This article originally appeared in the North Island MidWeek.

If you are considering buying something such as say, a used car, you might consult a list in a price guide to find out details of your intended purchase.

Generally these guides, often referred to as a buyer’s guide will list all the comparable specifics of the car you are interested in together with variances for model, milage and condition. Real-estate people use prices of previous property sales as comparables in order to estimate current house values. Basically cars and real-estate prices are established by checking out the competition to check out the going rate and to compare what similar properties (or vehicles) have sold for.

Although antique dealers and auctions use similar methods, establishing the age and value of collectibles and antiques presents something more of a problem than do cars or real-estate. Guides are simply that; a guide, a sort of overview to point you in the right direction. Guides are meant for reference only and are not a definitive authority of actual market value.

Most guides will offer a range of prices intended to cover anticipated minimum and maximum values. Also, and most importantly, all price guides are well out of date before they even get to the shelves of the bookstores. Just as fashions for clothing are determined several seasons in advance, price guides are compiled anywhere from 12-18 months ahead of publication.

The TV program Canadian Antiques Roadshow is a good example of just how much given values can be out of date. By the time the show has been recorded, edited and then gone into final production, some six to nine months can have passed. From final production it can take another eight to twelve months before it is then first broadcast. So, by the time of the initial broadcast the values presented can be up to two years out of date.

Although the show is interesting and educational, the values given by the appraisers can be wildly out of step with the current market conditions. In fact, as I write this article I am also multi-tasking by watching the Canadian Antiques Roadshow – this particular episode is what they now call an encore broadcast (fancy way of saying it is a rerun!) and I also happen to know that it was recorded some four and a half years back. At the time of taping the price of gold was less than half of today’s market value and since then the bottom has fallen out of the previously lucrative market for heavy ‘dark wood’ furniture such as armoires and oak coffers.

The television roadshows, like the traditional printed price guides still have their place as points of interest and they are accurately educational. However, in terms of establishing values it is important to keep in touch with the present day markets and trends. Trade journals, collector’s newsletters and even auction house websites all have current information; but even here you must bear in mind that prices stated are those of past sales, not predictions of the future market.

Price guides are a great way to educate yourself and are a wonderful source for background information and research but remember that a price guide is not a definitive map.

Whether buying or selling it’s always a good idea to consult with a professional ahead of time. And as we all know, finding a competent professional is as easy as finding a really good doctor, dentist, lawyer or even a spouse.

Tony Duke provides comprehensive appraisal services for estate planning, down-sizing, probate, property division, insurance, antique acquisitions and sales, www.blinkingstar.ca See Tony’s website, www.TonyDuke.ca for links to his weekly blog and videos that give you information on all aspects of protecting your antiques, collectibles and personal property.

This article originally appeared in the North Island Mid Week.

As an appraiser of antiques and people’s personal possessions I sometimes need to be both diplomatic and discreet.

However, there are times when it is difficult to be either. Regular readers of this column will no doubt recall the story of the knackered old gym bag that was brought in for valuation to the Saskatoon production of the Antiques Roadshow (the blog is still available for reading at www.tonyduke.ca ). Although many readers vote the old bag as their favourite story I get the feeling that this one trumps it.

Just this week, a very nice lady had her son e-mail me some photos of an old tin of butter. Not just butter, but ‘pasteurised creamery butter.’ All in all there were five pictures showing all sides and angles of the butter tin which to this day remains unopened and contains what I presume, after fifty or so years, is still butter.

The pictures clearly show the multi-coloured lithographed paper label extorting the values of tinned butter. Sadly, the label and the tin have suffered the ravages of time and the tin is dented and rusty while the label is faded and stained from rust. And here, dear readers, ladies and gents, is where I am presented with my dilemma!

What, the lady asks can I tell her about the tin, and more importantly; “what is it worth?”

Never mind one’s first reaction, let us try, if we can, to look at this tin of butter as we would any other “item of interest.” It undoubtedly has age, probably dating to mid twentieth century and packaged in Edmonton. It also is an example of what we term ‘social history’, after all, when did you last see butter for sale in tin cans? The tin appears to be of reasonable size and the printed label is colourful.

My two problems here are, a: how do I give a realistic (and diplomatic) assessment of the item? and b: what is it worth?

