same rule would apply to a George III mahogany chest of drawers, a Victorian balloon-back chair or an Edwardian silver teapot.