With a market roller-coaster ride tipped for the year ahead as petrol prices rise and talks of a possible recession looms, many people and some shareholders have begun looking around for the next big thing! Investors at the top end of the market see art and antiques as an alternative investment in this uncertain economic climate.
Quality antiques and quality art can out perform other forms of investment! And a lot of people want to know if antiques are worth buying for investment purposes.
The answer here is…possibly, if you know your subject well enough. But, I believe the true investment comes from owning something that gives you pleasure every time you look at it, year after year. If you adopt this approach, you quickly come to realise the monetary value of the item is secondary to its true value, which is the ongoing enjoyment it brings to you. It’s a bit like when you buy something and you think maybe you’ve paid too much for it. Don’t worry about it because the price will eventually catch up…and in any case, it isn’t the things you buy that you regret, it’s the things you don’t buy that leaving you forever hankering! . Art, along with antiques, fine wine and rare collectables are often an emotional investment. Therefore, like playing the stock market, if you are looking for a positive return, you are betting that, when you go to sell, your item has gone up in value. Fine art, gold and antiques, once the exclusive domain of the rich and famous, can stack up as blue-chip investments for every-day investors seeking refuge from share market tumbles. The trick to buying is going for blue chip works. Whilst in property terms, you say location, location, location. In antiques and art we say quality, quality and quality.
Whilst, the credit crunch has bolstered the sale price of more expensive items, but has depressed the lower end of the market, with lower priced antique furniture and paintings the weakest performers, rising commodity values are boosting demand for silver and jewellery.
Investors at the top end of the market do see art and antiques as an alternative investment in this uncertain economic climate; and as long as the situation remains, the market will continue to feel supported. Unfortunately, at the other end of the scale it is unlikely to improve.
See you in the shop soon ………Dawn
Definition of Antique
The definition of antique varies from source to source, item to item and year to year.
But some time-tested definitions of antique deserve consideration:
· An item which is at least 100 years old and is collected or desirable due to rarity, condition, utility, or some other unique feature. Motor vehicles, tools and other items subject to vigorous use in contrast, may be considered antiques if older than 25 years, and some electronic gadgets of more recent vintage may be considered antiques
· Antique (noun) - Any piece of furniture or decorative object or the like produced in a former period and valuable because of its beauty or rarity.
Using this definition allows distinctions between genuine antique pieces, vintage items and collectible objects.
AAADA FAIR – September 17th to 20th, 2008
From the evening if Wednesday 17 to Sunday 21st September, Australia’s most prestigious fair, the AAADA antiques and Art Fair 2008 returns to Wharf 8, Sussex Street, Sydney
This is the seventh year that Eaglemont Antiques has participated in the event and it’s your opportunity to purchase the finest quality antiques and art – a most impressive collection.
“THE ERA THAT IS EAGLEMONT”
Date: Sunday 26th October
Time 1.00 p.m. – 4. 00 p.m.
To be held in the area surrounding the Eaglemont Village, concentrating on the mural sites.
There will be direct focus on the three mural sites, in the Eaglemont Shopping Centre, the proposed activities planned
The event is to be hosted by popular radio personality,
Bruce Mansfield.
· Piped street music
· A small mini-bus to run between a pick-up point at Eaglemont Auto Repairs up
The Eyrie to the Desbrowe-Annear’s houses (at this point talks re; construction and garden design will be given.
· Unveiling of the mural – with ceremony including the artist Andrew Rowe
· Static display and parade of vintage fashions depicting the times reflected in the mural The Heidelberg Theatre Group
· Visual display material highlighting the architecture and design of the Eaglemont shopping centre and surrounding areas - Ivanhoe Photographic Society
· A children’s quiz-type competition, to be run in conjunction with selected schools in the area – with a visual display to be set up in various shops
· Printed postcards depicting the Village and the murals for sale
· A maker’s and seller’s market
· Devonshire teas
Even though the days are chilly, I look forward to putting on my polar fleece and going out exploring the streets and parks in Eaglemont. I just love the new mural at the entrance to the Village shopping centre, so bright and colourful, with a lovely garden with a pond in the foreground.
Also, I hope you have also seen the mural on the wall of the Eaglemont Cellars depicting the Heidelberg Artists.
The area known as Eaglemont held a special fascination for a school of painters, known as the Heidelberg School. Artists including Arthur Streeton, Charles Davies, Conder and Tom Roberts, painted here during 1889-90, producing some of their best works. It has been suggested that some of the expansive views from the top of Mount Eagle helped to develop Streeton`s matchless sense of perspective. While living in Eaglemont he painted Golden Summers, Still Glides the Stream and A Pastoral. Conder did a number of small paintings such as The Evening Star, Boys Bathing, Heidelberg, Impressionists Camp and The Hot Wind. Roberts completed Shearing the Rams and painted a number of impressions. Many commentators believe “the Eaglemont period” was the golden age of painting in Australia....In later years the artists often looked back on the Eaglemont days and the
quality of the work produced.
It is well documented that the three Desbrowe Annear designed houses of 1903-04 at the top of The Eyrie; Eaglemont heralded a new era of building design in Victoria. These buildings, along with those that followed, have created an essentially, early 20th century architectural character within this locality.
Although, Mr Desbrowe Annear lived a long time ago, more than likely he took into consideration, how much a dog needs an area in which to run and play. His designs, in particular, helped reinforce the beginnings of what can be described as a medieval-based style, which saw many adaptations as the 20th century unfolded. Their external organic form blends well with the informal landscape around them, while the careful placement of the houses demonstrate a Functionalist approach common to both Modern architecture and the Arts And Craft Movement.
I am always mindful of the need to preserve our local identity and the uniqueness of Eaglemont.
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