Finance & Investments

Cashing in on Collectables By Mel Lewis

Rare old 'treen'(wooden) antique, in fact a 17th century nutcracker!

“Little knowledge”? A specialist dealer once told me that if I knew the names of three vintage makers of corkscrews I’d know three times as much as most general dealers.

A little guile doesn’t go amiss, either … Discovering a 1959 first edition of Malcolm Bradbury’s ‘Eating People is Wrong’ in a box of tat at an auction view, I didn’t steal it. I just turned it round so the telltale spine of the dustjacket was lost to view.

Knowing how lazy people are I figured it would stay that way. I’d bag the Lot for two quid and sell the First elsewhere for £20. Right first time!

Fact: professional dealers tend to be temporary hoarders, rather than investors. They fall in love with certain items and enjoy living with them. But everything is for sale when its time has come. And the price is right, of course.

Mostly, goods are “churned” – bought and sold energetically – to make money on a continuing basis.

Framed? You certainly have been!
Collectables don’t have to be old to be worth serious money. A few years ago, rummaging through a box of framed prints in a south coast saleroom, I stumbled on a photo of a tousle-haired young man seated unusually low at his grand piano.

It was concert pianist Glenn Gould, a quirky genius who famously gave up public performance in favour of the seclusion of the recording studio.

Gould, who died in 1982, had dedicated the photo to a kind colleague. It was signed (in ballpen) and dated 1958.

In the lunch break I phoned a major saleroom. They valued the image at £400-600.

The box went to a rival bidder for £40 and I blagged the Gould picture off him for a fiver.

After enjoying the image on my wall for a couple of years I sold it at a London saleroom for £1700.
  
Money from memories
Some are born to greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them, and others know people who become famous …

Eight years ago I discovered I’d fallen into the last category - and that my unique 40-year-old archive was worth thousands. You could say it was a political coup.

Clare Short, MP, sometime Minister, forever thorn in the side of her own Labour Party, was hitting the headlines - again. Only this time with a sympathetic twist.
In October 1996 The Guardian announced, “Clare Short … last night astonished and delighted her colleagues by announcing that she had been reunited with the son she gave away when she was a young student 31 years ago”.

Married at 18, and newly enrolled at Leeds University, a child would not help her studies or ambitions.

Soon the media hunt was on for the boy’s elusive father. Who was he … what did he look like? Enter this writer.

It was the Sixties and Clare and new husband Andy Moss were college mates of mine.

In fact me and my girlfriend and the Mosses (Short is her maiden name) sometimes made up a foursome for summer outings – we had the Morris Minor.

The black and white picture I’d taken of Clare and hubby (in swimming costumes) on the Yorkshire Moors turned into the holy grail for the baying Press.

It was the only image of son Toby’s lookalike father.

That photo has appeared in the Daily Mail, The Observer, Sun, The Sunday Times, The Independent, and so far made £6,450 in reproduction fees.

Anyone famous in the scrapbook of your life?

Secret antiques
Every dealer has “money for nothing” stories.

Take the Lovejoy who bought an old iron fire fender and later discovered it was really solid silver but had been painted black as a mark of respect following the death of Queen Victoria.

Stumbling on valuable antiques is hardly commonplace – but it’s daft not to look.

People used to store stamps between the pages of books. You could find stamps in mint condition or in desirable blocks or strips.

Search for coins, keys, a penknife or a silver cufflink in the upholstery of an old armchair.

Bureaux, desks and writing slopes often have built-in hiding places for cash, valuables, personal documents.

Simple measurement can reveal a short drawer and a deeper hidey hole behind …

Secret drawers – often triggered by a spring catch – are common in early bureaux and secretaires.

Always check for cubby holes to either side of the central well between stationery compartments or pigeon holes.
Carved wooden columns, a familiar feature of Georgian mahogany and walnut bureaux, may be hollow - for hiding personal letters, love tokens, legal documents, jewellery.

Why the passion for secrecy? In days gone by poorly paid servants had no qualms about selling off the family’s secrets or trinkets.

A writing slope is even easier to check for “secret antiques”. Just hold high, secure the lid, and give it a good shake.

- This article first appeared in Darlington Today magazine

Egypt is the new property hotspot 

With its year-round sun and close proximity to Europe, Egypt has become the new hotspot for those wishing to invest in property abroad.
Figures reveal that property in Egypt is relatively cheap, with a two-bedroom, furnished 100-square foot apartment on the Red Sea costing around £30,000.
“We expect the property market in Egypt to build substantially over the next five years,” says Nagi Azab of Pyramisa Egypt.
“The market is flourishing at the moment and has been for the past few years, with capital growth exceeding 100 per cent in some areas such as the Red Sea Riviera,” he continues.
Tourist figures in Egypt are also on the rise, with numbers of UK visitors up a third on levels in 2000.
Property website www.propertiesabroad.com offers the following five fundamental steps that should be followed by anyone thinking of buying in Egypt.

1. Check the registration status of the property d review title documentation. The transfer of real estate is completed through the registration of the property with the relevant authorities. This said, it is quite common in Egypt for property owners not to register their title in order to avoid paying governmental registration fees amounting to three per cent of the value of the property. Hence, the first step to be undertaken when buying property in Egypt is to check the registration status. Furthermore, a comprehensive review of the title documentation should be undertaken, looking at originals and not through copies, in order to ensure that no fraudulent title documents are provided by sellers.

2. Check if there are any pledges or mortgages registered on the property. Under Egyptian law, mortgages and pledges are recorded on the property itself and are not affected by the transfer of the title. Hence, quite commonly someone can discover that his newly purchased property is pledged to a third party. It is imperative that you ensure the property you wish to purchase is clear and free from any third-party rights such as mortgages and pledges.

3. Ensure that all real estate taxes levied on the property are fully paid. Egyptian’s real estate tax is levied on the property itself and not on the owners. The rate of tax differs by the location and the standard of the property. This tax remains even after a sale, so it is common for a new purchaser to discover he has to pay back tax to authorities.

4. Get a bilingual comprehensive sale and purchase agreement. The first step in transferring the title to a property requires the execution of private sale and purchase agreements between the seller and the purchaser. The seller may produce an Arabic draft which, in many cases, is not readable by the expatriate and does not include all the guarantees, representations and protections a prudent purchaser requires. Hence, it is highly recommendable that a comprehensive bilingual sale and purchase agreement is produced and/or reviewed by the purchaser’s lawyers in order to ensure no contractual exposure persists.

5. The registration of the title is the second phase of the sale. The sale and purchase agreement does not create any rights vis-à-vis third parties and the relevant authorities. In other words, the sale and the purchaser agreement can be used to counter any claims by the seller of the property, but does not safeguard the buyer from potential claims from third parties or the government. The registration of the property is to safeguard the purchaser from such claims. Registration of the property can be done through the Real Estate Department and the Notary Public.
Or the property can be registered through the courts, in the form of a court action against the seller of the property requesting the court to issue ruling confirming the validity of the sale of the property and claming the purchaser as the legitimate owner of the property.
This course of action may take six to nine months depending on the level of co-operation the purchaser receives from the seller.