This post is just to clarify that there are many exceptions to the regular hours of opening.

For example, we were open on Sunday from 11 am to 2 pm, and we’re open today from 11 am to 5 pm instead of from 1 pm as advertised.

The regular hours are in fact are guaranteed opening hours, approx, while we are often open even outside those hours.

We do work outside the stores, busy with deliveries, appraisals, restoration, buying supplies, etc. and therefore we have a reduced schedule that we can honour.

But outside those hours we can easily have time to be at the store, we know that and decide just before.

That’s why we keep encouraging appointments that are so convenient for us, as we can better serve and focus on the client, although no commitment is necessary, and it usually works very well for clients that cannot visit at normal hours.

We are on a very busy road, route 9, and used daily by thousands of commuters. Unfortunately many commute very early and/or very late, so although they see the store, they can’t visit.

That’s why we might soon resume a late night opening day, almost certainly Thursdays, and maybe an early morning one.

But for now, please just make an appointment, we would be delighted to greet you at our store, on Route 9, 1015 Boylston St, and introduce you to our Fine English Antiques, restored in the historically correct way, to preserve and enhance their value as original and authentic antiques.

Hello all!

We are back from our latest buying trips to England, which included a 10 day vacation in Tuscany, Italy.

Apart from the vacation time, which was awesome, it was a very good trip for business too.

Unfortunately for the UK, but good news for the US, the British economy is collapsing and heading towards recession, with the value of the local currency, the British Pound Sterling, not the Euro as many appear to believe, is very low. That’s good news for importing English Antiques.

As many of our clients know after extensive explanations about the way we proceed, it’s not going to affect prices and values more than the industry specific inflation and increasing difficulty in finding interesting pieces in very good shape.

Still, it’s good for Americans that can travel more easily and affordably to the UK and discover the world of English antiques in loco, in the land of origin.

Buying and bringing home pieces is another story, and probably not cost efficient if you consider the amount of time that has to be waisted, even if a shipper takes care. Time is always tight and it’s better spent visiting and learning about England and English history.

And that’s what we do, we bring you those pieces, straight to your home, refinished in a way that even in England, let alone America, it’s so hard and expensive to find a skilfull restorer that can do it.

French Polishing is such an old technique that most have abandoned it in favour of less time consuming and effortless techniques such as waxing, spraying or, amazingly, the simple technique of leaving the pieces as they are, therefore not revealing their innate, although hidden, beauty and leaving them exposed to easy deterioration, without the protection of a professionally hand applied finish. Of course you can keep them in a climate controlled glass cabinet, but I don’t think that it would suit most of you and of your homes.

So here we are, once again, back in Boston, or Newton to be more precise, offering our pieces in stock, plus getting ready for our next shipment, scheduled for the fall, when the weather will not put the antiques stored in a container, in danger of extensive damage to the finish.

We’ll let you know more about the shipment soon!

See you at our store on Route 9 West, Newton Highlands, Massachusetts…

We are on a business trip to England and then on vacation to Italy.

Then back to England on our way home to Boston.

So, from Aug 11th through Aug 27th we will be closed.

But from Aug 28th Denise will be available by luck or, better, by appointment;

contact her on 617 921 3443 or 617 999 0269.

From Sep 3rd a normal schedule will resume.

Further info here soon.

If you were at the show, you were able to see the finish that we do, unlike most dealers and restorers nowadays, which is our signature French Polishing. And that definitely makes any piece incredibly attractive, clean, valuable, and that’s why in the late 1700s the English replaced any other type of finish, such as waxing and oiling, with French Polishing, done with shellac only.

And not only you were able to see the finish completed, but also the polishing in progress.

That definitely was what is called a ’show-stopper’, with many visiting our space to see how such a fine finish is achieved.

We worked on a piece in particular, a rosewood trolley, and demonstrated the smoothing of the surface with steel wool, the polishing with the shellac soaked rubbing pad, and so on.

Many stopped to ask questions, to ask for restoration services, and some came back to see how the work progressed, being surprised by the amount of time needed to achieve the results.

And I can confirm that nobody really knew anybody that could do the same job with the same technique, and basically, anybody that do and can French Polish.

Younger people had very little idea of what shellac is, and many ignore the present uses of it.

We informed everybody, and we revealed all that can be revealed at an antiques’ show, as we prefer the educated client that knows what to look for, so he/she can avoid fakes and non antique pieces, at the same time avoid disappointments and therefore not loose interest in antiques, and hopefully, he/she would be even more interested in our pieces, which are authentic antiques; and that’s while learning more about the correct finish for antiques, how value is affected by a bad finish, what are the benefits of protection of antique pieces of furniture, and so on.

So the weather could’ve been worse, the attendance was far superior than what expected, at least at our space, with many local residents ignoring our presence and picking up cards and getting information and planning a visit. This was in fact our main objective, so that’s great. As an alternative to advertising, you can’t beat a local show, and we’re in Newton Highlands while the show was in the neighbouring Wellesley.

It was also great to see present clients come to visit and talk about everything, including antiques of course, and with the next container of antiques shipping after the summer, it’s great to find out what our customers, actual and potential, are looking for.

In fact, we are getting ready for 2 buying trips to England, in mid-August and at the beginning of September, and we will also travel to Italy, where our main business is located, and pick the antiques that are going to fill up the container, approx 100 pieces!

The shipment can’t be done during the summer for the risk of damage to the furniture due to the summer heat, which is terrible in a metal container.

As expected, our hallstands are a priority, but to be very honest, not one of the pieces that we brought to the show got less attention than most of the others. Of course a few were obviously really attractive, such as the large bookcase, the Victorian chest of drawers, the Edwardian music cabinet, and so on.

Although we didn’t want to bring too many pieces, given the only very few hours to load/unload/setup and vice-versa, we did bring quite a few different articles to give a good idea of what we have and can get, and how we can refinish them, personally and without outsourcing the restoration.

Of course that made it a very big effort, and it’ll take a few days before we can be back to the normal set up in the store and therefore to normal business.

We brought Walnut, Mahogany, Rosewood, Victorian, Edwardian, Georgian, even one high quality Art Deco cabinet, and bookcases, display cabinets, chests of drawers (bureaus or bureaux, or dressers), tables, trolleys (carts), writing desks, stools, settees, music cabinets, corner cabinets, mirrors, chiffoniers (sideboards or buffets), and of course, hallstands (hat and coats stands, umbrella and stick stands).

The show is over, the weather wasn’t bad, great during set up on Friday, after many days of constantly rainy days with thunderstorms, good in the morning of the first day, definitely too hot in the afternoon, concerning during the night, when it rained really heavily in the Boston area, but with no damage to the furniture, and generally overcast during the whole second day, which was great except for the very high humidity and the fact that it probably scared many that were considering the day ant the antique show. Of course it started raining at 3:59, and at 4 we started loading our antiques again and then unloaded them at our store on Route 9.

After the Wellesley Antique Show, we are resuming to normal hours with a slight difference.

We will be open from 10 am to 4 pm from Monday to Saturday and until August 9th, 2008.

Deliveries, appraisals, estimates, quotes, restoration and all other services have to be arranged outside the above hours.

We are loading and setting up our space at the Wellesley Antique show, Elm Bank.

Therefore we are in and out of the store, so please call ahead to make sure we can assist you.

Tel: 617 999 0269

Thank you!