Following the trail of special bargains, we wander Edinburgh’s Antiques Treasure Trail and visit two antique dealers. Will the hunt be a success?
You can barely get inside Allan K. L. Jackson’s shop. And I mean that quite literally. Behind the entrance door you can maybe get another metre and a half before a sort of rubbish heap blocks the way. It stretches all the way to the back wall of the shop. On the left, an old, oily, rusty petrol pump blocks access to the shelves along the wall. On the right runs the shop counter, behind which sits an elderly gentleman in a grubby shirt – Mr Jackson, I assume. This isn’t an antiques shop, it’s a rubble heap.
Funny that it’s here, of all places, our hunt will be a success.
Courtyard Antiques, by contrast, where we’d just been shortly before, lies two street corners away. It presented itself to us quite differently. It too was packed full of bits and pieces, but everything seemed to have some kind of order. The owner had carefully laid out paths through the two floors of his shop. Valuable items sat in display cabinets or small cupboards, and even the things outside them seemed noticeably higher quality than in Jackson’s clutter.
Courtyard Antiques had the flair of a museum. Plenty of old, fine wood, a diving suit with a brass helmet, uniforms and weapons from other centuries, crystal chandeliers, ornately carved bed frames, and lovingly detailed model sailing boats. We could even have bought stained-glass panels with pictures on them here. But we didn’t want to spend that much money. We were on the hunt for small special finds – “curiosities”. You can feel right at home at Courtyard Antiques. But our hunting instinct couldn’t be satisfied here.
We’d actually caught the antiques-hunting bug in Scotland itself. The BBC runs a programme called “Antiques Road Trip“, in which the presenters wander through antique shops across the whole of Britain to snag cheap bargains, which they then sell on for a profit at auctions. They negotiate with the shop owners in a way that’s charming but also tough – sometimes successful, sometimes less so. We picked up quite a few useful phrases along the way, like “what is your absolute best on it” or “could you do it for a tenner, quid”. We absolutely wanted to try this out for ourselves now.
There’s a brochure for Edinburgh that lists almost all the antique dealers in the city. It’s called “Edinburgh’s Antiques Treasure Trail”. (You can find a still-incomplete list of antique dealers in Scotland here.)
https://youtu.be/3Mr0u1Vo-BY
But back to Mr Jackson’s shop. Right now I’m genuinely worried about the owner. Balancing on one leg on a stool, he stretches up towards the top shelf behind the counter. His shirt slips unflatteringly out of his trousers as he does. “The right one,” my wife directs him. With a practised flea-market eye, she’s spotted a decorated glass among all the clutter. Jackson fishes the glass down. “And the other one beside it as well.” Jackson reaches for a second, very similar glass, climbs back down and sets the pair on the counter.
Meanwhile Katrin has already vanished behind the petrol pump into the shelving – what will she find this time? She pulls out a small salt shaker. Glass at the bottom, metal on top. Thanks to Antiques Road Trip, we know exactly what to look for: hallmarks. If we found one on the lid of the salt shaker, the metal would be silver, or at least silver-plated. And sure enough: there it is. Finally we’d found a worthwhile haul.
Katrin places the salt shaker next to the two pickle jars. So that’s our “lot”, our little bundle of goods. There are no price tags stuck on, which leaves room for imagination.
“How much for the salt sifter?” I open the round.
Jackson wants five pounds, about 6.30 euros. Actually a fair price. But we’re not here for fairness.
Haggle! Now! Go! In theory I know how it’s done. And yet: I’m just not used to it, coming from Germany, and have to gather all my courage.
“Could you do it for three?” I say, thinking “and we’ll meet at four”.
Jackson eyes me with a critical look over the rim of his glasses. “Ok.” That was easy … now I’m getting into it.
In the end, we stumble out of the shop drunk with victory and our three little treasures in hand. We paid 12 pounds for them? Too much? Too little? Doesn’t matter! Finding and haggling give us the kick. And already, as we leave the shop, we’re certain: this won’t have been our last hunt on the Antiques Treasure Trail.
