With the 10 year anniversary of Astra Antiques, at least in the form it is now, we brought forward the “10 years on” blog post.
Many thanks to those who read it, it is something we are most proud of.
But like any idea, the seed that started it, isn’t the end, only the beginning.
Which brings us to this, our new Blog idea, collecting answers from those in the Antiques Trade and showing them to the world!
So a big thank you goes out to Charles Hanson from Hanson’s Auctioneers for being our first response!
Their weighty Auction magazine is probably something you are quite familiar with, but what about the man himself.
Much
like Astra Antiques’ fearless leader, we were curious of how people
started in the Trade, what was it that got them interested and hooked,
to pursue Antiques as their chosen career.
“My interest
was first sparked in antiques by my interest in history, visiting
country houses and learning about life from times gone by, I knew I’d
become an auctioneer by the age of fourteen”.
Something
that always interests me, is where did the heart first want to go? Or
perhaps you always imagined yourself in a different kind of career. I
think it’s fascinating for those who have managed to achieve their goals
and dreams, but yet still wonder what they might have been, should
their cards be dealt in a different order.
“Should I not have become involved with antiques, I would have chosen a career as a lawyer”.
For
those of you wondering, Antiques as a whole cover a vast array of
different items. Almost anything could be classed as an Antique,
something we at Astra are proud of, is our variety in our items. The
Retro items and fashion to watches, military, glass, silver, furniture
and all kinds of nifty little trinkets.
But what in this big midst
of items, do people chose to specialise in, that choice I’m sure isn’t
one you chose consciously, but one you are drawn to as an interest.
Charles Hanson has his chosen areas, and lets us know his greatest discovery!
“The
areas (of) antiques I favour, are silver, ceramics and glass. My
greatest discovery as an auctioneer was a Chinese vase selling for
£192,000”.
As someone who has the responsibility of
running an Antiques website, not to mention blog, it’s at times daunting
to see these Historic items, and then match them up with the ever
growing Digital Age of the present and future.
Everything is
moving on the Internet, shops are shutting down, because the reach and
trade is far greater at everyone’s fingertips the world over. Books are
going digital, cheaper to produce, don’t take up the space, you can
literally take hundreds of books everywhere on one tiny device.
How
do Antiques live in this era? Can they even survive in this era? I
certainly am a little stumped at how to take Antiques and mix them into
podcasts, or Internet video, where is their slice of the market and can
they thrive?
“Antiques will certainly survive the
digital age, but we mustn’t forget the art of handling objects and going
to auctions for the experience of seeing objects with like for like”.
Says Charles Hanson, he adds “The Antiques world can be modernised by
not complaining about how difficult the market is – you can succeed in
any field if you work hard and take the opportunities offered”.
One
of the biggest issues with this Digital Age, is that the new
generations are born into it. They never knew life without the Internet,
without being in touch with people constantly, without entertainment
mere seconds away, anywhere.
Of course some people are interested
in their select fields, and by observing our own Customers and those
surrounding our Antiques Hub, there is a fairly large amount of the
younger generation browsing the wares. But I wouldn’t be surprised to
know they were still the majority of the Antiques target audience.
“I
would encourage the younger generation to get involved and be
interested in antiques by looking at the ‘green’ nature of antiques,
their heritage, and the ‘life’ of an antique – if it could talk, what
would it tell us”.
And last but not least, we hope and
imagine, that if you are reading this very blog, you to have an
interest in Antiques, maybe you’re a dealer, maybe you own your own
centre, perhaps just a collector. However if you are looking to get
involved in the Antiques trade, then Charles Hanson offers you his
parting advice:
“My advice for anyone starting out in
the antiques business – visit antiques shops, visit auction rooms, go to
stately homes and invest time in considering the history and quality of
items”.
So there you have it folks, hope you enjoyed our first entry in our Antiques Trade Personalities interviews.
A Big thank you goes out to Charles for getting involved, and if you too would like to help us out, do contact us on info@astra-antiques.com, we would be happy to hear from you.
