Antique

Yeah, because if a volunteer at a thrift store picks up a book with a copyright date of 1864, the alarm bells ring.

They think, "Antique, museum piece.

Lock it in the glass display case at the front of the store."

Right.

Yeah.

Antique, yeah.

Yeah, it's from the '20s.

Well, you know-

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Antique Show's completely different.

Yeah.

Are these the best of times or the worst of times for those in antiques? How does the market work? Is it as easy as it seems on television? Can anyone give it a go? I have three guests with me to discuss antiques today.

Um, let's meet them.

And first up, Catherine Southern, antiques expert, regularly seen on programs like Flog It, Antiques Road Trip, Bargain Hunt, to name a few.

But, um, Catherine, you also run Catherine Southern Auctioneers and Valuers, which is in Kent.

So tell us about the company.

You know, I mean, that is a skill.

I, I would be hopeless with that.

Let me introduce my next guest, antiques dealer and author Mark Hill, regular expert on the, uh, the Antiques Roadshow.

Collecting stories everywhere.

It's Thursday, that must mean one thing, it's time for Creevo's Antique Corner and get into that kitchen and rattle those pots and pans.

Creevo, what have you got

there? Hello, we're doing kitchenware this week because I got a bit inspired, so we've been selling a fair bit of it in the shop.

One important question is whether the case and movement started life together.

Antique clocks have often been repaired, recased, altered, or assembled from parts during their long lives.

A genuinely old movement inside a later case is not the same thing as a completely original clock.

Replacement parts are not automatically bad.