More Careers in Antiques

Auctioneers and Other Saleroom Personnel
The big auction houses have a number of different types of jobs ranging from auctioneers to office staff. In the past, getting a job as a porter in a saleroom could be a route into becoming an auctioneer. Nowadays, with any of the bigger companies, it probably is not enough on its own and something like a History of Art degree would be advisable. Again, vacancies that are not filled by word of mouth, are advertised in the Antiques Trade Gazette.

Restorer
Jobs for apprentices to established restorers are few if not non-existent. To get an apprenticeship you will probably need to know the restorer first. However, there are a number of colleges that do training courses leading to qualifications recognised by the British Antique Furniture Restorers' Association (BAFRA). Look at their website for more information. If you are interested in restoring and repairing antique clocks and watches the British Horological Institute (BHI) have information on training on their website.

Fairs Organiser
This, again, is a relatively difficult field to enter. Many organisers started as antiques dealers and began organising fairs because they were dissatisfied with those available or they saw a gap in the market that they thought they could fill. However, big companies like DMG Antiques Fairs and Clarion Events, who do the Olympia Fairs, do employ staff to organise their fairs. If you decide to become an independent fairs organiser, it must be stressed that there are a large number of fairs held throughout the country and many of them are run either at a loss or just breaking even. It is a tough business and any new fairs organiser must have enough capital to pay for a good venue and advertising up-front, at least initially (look out for a forthcoming article on running antiques fairs).

Antiques Publishing
There are quite a few specialist antiques magazines and newspapers but, again, many of them are run by very small numbers of people. The one type of personnel most are crying out for are good advertising salespeople because it is a difficult and highly competitive market. Most of the feature writers are freelance and many of them also write antiques books. The Antiques Trade Gazette is one of the few that employs a comparatively large staff (for an antiques newspaper) and it is the publication to read for vacancies.

Copyright © Carol Fisher 2001

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