Boulder County Home & Garden Magazine, Fall 2009
An avid local collector, Donn has spent more than half his life acquiring antiques for his home. Here are his suggestions for neophyte antiquers.
[Companion article to A Houseful of History]
Donn’s bathroom features a hand-hammered copper basin installed into the top of a 19th century Chippendale dresser. The antique shaving mug on the right is for decoration.
By Wendy Underhill Photos by Ron Forth
❆ Elysian Fields Estate Auctions of Niwot (elysianfieldsauctions.com) offers antiques auctions every six weeks; beginners can leave checkbooks at home and just learn their way around the field by attending and watching the pros.
❆ Learning to de-acquire is essential; otherwise you may find yourself living in a jumble of the wonderful and the moth-eaten.
❆ Build a relationship with an antiques dealer. Denver, Niwot and Lyons are all good places to find professionals. Donn appreciates his relationship with John Boulware of John Boulware Antiques in Denver. “I’ve been a good customer, and John has become a good friend of mine,” he says.
❆ “Never, ever buy an antique table of any kind without looking under it to see if the top has been replaced,” Donn says. Tops and bottoms can be “married,” which reduces their value a great deal. However, he and his wife Kathy have a married highboy in their parlor and love telling of its mixed provenance: The married pieces are “from the same period, circa 1780 New England,” Donn says, “but they were definitely made by two different craftsmen.”
❆ Buy the best specimen you can afford. If you have $300, spend it on one nice thing, not on three so-so things.
Kathy added faux finish to the sitting room’s walls to complement the home’s antique stoneware jugs and crocks. The little birdhouse on the upper left has its original painted finish from the 1850s. The wall shelf holds Donn and Kathy’s collection of American treenware—small, wooden functional objects, like plates and sugar bowls.
❆ Although electronic antiques sales are booming, Donn is not keen on buying over the Internet. “How can you look underneath a table on a computer screen?” he says.
❆ Most antiques show best in an off-white room, which focuses attention on the pieces, instead of the room. A plain background also reduces visual clutter.
❆ Acquire a minimum of three things to specialize in, such as candlesticks, baskets or tea caddies. “Two is one short of a collection,” Donn says.
❆Donn is not a fan of buying complete collections: “The fun’s over because the hunt’s over,” he says. “Why have an instant collection that represents someone else’s efforts? It’s much more enjoyable to build your own.”
