To Sell a Vintage Dining Room Set in
Your Antiques Shop -
Set the Table

French crystal wine glasses, a majolica platter, a porcelain strawberry bowl or a solid silver pots a oille (tureen for holding stews) - these are some of the sophisticated and elaborate components that somehow just make the delicacies served in them taste that much better. What? Oh. You're not hungry?

Okay. Then let's talk about making money with these items instead.

Back when we were renting what was called "The Carriage House", part of a very large antiques mall, we carried quite a bit of furniture. We had a few high-end pieces but, for the most part, we sold the same vintage furniture you find in most malls. We also kept our profit margin down as much as we could - we wanted to turn the merchandise over so we could keep the look of our space fresh.

It seemed we always had two dining room sets for sale most of the time. We would price the china cabinet, the buffet, the dining table and the chairs all separately from each other. After all, turn over was the goal. Fewer people need or want an entire dining room set. More people are looking for a dining table they like but don't need chairs to go with it. Or they have a table they are happy with but they need a set of chairs. You will then usually come across someone who just needs a buffet or just needs a china cabinet. These items sell faster if they each carry their own individual price.

We did what we thought was a fair job of decorating our space to make it look attractive and inviting to the public. We were heavily into smalls, artwork, toys and all of the other collectibles you find in similar shops. However, we did not want to take away from the charm of the dining tables by cluttering them up with "stuff." We wanted the customers to see the beauty of the wood and the patina on these tables, which was only achieved after years of being lovingly cared for by their previous owners.

Fortunately we really enjoyed looking at these wonderful tables that were expertly hand-carved with the promise of lasting a lifetime. That was a good thing because it seems like that's how long we had them in the shop - a lifetime! Two years into our career as antique dealers, we had turned over everything in our space at least four or five times. We even turned over the chairs on several occasions. But not those dining tables!

It got to the point that we couldn't stand looking at them. We had considered sending them to auction but we weren't going to give in. Sending them to auction would mean that we would have to be nuts to buy more dining room tables going forward. How can you have a space as big as ours with as much furniture as we had and not have a dining room table? Besides, if we sent them to auction and then a customer came in and dared to ask, "Don't you have any dining tables?" I'm not sure what would have happened.

One day as we were rearranging our space in order to achieve a new look, we decided to set one of the tables. No one wanted the table anyway. If we used it to display a lot of the nice tableware we had then we would have more space for smalls in our cabinets and showcases.

An elegantly set table is as much about personal taste as about style. Collectible pieces for tables run the gamut from fine bone china to painted porcelain, from oddly shaped serving vessels to extravagant Victorian utensils. While many homes reserve collectible items for the curio cabinets, if handled carefully, these collectibles can be used for special occasions and holidays to the enjoyment of all.

We had always been "symmetry" people. If something is not balanced, it doesn't look right. Also, we always felt that everything had to match. After reviewing our inventory of tableware we realized that we didn't have complete sets of anything. We carried sets of china but we didn't have any at the time; at least none that would make these tables look elegant. Melmac from the 1950's wouldn't cut it with an expensive Victorian table.

In our space, we did have some beautiful single pieces of antique china, some vintage crystal stems in different patterns, some individual pieces of sterling silver hollowware, sterling silver flatware and some beautiful antique porcelain serving pieces but very little of it matched. We decided to break our own rules and go with the individual items we had.

Since we attended a different auction almost every night, we started looking for other pieces that would fit into our new theme of not having a theme. Each individual piece or each different 5-piece place setting we bought could be sold separately in the shop. Keep in mind that when you buy one vintage hand-painted plate that once belonged to a set it can be much cheaper, especially at auction.

After about a week we were ready to set one of our tables. European dinner plates are approximately nine inches in diameter as opposed to the hungrier American counterparts, which range between ten to eleven inches. We used eight different hand-painted European dinner plates made by 5 different manufacturers. All the patterns were different.

We also included a couple of pieces of antique Delft. Delft came into being when Europeans were trying to imitate the much sought after Chinese porcelain. The Delft created by the Dutch was blue and white and blue and white has proven to be a very popular color palette every since.