Firstly, on a positive note; the tin is interesting for its colourful label. Also, the fact that it has remained unopened for so long is fascinating from a collector’s point of view and this makes it more desirable than if it had been opened.

As for value, as ever, condition is paramount. The rust, dents and stained label detract from any aesthetic appeal and this undoubtedly detracts from its marketability. Additionally, the contents probably now represent something of a ‘biohazard’ and the tin will eventually rupture releasing whatever grunge is inside.

Bearing this in mind, my advice is to put it in the garbage where it belongs! Why on earth would any sane person want to hang on to such a piece of contaminated post-consumer garbage? For too long people have been conned into thinking that rusty old tins, whether they be for cookies, tea, oil, nails, coffee or powdered milk have any value whatsoever.

Simply put, these rusty old dented tins are a worthless health risk, get rid of them! Collecting such trivia is not only like collecting household garbage; it actually is collecting garbage! Sure, old tins can be interesting; for about 30 seconds. It’s even good to see such old time packaging on display in a museum installation but really, what are people thinking? In terms of collectors items, one may just as well make a collection of plastic bags from supermarkets, because lets face it, what with the ecological let’s-be-green movement, it won’t be long before someone starts a plastic bag collectors club!

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy checking out all the inquiries that I receive and I never dismiss any of them outright. But seriously, just because something is old doesn’t necessarily mean it has any value at all. Chances are that if something was not worth much when it was new, then it won’t be worth a fortune now just because it’s old. That also goes for the lady with 50 copies of Time Life magazine that have been cluttering her garage for over 30 years. If, and this is a big if, she can keep them from becoming insect infected for another 100 years they may eventually become worth around about two bucks a copy. As for the gentleman with the display of over 60 (empty) miniature whisky bottles that he “obtained” while he was a flight attendant; why?

It’s not just tins, magazines, empty bottles, cracked tea cups, scratched 78 rpm records and eight track cassettes, it’s all kinds of stuff that in reality is nothing more than post-consumer rubbish. Yes, “stuff” can be fascinating, interesting, even evoke feelings of nostalgia and give you warm fuzzy feelings, but that doesn’t mean it’s good. Seriously folks, it’s time to get rid of the crap!

In order for my boys to roll their eyes and take a deep sigh, I only need to begin a topic of conversation with the immortal phrase, “When I was a lad…”

And there they go, both of them give me that knowing look of resignation. Their blank eyes betraying their emotion as they realize I am about to ramble on about yet another bygone time, a time before they were even “a twinkle in their Father’s eye.”

Recently I began to make comments about furniture construction, “When I was a lad,” I began, “my dad would scoff at modern furniture.”

“No style, no sense of craftsmanship,” he would say. “Look at the poor construction. It’s not even solid wood, it’s veneer!”

He would go on to express disbelief that anyone would pay what he called “good money” for things that would prove to be “just a fad.” How, he wondered, could the stores justify charging so much for such inferior items?

As a man who lived through the economically deprived  dirty ’30s my dad well knew the value of a dollar; and to him, buying retail was an alien experience. Like most people of that era, “make do and mend” was his motto.

Without doubt make do and mend is a practical mantra that enabled many families to survive and having lived through those times it was all but impossible for them to change their outlook on life.

In the old days what we now call “antiques and collectibles” was simply secondhand stuff. These were things that others had used before, or as modern automobile dealers like to say, “previously enjoyed.”

There was no stigma attached to secondhand it was just economic common sense, after all if you didn’t particularly like something you could give it a coat of some leftover paint. For some reason, in the ’60s orange seemed a particularly popular colour, it was, as they say, trendy!

My old man would go on about the Scandinavians, the Dutch and the Germans who, following the destruction of the Second World War, began experimenting with new furnishing styles and using unconventional materials. Teak, stainless-steel, imitation leather, vinyl and acrylics to name but a few.

The old man regarded the modern designs as nothing more than, “mutton dressed as lamb.” Exasperated, he would say, “Fancy making a table out of teak, they use that cheap stuff to deck ships and build docks! What’s wrong with good old English oak? Look at it, it’s just a couple of boards with legs attached! No flippin’ style. Wouldn’t have it in the house if you were giving it away.”

And so, with such words of wisdom and learned teaching behind me, I began the journey to become a second generation antique dealer.

But things have a way of turning around. All that designer stuff from the ’60s and ’70sis going through something of a renaissance. People are beginning to appreciate, and pay top prices for, the beauty and austerity of the northern European designers.

