George Stacpoole, co-presenter of RTÉ1’s, The Dealers, and president of The Irish Antique Dealers’ Association, speaks to The Waiting Room Magazine about his life with antiques
Can you remember when you first became interested in antiques? I was only six when I first began to buy. I would buy what we called Friggers, pigs made from Bristol glass, in the 1820s. They were little objects made at the end of the day’s work, to use up leftover glass. I’ve still got them. I used to give them to my mother and, when she passed on, they came back to me.
What, exactly, is an ‘antique’? The official definition would be an object that is at least 100 years old but that doesn’t mean that anything younger than that has no value. An object that is not actually a work of art, per se, may be valuable by virtue of its rarity or its association with a notable person, place or event.
And can anything be an antique? Well yes, though the term is usually applied to man-made objects rather than natural things like fossils, ancient bones or pieces of meteors. But even things like old theatre tickets or programmes or tickets into sporting events… they can all have value, particularly to collectors. And there are collectors whose interests are sometimes, frankly, incomprehensible to others.
I suppose it’s everyone’s dream to find that the cat’s milk dish is actually a priceless early Ming rice bowl. But does that kind of thing happen often? Rarely, I’m afraid. Finds of that significance, anyway. But there are nice surprises now and then. Recently I was given photographs of some pieces of furniture that the owner thought might have some value. I was sorry to disappoint him but delighted to be able to tell him that the carpet on which they’d been stood was a very fine one indeed, and of considerable value.
It must be extremely difficult to value an antique precisely. If there’s a significant difference between two dealers, is there an organisation that gives a final decision? Generally speaking, experienced dealers will come in with much the same opinion but, where there is a large gap, it is usually The Irish Antique Dealers’ Association that gives a final opinion. We like to think that professional dealers are the best experts. Museum curators, auction house experts, academics, etc., all work with the luxury of relatively safe salaries, but we don’t, and an inexpert dealer can go broke very quickly, or lose large sums of money for a client.
Does much of a dealer’s business involve working with clients as opposed to just locating, buying and selling? Yes indeed. It varies from dealer to dealer but most of the better known collections, like the Beit collection at Russborough, will have been assembled over the years with advice and guidance from dealers. It’s a bit like the bloodstock world. The Makhtoums would rarely attend sales themselves; they rely on dealers to buy for them, dealers who know exactly what they want.
How does all that translate to doing The Dealers on TV? Well, that’s different altogether. It’s a whole new approach. Nobody is searching for a particular piece or even category. It’s just trying to turn a profit on whatever you can find. It’s great fun and I enjoy it. It’s strange to be recognised, to have people nudge one another as one passes by on the street. But I suppose that’s inevitable when one is in a top 20 TV show that has run for three seasons.
Do you have special areas of interest? Well, Irish antiques would be my favourite field. But I work in all areas and would like to think I am expert in most of them. Coins and jewellery would probably be my least favourite specialties.
Where can I go to have a potential antique valued? To a dealer. Or come along to the annual Irish Antique Dealers’ Association fair in the RDS in Dublin. It runs from 22nd to 26th September this year. It’s always a great event with lots of fascinating old ‘stuff’ there. I say ‘stuff’ because you never know what turns up.
