Antiques: Collectors' tips (From Free Press Series)

Antiques: Collectors' tips

Bargains are the stuff of antique collectors' dreams. Picture the scene: you pay just a few pounds or even pence for something you spot at a car boot sale. Then you discover it's a genuine whatever and worth hundreds.

Or perhaps you recognise its true value at the outset, and hurriedly hand over the money before someone else snaps it up.

It can happen... But then equally you might pay way over the odds for that special piece of porcelain or furniture, in the mistaken belief it justifies its price tag, only to learn subsequently its a reproduction or, worse still, an actual fake.

Sadly, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is... There is nothing wrong with reproduction furniture or artefacts, providing they are sold as such.

Reproducing the style of the past is not a modern trend - the Victorians made large quantities of 'Tudor' and 'Jacobean' furniture which are now antiques in themselves. Then there are 'restored' pieces, where two originally separate items have been combined to create one product.

A 'fake' is where something is labelled or sold as antique when it is nothing of the kind but was manufactured, probably in large quantities, in much more recent times.

The knack, of course, is spotting the difference. It's not always easy, and even the experts can be fooled by especially clever forgeries.

If you're dubious about something, ask yourself if it looks 'right'. There are various tell-tale signs - 'old' wood which has no patina, 'hand carving' clearly done by machine, hinges and handles produced by modern manufacturing processes.

Ultimately, though, what's important is that you buy something because you like it, not because you think it might be priceless...