Teak, in particular, is now sought out for its straight-grained beauty and warmth of colour. Far from being thrown together, the furniture of the ’60s was carefully crafted and the simplistic lines allowed for a “less is more” attitude.

The ’60s designers sought a look that was streamlined; they avoided unnecessary ostentation and decoration. Echoing the mindset of the North American Shaker and ‘Eastlake designs of the early 1900s, the ’60s sought to combine form and function in a practical, yet aesthetically pleasing, form.

Gone were the ornate cabriole legs, the fancy moldings and curly-cues associated with the Victorian era. Elaborate heavy carvings vanished as sophisticated straight lines and gently flowing biomorphic shapes became the order of the day.

Until the end, my dad never did give credence for the new styles.

Instead, he remained “old school” and never for a moment did he consider the fact that his beloved Victorian and Georgian antique furniture was itself once new and in its day was considered as being cutting edge in terms of design and use of new materials.

So, whether new or old, how can you tell a good piece from a run-of-the-mill piece? As with all things in life, one word will suffice: Quality!

This article originally appeared in the North Island Mid Week.

A quality piece almost shouts at you. The style, the materials, the workmanship, they are all there in a good piece.

With quality there is no need to consult the books. You don’t need the opinion of an expert. You simply need to “listen.”

Quality, from whatever era, will make itself known to you. If something doesn’t almost scream “quality,” pass it by and wait. If you don’t find it, it will find you.

This article was originally published in the North Island Mid-Week.

My teen son Stephen has reached that smart ass “aren’t I witty” question and answer phase.

For example if you ask him to put the cat out he replies, “I didn’t know it was on fire!” If I ask him to put the kettle on he says, “I can’t, it’s too small.”

For him there is always a smart remark just waiting to be aimed at me. I’m convinced he lies awake planning his reparte for the next day’s exchanges.

At supper the other evening we were discussing a solid silver wine goblet and he remarked, “If it’s solid silver then how do you put the wine in it?”

I admit, I had no witty comeback, no defence against such an enquiring mind so I poured some more wine before resorting to that perennial parental weapon, a mini-lecture:

Bear in mind that the fact that nothing can be 100 percent because there is always a miniscule contaminate or unknown factor – and that’s why those chemicals only kill 99.99 percent of all known germs!

When we refer to something as “solid” as in solid silver or solid gold what we really mean is as pure as possible. Solid is not a reference to whether something is hollow or not. In the case of silver and gold 100 percent pure (solid) would be too soft to be of any practical use.

Pure gold and silver dents, bends and warps with little to no effort so to make the metal more useable other metals or alloys are added in order to give it the desired strength.

Copper, zinc, platinum or germanium and silicone being some of the more common choices. In the case of “rose gold,” for example, it is the copper that gives the gold it’s pinkish glow.

Because other metals are added to gold and silver there are certain standards, or levels of purity that are adhered to. The levels of fineness are conventionally accepted and adhered to worldwide and many countries such as Britain and Continental Europe have laws to enforce those levels.

Sterling silver has a purity of 925 parts per thousand, while much continental and Mexican silver has a purity of 800, meaning that it is 80 percent pure with an added 20 percent of alloys.

To confuse matters there is also Britannia silver which is 95.84 percent pure silver. Though it was briefly a popular standard some 200 years ago, Britannia silver is now something of a rarity because silversmiths really dislike working with such a soft metal and consumers dislike having pieces with such limited versatility.

Similarly, Gold is standardised in carats (ct.), as in 10ct., 12ct., 14ct., and 22ct. This carat level indicates the degree of just how much “solid” or “pure” gold is contained within an item. Pure gold is known as 24ct., therefore, one carat of gold is equivalent to one part gold and 23 parts “other.”

In simpler terms this means that 12ct. is 50 percent pure and 50 percent additives. When the various media report the current price of gold they quote the price per ounce of 24ct. and to those of us who do not deal in gold bullion this figure can give us a distorted idea of the value of our jewellery.

An example of the confusion that the quoted gold prices can create happened just recently; a gentleman brought in a solid gold necklace that he wished to sell. The necklace was nothing out of the ordinary but it weighed in at a hefty 2.8 ounces.

Now we have all heard of gold fetching record prices recently and the gentleman had calculated that if gold is currently around $1,181.50 per ounce then his 2.8 oz. necklace should be $3,308.20.

