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The antique trade - Collecting pieces of the past

Published:Sunday | November 30, 2014 | 11:00 AM

Paul H. Williams, Contributor

Among other things, social historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists are interested in how people lived in the past - what they ate and wore; the sports they played; on what they sat and slept; their customs and rituals, etc.

But sometimes, the information they seek is not available through written documents and the oral tradition. So, with no text to pore over, and no voices to listen to, they turn to objects, inanimate storytellers, narrating the tales, sensibilities, and ethos of yesteryear.

These objects, some of them old enough to be called antiquities, can really give you insight into the past. They fill historical gaps and make connections between the past and the present, and for some people, they are guides to the future. For this, some objects from the past are highly valued. Treasured, or not so treasured, historians and archaeologists call them artefacts.

Commercial values

While historians and anthropologists might be interested in antiquities and other objects from the past for their historical and academic value, there are people the world over who are interested in them for their commercial and ostentatious worth. Collectors and traders call them antiques and collectibles.

The trade, legal and illegal, in antiques and collectibles is big business worth billions of dollars. The pieces change ownership through private trading, fairs and festivals, roadshows, Internet trading, etc. Right here in Jamaica, there are serious antiques/collectibles traders and

For 23 years, there has been the Antiques
and Collectibles Fair, organised by Ainsley Henriques. On Sunday,
November 23, Arts and Education caught up with him at
Campion College, where the event has been held since its

Henriques, who was once an antique trader
himself, said the idea to have the show came after the BBC road show
came here 23 years ago. In a conversation with an associate, Steve
Solomon, he said, among other things, "We have to make all of this
available to the knowledge of everybody."

In essence,
Henriques wanted everybody - the privileged and the not-so-privileged -
to be aware of these objects and their historical significance. "These
are artefacts of the past, so what we want is for the people in
particular to understand the heritage of this country in these
artefacts," he said. The show, then, is to showcase our heritage, to
teach people about their history, and for the sale of collectibles and

Though Henriques would like people from
every social background to be aware of these objects and their
narratives, and historical value, trading and collecting these objects
from the past still seems to be the preserve of the privileged. "If you
look at some of the artefacts here, they were collected primarily by
people of wealth, and they were maintained in certain places of wealth.
They say what their likes and dislikes were," Henriques

Just for 'show'

the great majority of the said curios were originally owned by wealthy
people. "Artefacts of this nature were the domain of those who felt they
were privileged," Henriques remarked. These objects, then, were objects
of ostentation, bought and possessed just for 'show', not for their
utility and commerce, but to project a certain

So, is it all about wealthy people collecting
and preserving what was owned by other wealthy people? Do antiques and
other collectibles not owned by privileged people have value? Of course
they do. And they, too, are in great demand. Private collections and
museums the world over are replete with them.

what makes some objects from the past so treasured and highly valued?
What is their intrinsic worth? Some of them actually have none to start
with, but for whatever reasons, historians, academics, and traders place
monetary, sentimental, and other values on them.

of the objects that we use now? Look around. Will people of the future
be interested in them? Will the chair you are sitting on become a
collector's item just because you sat on it? Will your very body become a
much-sought-after object from the past?

One of the
many anecdotes that Henriques told while Arts and
chatted with him was that he stopped trading in
antiques because people might mistake him for one of the antiques. An
object from the past,