A “Great Depression” for Vintage Furniture

CHISWICK, WEST LONDON – Greetings from my childhood home in London…

The things Kate and I buy are typically disposable junk. But Mum was of a previous generation who bought things for “keeps.”

This is Mum’s Wedgwood dinnerware and tea set made of fine bone china, for example. The pattern is called Florentine Black…

This ladies’ chair and footstool have been a permanent presence in Mum’s house – and in my grandparents’ house before that – for the last 80 years…

They’re made of solid walnut and have serpentine rails and cabriole legs. They are both about 150 years old, made during the reign of Queen Victoria.

Here I am writing today’s Postcard while sitting at a 210-year-old oak bureau, accompanied by a glass of vintage port wine…

The glass is 100 years old and made with lead. It feels heavy.

Unfortunately, the international market for antique furniture and other historical items like these is going through a Great Depression.

Younger generations don’t have room in their houses and apartments for historic things like brown furniture, lead glassware, fine china, antique clocks, and silverware.

Here are three recent newspaper articles reporting on the market in antique furniture…

• “The recline and fall of antique furniture,” Financial Times, March 2016

• “How Low Will Market for Antiques Actually Go?,” The New York Times, March 2018

• “The Death of Brown Furniture,” Yankee Magazine, July 2019

I think the market for antiques will come around one day, especially if our inflation thesis pans out. (As regular readers know, higher inflation is one of the core pillars of our investment thesis in these Postcards.)

Unfortunately, my brother Jo and I both live overseas. Jo and his family live in Canada. Kate and I are homeless in America. (We live out of a suitcase and “roadschool” the kids.)

So the only reason we’ll keep any of Mum’s things is because they remind us of her (or of our Granny and Grandfather). And the only things we’ll keep will be small sentimental things we can take in a suitcase on the plane.

Everything else, we’ll need to get rid of. But as we refuse to perpetuate the Great Depression in antique furniture by selling Mum’s things at auction, we’re giving them away to either friends and family, or to charities.

The three items above, for example, were all adopted by friends in the last week.

– Tom Dyson

P.S. The younger generations may not want antiques because they’re out of fashion. But from our conversations here in London, our friends of an older generation don’t want them, either, because they feel they already have too much clutter in their homes and they want to downsize, too.

“I am in the same boat, trying to give away the family silver and porcelain that none of the children or grandchildren want,” says one friend.

I think this is a great buying opportunity. If our family circumstances were different, I’d love to start collecting antiques for investment purposes. But alas…

Like what you’re reading? Send your thoughts to [email protected].

Last week, readers encouraged Tom to keep his late mother’s belongings. But today, someone offers a different perspective…

Reader comment: I understand why everyone is encouraging you to keep your mum’s things (or at least some of them). But personally, I don’t think it’s good to get attached to material things. They almost become burdensome.

It’s our relationships that are the most important, and you seem to have a laser focus on your family. 👏🏼 I used to tell my children I was rich and they would look at me wide-eyed, and then I would say, “Yes, I’m rich in children.” 😊

I do think you should keep that picture, though! I see so much whimsy and joy in it. I was also very touched to think Tessa went up to your mum’s bed.

Meanwhile, one reader agrees with Tom’s currency devaluation thesis…

Reader comment: When the global currency debasement occurs, all currencies lose value. Not against each other… but against goods and services (that includes labor). The people hurting will be savers and lenders and those on fixed incomes. The people benefitting will be holders of hard assets and debt.

Isn’t, therefore, getting into debt an option (almost better than gold?) because you get the money up front instead of having to put it out? And you pay it back with devalued dollars? Ergo big corporations with giant debt loads come out winners, once again. And return on investment is phenomenal. And if you use the proceeds to buy hard assets… wow!

And another shares their take on the gold market in Salt Lake City, Utah…

Reader comment: I am a LONGtime follower of Mr. Bill Bonner and now yours as well. I am of Indian origin living in the U.S., where I came as a postgraduate student. I found a Ukrainian wife, have two marvelous daughters (26 and 23), and a frugal, simple life.

So far, anywhere I go in the Salt Lake City valley to buy either gold or silver bullion, EVERYONE and their brother seems to have sold out of silver, with premiums as high as $6/oz for bullion. Very few people seem to like gold, with a premium of ONLY $10/quarter ounce!

Strange but I purchased British Sovereigns for $10 over spot. I have read a lot of yours and Mr. Bonner’s stuff that I am thinking that gold is about to catch fire as no one in Utah seems to want or like it.

Tom’s note: Thank you for your kind words and feedback. Please keep writing us at [email protected], and I’ll do my best to answer your questions in a future Friday mailbag edition.