However, said necklace was 9ct. (37.5 percent pure), not 24ct. So, after accounting for handling and refinery charges, the melt (or scrap) value of his necklace would be in the region of slightly more than $1,000.

To sum it all up; when we say “solid gold” or “solid silver” we mean that something is not electro-plated but as near to being as pure as possible.

To which Stephen replied, “So why doesn’t someone make something which kills the other .09 percent of germs then?”

This article originally appeared in the North Island Mid-Week.

As well as appraising antiques and collectibles I operate an antique store in downtown historic Union Bay. In fact I think I have the privilege of operating the smallest antique store on the Island.

To paraphrase Stuart McLean from The Vinyl Cafe, “…we may not be big but we are small.”

In general, antique dealers such as myself acquire their stock on a piece by piece basis. We don’t have the luxury of catalogues from which to place orders and there is no warehouse for us to buy in bulk quantities. In fact virtually all of our stock is acquired on a one-off person-to-person basis.

The basic principal of stock acquisition for antique dealers is that people bring things to sell to us and if we are interested we make an offer to buy. Theoretically a simple procedure, however, as a seller you must be aware that just like any other business big or small we have the usual overheads such as rent, storage, wages, taxes, utilities and so on.

People often have a fear that the dealer will try to “rip them off” when it comes to selling or buying. Well, quite simply, ripping someone off is just not in our interests.

Most dealers enter the business because of a deep passion and love of antiques. We love to see and hold lovely things from times gone by. We want to know that the people who sell to us and buy from us are happy and satisfied. If we wanted to simply make a quick buck or two there are other career choices.

Yes, whether we are antique dealers or just conventional business people we want and need to make a profit, to do otherwise would be foolish but lets take a moment to consider the other side of the coin as it were.

Taking the Antiques Roadshow as an example, we have all seen where the gleeful look of the owner of an item that was bought from a garage sale for just a dollar is told how smart they are because their purchase is actually worth several thousand.

But how many times have any of us heard of that person going back to the garage sale owner to give them a share in the windfall? I’ll also wager that you have never heard of a vendor going back to a dealer and saying, “You paid me far too much for that item, here, have some of the money back.”

Unlike the more conventional retail businesses and the big box stores, we cannot simply return items to the supplier if they don’t sell. Also, unlike the bigger businesses who are given anything from 30-90 days credit, you are expecting an immediate payment.

As dealers we are taking all of the risk by paying up-front in the hope that we can sell the item within a reasonable time frame. Sometimes we are fortunate and are able to resell within a few days, but there has been many a time that I have had a piece in the store for several years before a buyer came along. Such are the times where we have taken all of the risk with no reward.

Many of you may have sold things to a dealer in the past, some of you may be considering doing so in the future, so I thought I would give you a few tips and also let you in on what we see and hear from our side of the bargaining table. Here then are some perennial phrases that I and many other dealers hear from potential clients.

A client comes in with a bag or a box of stuff wrapped in several layers of the MidWeek newspaper and after unwrapping their treasures the internal alarm bells of fear and caution go off when they say, “Honestly, I have absolutely no idea what it is worth! Make me an offer.”

This phrase is just so frustrating for me, I know from experience that whatever my response is, it will invariably be wrong.

If I offer say $50 I will be told, “Oh no it’s worth far more than that!” Alternatively, if I offer $500 for the same thing the reply will be, “If it’s worth that to you then it must be worth far more!”

For goodness sake, if you are a seller, please do some basic research, delve deep into your soul and have at least some kind of idea about how much you want for your goods.

Look at it this way, when any of us go into a store to buy a loaf of bread the store owners don’t say make me an offer, they let us know precisely how much the loaf will cost. If we can afford it, we buy, if not we pass. Simple really.

Another often-heard phrase is, “I saw one on the Antique Roadshow and it was worth 10 times more than your offer!” Well, chances are, that you either have a poor memory or that the item you saw was vastly different.

Many times people have pointed to an item in the store and said something like, “I have one exactly the same at home except it is slightly smaller, a different colour and it doesn’t work properly.” In translation this means that what you have is not exactly the same, in fact it is completely different and bears absolutely no resemblance to what you are looking at.

Similarly, when clients are considering a purchase there is the ever-popular, “I saw one on eBay for less than that,” which leaves us wondering why you didn’t buy the one on eBay in the first place?

