Active retirement: fakes and antiques

MEMBERS of the Active Retirement Club (ARC) of Westbury took some of their treasured possessions to their meeting on Tuesday 26th July to be appraised by antique expert Chris O’Grady. 

The club reports, “We may not have discovered a fortune, but many of us were pleasantly surprised by what we learnt, especially if what we had was genuine and not a fake! 

“Our speaker, Chris O’Grady gave an illuminating talk on his experiences with antiques along with stories of other people’s lucky discoveries. The fascination with antiques probably lies in their potential for surprise as much as anything else.  

“We heard that someone walking past a charity shop was intrigued by a piece of porcelain in the widow and promptly bought it. Sometime later they put it up for sale on eBay and received a letter offering several thousand pounds in cash immediately. The owner’s curiosity aroused, they researched the item and it was eventually auctioned for millions. This may not happen often, but it does happen, and all from a charity shop. 

“People buy antiques for many reasons; as a business investment, to impress their friends, or simply because an item speaks to them. Chris has many pairs of candlesticks in his collection. His main problem after each new purchase is to smuggle them into the house without his wife discovering them till many months later. After purchasing one pair and inspecting the base, he was surprised to find a coin had dropped out of the other end.  

“After identifying it as a 20 pfennig piece from 1917 he discovered that if made from zinc it would be quite valuable but unfortunately it was another metal. Better luck next time. The ‘next time’ actually proved to be in Paris, where he heard a loft sale was taking place near where he was staying. Spotting an A4 pencil sketch he decided to buy it for 75 euros. 

“After much detective work, he managed to get it attributed to a follower of a famous early 17th century artist and as such it was worth several hundred pounds more than he paid for it. However, like many people, Chris has found that the satisfaction of discovering an antique and then owning it can far exceed its monetary value alone.” 

The next scheduled meeting of the Active Retirement Club is a quiz on the 9th of August at the Horse and Groom Pub in Westbury at 10am. Guests can enjoy two club meetings for free before deciding if they wish to join. Membership costs £10 per month. If you would like to join the ARC or would like to find out more, please call Mark on 01373 823 826.