Could your prized collectables be worth a small fortune?

It’s a notion that might seem far-fetched, but as this interview with Martin Farrah of Lawsons Auctioneers reveals, many of us could be sitting on a prized-collectables goldmine.

“It’s that daggy stuff that your grandma or your grandfather had at the beach house, such as the Parker sideboard, the two Parker chairs. Beautifully designed chairs and the green upholstery.

“It’s a shag pile rug, cast iron cookware, cocktail cabinet or the art glass,” said Martin. “And it was during COVID that we saw things like sewing machines back in vogue like the old treadle ones or the old cast iron ones that we used to just give away. And people started to buy two for $300 that come back again and again.

The jewellery in high demand

“Jewellery is pretty consistent – you will have modern jewellery and antique jewellery, which comes in and out of fashion. Contemporary jewellery seems to have a fairly steady market and that’s down to you know when people buy diamonds, that’s a market driven commodity. So the price will pretty much just go up and down with the core metal prices, gold, silver, platinum and then diamond prices,” notes Martin.

The antique collectables fetching good valuations

“It’s mid 20th century items that are very much in vogue at the moment,” says Martin. “Things like the Parker sideboard and Scandinavian or European furniture.

“The reason that it’s so hot is because I suppose they’re seen as new antiques because grandma and grandpa maybe had it in the house at the beach house or whatever. Well, your parents in the 60s or 70s spent a lot of money on it. So you’ve got the sideboard, you’ve got the cocktail, you’ve got the entertainment cabinet, the shelving, occasional tables, bedsides, better furniture.

“But now we’re seeing the sideboards are getting $2,000 to $3,000 each and the people buying them they’re mainly in a city dwellers and the lighter colours because a lot of them are maple and what have you that the lighter colours suit our environment a lot better. It’s the cool, sleek lines now on this contemporary Scandi stuff, or, or mid 20th century stuff that’s a huge trend at the moment.”

The art that’s hot right now

“We’ve got traditional art coming back into vogue, such as the Tom Roberts pieces and Charles Condor, all those big names back at the Heidelberg School. All that stuff’s coming back into vogue now, so if you’ve got one of them hanging on the wall, now is a good time to sell.

“At the other end of the market with the contemporary pieces, you’ve got the staples like Brett Whiteley, Fred Williams and Jeffrey Smart. They’re sort of modern and are pretty bulletproof. But then you’ve got contemporaries like Jason Benjamin and David Bromley – they’re sort of pretty bulletproof as well. And they’re easy to get into at the $5,000 or $6,000 mark. And they’re good entry points for people to get into art collecting.

“Indigenous art is also fairly popular and it allows you to find all sorts of colours and buyers love it,” says Martin.