Appreciation

Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday December 10, 1997

by PETER FISH

SYDNEY antique dealer Jolyon Warwick James can think of a jolly good reason to buy sterling silver this Christmas: most of it is "20 per cent off", as the spruikers may say. It's priced way below its current replacement cost.

And superbly crafted silver, with the lovely soft patina that comes from years of aging and handling, doesn't have to cost a fortune.

Humble yet handsome (and useful) items such as Edwardian, Victorian and Georgian silver tea spoons start at about $30. For about $100 you can find vintage silver bookmarks and wine labels and for less than $500 you can buy handsome antique cream jugs or single salt cellars. The bargain prices have nothing to do with a slide in popularity with collectors, although all but the most outstanding silver has been languishing as the Cinderella of collectables for some years.

No, the reason most antique silver is a bargain is that the Aussie dollar has lost value while the English pound has got stronger. On the rates published in the Herald it would have cost you $2.49 to buy each #1 in the first week of December. At the same time last year you needed only $2.06. That's a 21 per cent

difference.

Britain is where most Australian antique dealers buy their stock. And since stock moves relatively slowly in the antiques business, there's a high probability that the piece of silver you see in the shop or gallery will still be priced at last year's levels, or at least those of several months ago. Once the dealers restock, paying in deflated Australian dollars, they'll have to pass on the higher cost to buyers.

Warwick James deals mostly in objects priced in thousands rather than hundreds of dollars, but even at the higher end of the market many prices appear to be bargains. "So it's worth looking for 'old lags' in shops," he says.

As for silver's Cinderella status, that's a little harder to explain. He says antique silver has been a big drawcard in boom times, when mining stocks soared in the late 1960s, for instance, or when sharemarkets and real estate prices roared up in the last half of the 1980s. "It was 'new' money that underpinned table silver," he says.

After all, silver has long been a status symbol. People can put out silver cutlery (flatware, as it's known in the trade) on their dining table, along with elegant candlesticks, serving dishes and coffee sets. Guests and neighbours are inevitably impressed.

And the late 1960s and 1980s were periods of high inflation; people saw silver as an inflation hedge and a store of value, as it has proved to be for many centuries.

While there's still serious money around today, inflation has largely faded and people are far less certain about the economy.

And fashions change. Dining is less formal; many of the people who would have spent money on silver and mahogany 10 years ago are now into country-style room settings. "There just isn't the new money coming into it," Warwick James says.

But there's no shortage of money at the top end of the market. Cynics were amazed when a huge tureen made for Louis XV of France sold for the equivalent of $12.9 million - more than twice the previous record for a piece of silver - at Sotheby's in New York a year ago.

The tureen was made in Paris in 1733-34 by the pre-eminent silversmith Thomas Germain, and was owned by various members of the French nobility.

This record wasn't broken at the big London sales last month, but there were outstanding prices for some of the top items, including $300,000 (at current exchange rates) for a silver tazza, or dish on stand, dating from 1572.

Wine-related items were in keen demand. A silver corkscrew and nutmeg grater - surely a rare combination - dating from 1809, brought $12,000, while an 18th-century French tastevin, or wine taster's cup, brought a cool $5,000.

The spoon market also seems to be picking up, with a 32cm cast and pierced strainer spoon dating from 1774 selling for $9,500.

This spoon, with its unusual lion's head finial, may be coming to Australia. Its buyer, prominent English dealer John Bourdon-Smith, is a regular visitor to these shores and will be exhibiting at G.L. Auchinachie & Son in Woollahra's Queen Street from February 3-8.

But some silver has been in the doldrums. Pairs of cast candlesticks, once highly sought after, are harder to sell these days, as are other things people no longer see any use for - cigarette and cigar cases, for instance, or pap boats which were once used to feed babies.

But unfashionable things do come back into style, says Warwick James. Cigars are back as a fashionable item, for example, so small, ribbed silver cigar cases costing from about $300 upwards are likely to enjoy a resurgence. Slim silver cigarette cases, often with engine-turning (a form of mechanical engraving or cross-hatching) are incredibly cheap from $50 upwards and can be reused as travelling photograph cases. Pap boats, costing $400 to $500, are seeing service as avocado dishes or even ash trays. Elaborate antique meat skewers, at about $300, make classy letter openers for the executive desk.

And sturdy sugar tongs, costing $100 and upwards, aren't needed for sugar cubes any more, but are ideal for picking up ice cubes or for

serving meat.

n UPCOMING AUCTIONS

D. Stanley antiques: Decorative art, designer wares and jewellery ... December 14.

Christie's: Malcolm Forbes toy soldiers ... December 17, 18 (South Kensington).

Lawsons: Decorative art and furniture ... January 13.

Goodmans: Household effects and antiques ... January 14.

Lawsons: Books, maps and prints ... February 2.

Lawsons: Tribal art ... February 23.

n AUCTION RESULTS

Ceremonial figure circa 1950s, Melville/Bathurst Island (lot 183), $9,775, Sotheby's.

Untitled bark painting circa 1960s, Melville/Bathurst Island (lot 198), $12,650, Sotheby's.