A variation is, “They are cheaper in Victoria.” To which I wonder why you don’t go to Victoria then?

If you consider the time, trouble, gas and other factors involved, would the item in Victoria really turn out to be cheaper than the one that is right in front of you and immediately available? I doubt it.

Saving the best phrase until last is the ever frequent and frustrating, “I don’t want to sell it if it’s not worth much.” Now this always befuddles me, why on earth would anyone want to keep something that is not worth anything?

This article was originally published in the North Island Mid-Week.

This article originally appeared in the North Island Mid-Week.

Back in the 1960s (when I was but a mere boy) it was said that for something to be an antique it had to be made prior to 1860.

In other words it became generally accepted that all antiques were at least 100 years old.

However, time marches on and the hundred year old rule has now changed considerably. With the exception of certain works of art and unique pieces 100 years is simply not long enough.

For a true purist to consider something a “real antique” it must be at least 150 years old; it’s all a matter of means of production.

After the 1860s, industrialization had largely taken over the means of production and the days of the individual craftsmen and artisan were rapidly overtaken by mass production allowing cheap goods to become available to the general population.

As production costs diminished, wages improved and those with middle-class aspirations were able to afford a look alike of the type of items owned by the upper-class.

Copies of famous oil paintings were available in much cheaper print form. Sterling silver was imitated with the advent of silver plate produced by means of a revolutionary new electro-plating technique. Finely hand-decorated china was replaced with transfer-print patterns.

From a distance it all looked as good as the more expensive counterparts; and the good thing for the consumer was that it cost far less.

In the mindset of the day, you may not be as far up the social ladder as you would have liked but you could at least give a plausible appearance of socioeconomic advancement.

Little seems to have changed over the last 120 years or so. Just as today, the stature of a person back in the last days of the 19th century was not in their intrinsic being, it was measured by their wealth, and wealth was measured by the quantity of their possessions.

The social logic was that the more one owned, the better they were. In modern terms this is summed up in the phrase “he who has the most toys wins!” 

Apart from massive planetary pollution there was, and is, however, a considerable downside to affordable conspicuous consumerism. Mass production and mass availability have encouraged the now familiar sense of entitlement.

With cheap goods which are now increasingly produced by cheap labour, comes the attitude of “replace and renew” rather than “make do and repair.”

Mass production also hailed in the era of our throw away society. For example, a recent dilemma I personally faced was whether to buy a new ink pack for my printer for $65 when I can get a new printer complete with full ink pack for just $45?

Morally I should buy the refill pack but economic logic dictates that I buy new printer and the old one goes to our overcrowded landfill.

What has this to do with antiques I hear you ask? Well, the thing is this, prior to the 1880s speed of production was a minor concern, what mattered was quality of materials and quality of workmanship.

People expected that even with reasonable wear and tear their goods would outlive them. Quality goods, coupled with limited discretionary income, meant that there was never any thought of buying a replacement. 

In terms of the three Rs, the late Georgian and Victorian periods were the ultimate in terms of reduce, recycle and reuse. In fact, they had an additional “R” and that was repair. The throw away society that we have all grown up with did not exist until the the latter part of the industrial revolution.

Many Georgian and Victorian items remain with us today, and it is their quality of materials and workmanship that make them not only aesthetically desirable but also financially valuable.

This article originally appeared in the North Island Mid-Week.

What makes anything worth something?

Well, you do! That is to say, if there is something that you don’t want; then to you, that “something” has no value. Alternatively, if there is an item that you really do want then the value which you place upon that thing increases in a way that directly corresponds to the strength of your desire.

Ideally, if cost is less than the perceived value then we have a real bargain! If the cost is equal to the value then we have we have a fair deal. Here is an example:

Being a lover of antiques and older furnishings I rarely buy anything new or modern. However, we needed a new table for Christmas so I went  furniture hunting. I found two identical dining tables, one at $900 from a local independent retailer and the other for only $600 from a well-known national big box store.

As a well-trained consumer I choose the one with the lower cost; on the face of it I make a $300 saving and get what we want. Hoping I can make an even bigger saving I tell the retailer that I can pay cash on the spot and ask for a discount as I don’t really need two years to pay.