Included on our table were two or three pieces of Chinese Imari porcelain. Limoges France was also well represented with a couple of exceptional pieces. Of course no table setting would be complete without a few beautiful antique pieces of Haviland.

We also added other plates to include elegant yellow faience from the South of France, floral plates made by Wedgwood, Royal Doulton and Meissen, floral butter pats made in Germany and hand-painted in England, cut crystal dumbbell style knife rests and sterling silver salt cellars with spoons.

Serving items and receptacles also add a signature style to a table. Not only beautiful, these pieces are useful for holding and serving various kinds of food. Some items may appear antiquated, but it's this old-fashioned charm that can add special interest to a table.

Platters are essential pieces that are frequently needed for large family meals on special occasions. These pieces may be made of porcelain, bone china, ceramic or silver. A tureen is also necessary for soups or stews. Sauceboats are elegant tableware as well. All of these items come in a wide array of antique styles in a myriad of designs and colors.

Some of the less common pieces we had on display included asparagus plates, snail plates, egg cups, cheese platters, butter dishes, strawberry dishes, cake plates, compotes and fruit baskets.

Silver can be a symbol of old-world elegance, especially old silver that was used during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Someone looking to collect this should watch for marks from Lille, Paris, Strasbourg and Bordeaux. A piece with a coat of arms is even more desirable because of its retail value. However when searching out these treasures, people need to beware of imitations and counterfeit pieces.

When it comes to utensils, some people might favor the silverware of a certain era like late Victorian or the 1930's. At auction we had bought quite a bit of assorted sterling silver flatware. There were no sets but there were some 5-piece place settings that did match. We used this sterling silver flatware on our table. It included Reed & Barton Francis I from 1907, Wallace Grand Baroque from 1941 and Gorham Etruscan from 1918.

Unlike today, many of the older silver companies that made flatware also made a varied number of additional place setting pieces. Silverware back in Victorian times versus the present is an indicator of people's tastes. It reflects a way of life, fashions, attitudes and much more. The Victorians set a table with so many different silver utensils that they must have lived very fussy lives. There was a utensil for everything.

In addition to the sterling place settings on our table, we also included a fruit knife and fork, perforated strawberry spoons, nutcracker, lobster forks, ice hook, ice knife, individual butter spreaders, asparagus tongs, grape scissors, snail forks, oyster forks and other pieces. The addition of items like these, which don't get much exposure today, can provide a real snapshot into the past and what dining must have been like in those days. We are not used to formal meals today but back then every meal was formal.

Like dinnerware, glassware and stemware add an important sense of style. French crystal, Venetian filigree, Bohemian glass - these are richly elegant choices for any table. Our table included stemware from Cambridge, Waterford and a number of other vintage crystal manufacturers. We featured water goblets, wine stems, champagne flutes, cordials and brandy snifters.

To top off our refined array of early tableware, we added vintage figural silverplated napkin holders, 2 sterling silver candelabras and a floral centerpiece, all placed on top of an antique lace tablecloth with linen napkins.

Once we were finished, we were quite surprised that we didn't need to take Dramanine for motion sickness. The table looked both unique and elegant at the same time. It was a little busy looking but not as bad as we had expected. Several eras and many famous manufacturers from times gone by were represented. We could almost picture the founders of all these companies, such as Haviland, Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, Meissen, Gorham, Cambridge and others, sitting around the table discussing their newest ideas for transforming the world of porcelain, glass and silver.

We no longer minded looking at this particular dining room table. We stopped thinking about how long we had owned it. That's probably why two days later a couple came into the shop and bought it. They also bought several of the pieces we had on the table. Everything was then moved to our other dining table. We replaced the sold table with another and that ritual continued for the rest of the time that we had the shop.

We kept our dining tables set with wonderful old collectible tableware, which greatly increased our number of sales. The tableware did much better in its rightful setting than it did when we had it inside cabinets and showcases.

We guess the lesson here is to just keep moving your merchandise around in your shop, trying different scenarios - if you do this enough you will spend less time dusting your cash register.

Written by Anne Benedetto, Auction House Talk
 All Rights Reserved

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