However, because it is a chain store, the manager is not allowed to use his discretion so, sorry, no discount. Thinking that I still have a good deal I tell him I’ll take it. But wait, I can’t have that one because that’s the floor model so I have to wait two weeks for them to get my table from a warehouse in Manitoba.

The lower-priced table remains irresistible, but there are some hidden costs. While the $900 table was with door-to-door delivery included, the $600 table was delivery extra, another $50. Still appearing to be a bargain at a price of $650 I figure that I am $250 ahead.

When said table eventually arrives I am told that as I live outside of city limits the delivery fee is bumped up another $50; price now is $700. Also, the table is flat-packed with some assembly necessary, so now I also need to buy the necessary tools!

Feeling somewhat duped by this extra charge the delivery guys offer me a choice; as they have not yet off-loaded the table I can either pay the additional amount or simply refuse the delivery.

Problem solved? Not so, the store will refund my money in full, but there will be a $50 re-stocking and administration fee. The dilemma? Either I accept the table and pay $100 above the sticker price (plus cost of necessary assembly tools) or, I pay the $50 re-stocking fee and after waiting almost three weeks we still will not have a table.

Being somewhat peeved at having wasted a lot of my valuable time and paying $50 for a table that I don’t have, I reluctantly go back to the independent retailer.

What a difference in attitude! For cash I can get a 15 percent ($135) discount. I am not only offered free next-day delivery and assembly, but they will also set-up the table in the location that my wife wants. As good measure I also get a set of place mats. Extra costs involved; a seasonal bottle of our home-brewed wine for the driver and his assistant.

Not that there is anything particularly wrong with the big-box stores, but perhaps more of us should check out our local lndipendents. The savings offered by big business can often seem irresistible at first look, but they can lack the human touch and are unable to deal with potential customers on a person-to-person basis.

In the end I may have spent a little more by buying from a locally-owned store, but I got really good service, a happy spouse and my hard-earned dollars stay in the community.

This article originally appeared in the North Island Mid-Week

Quick, for ten points, what’s the difference between new and second-hand?

Answer, often around 80 percent.

The difference in price between something that is new compared to second-hand has always been quite extensive. Second-hand has also been regarded as somewhat inferior, something for the “less well-off.”

However, now that the wordsmiths have come up with the term “previously enjoyed” things that are not new are being recognized as not only practical but also ecologically and financially sound.

Consider for a moment why wealthy people buy antiques, and lets face it, antiques are the epitome of second-hand! Is it perhaps that the wealthy stay wealthy because they realize they can often buy something of superior quality for less than they would pay for new items?

Not only that, but the astute purchaser realizes that they too can enjoy their previously enjoyed assets while knowing that historically their purchase will either hold its worth if not actually increase in value as time goes on.

Take, for example, the recent activity on the precious metals market and antiques in general. While gold has been in the headlines recently for its volatile highs and falls, sterling silver has had little press yet it has remained fairly constant within the antiques and collectibles market.

While the bullion price of silver has been affected by the activity on the gold market, its movement with regard to gains and losses have been remarkably minimal.

As for domestic silver being an affordable luxury, let’s take, for example, a sterling silver place setting set of knife, fork and spoon. New price from Canada’s oldest jewellers can set you back in excess of $500 per place, while a previously enjoyed set can be had for as little as $100 to $150 per place setting.

Now while most of us have come to favour modern stainless steel for our dining utensils, their popularity is historically based upon their utility, availability and relatively low price. The disadvantage being that they are common to just about everyone and they simply have no re-sale value at all.

Go to any thrift shop and you can pick up stainless steel knives and forks for around 50 cents a piece. Despite the lack of re-sale value the retail price of stainless has steadily increased over the last 10 years and consequently many of us continue to pay upwards of $85 to $110 per place setting for stainless steel that is no longer made in Sheffield, but Korea or Taiwan.

Not only that, but quality seems to have declined and sets are well past their prime in just a few short years.

As with all things there are exceptions. At a recent Victoria auction a set of four matching Georgian sterling silver wine coolers (that would be ice buckets) fetched more than $65,000 which, with a buyer’s premium of 15 percent made a grand total of $74,750.

I was fortunate enough to be allowed to see the coolers and they were as you would hope and expect, quite beautiful. The purchaser bought the coolers because not only are they works of art, and were handmade over 200 years ago but as he put it, “They are bloody lovely! Just look at the workmanship! You don’t often get to see that kind of quality.”