David Dickinson: How to find ‘cheap as chips’ antiques for your home

If you’re looking for a home bargain, David Dickinson has good news.

The TV presenter with an eye for great deals, known for being the host of Dickinson’s Real Deal, declares: “There are many bargains to be had out there, when you look – prices in modern retail shops are quite expensive, but if you were to look around a sale room, there are some great buys.”

Nicknamed ‘The Duke’ because of his flamboyant dress sense, Dickinson says prices have plummeted because the younger generation don’t want traditional “dust-gatherer” antiques any more.

“Over the last 20 years the prices have collapsed in the sale rooms,” he says. “Most things are considerably cheaper than they were 20 years ago, so now is actually a very good time for a first-time buyer.

“I think the reason is young people coming into the market today don’t want what their mothers and fathers and grandparents had – a dust-gatherer and something old-fashioned. A lot of people want a new Porsche, a stainless steel kitchen and long-haul holidays, they don’t want porcelain vases that collect dust.

“But there are still people who want to buy nice decorations for their home, a nice picture, a nice lamp, a nice occasional table. So it’s possible to get out there and buy things like that.”

At the age of 83, king of the catchphrase Dickinson is still keen to help people secure the best ‘cheap as chips’ deals, for what he would no doubt refer to as ‘real bobby dazzler’ items.

“I’m a bit of a deal maker, as much as all the shows I’ve done, from Bargain Hunt to Real Deal and other shows as well, have always been helping members of the public to get the best deal they can,” he says.

And he’s even trying to secure a good deal for himself during his latest job, which is promoting refurbished iD Mobile phones. In a bid to get one himself, he reveals: “I’ve already started to negotiate – I’m hoping to get a crackerjack of a deal.”

But while he says the refurbished phones are “virtually brand new”, Dickinson is far more used to buying much older antique items. And as he can’t be there to help first-time buyers who also want to dabble in the antiques market, he advises: “If I was just an ordinary person without any real knowledge, I’d go down to my local sale room and watch the sale and see how things work, and I’d look for something I particularly liked that would go into my home and would give me pleasure.”

And then, he says, inexperienced antique hunters should simply ask the auctioneer for some advice about the item they fancy.

“Just say, ‘I know nothing about this business, I’m a pure amateur, can you help me and advise me?’” he suggests. “And any auctioneer will give you what’s called a condition report.”

This will include whether the item is in its original condition, if there’s any damage, whether it’s been restored, what the auctioneer thinks of it and what the estimated sale price will be. “And then you could decide to put your toe in the water and have a little bid,” says Dickinson. “There’s nothing too difficult about it, but you must go gentle, gentle. Your eyes are the answer to this – if you’ve got an eye to look at something which has quality.”

But what sort of antiques should people be searching for to look good in their home and possibly gain value too?

“This is perhaps as good a time that I know of over the last 20 years to buy furniture,” he says. “Furniture, especially brown furniture, has dropped straight out of fashion – nobody seems to want brown furniture. And if you want to buy a nice bureau, chair or table, if it’s dark brown, mahogany or even walnut furniture, it’s not as popular as it used to be – young people aren’t so attracted to it. So now is a great time to buy it.

“A fall front bureau is something which nobody wants, something which may have been £500-£700, and you’ll probably buy in a sale room now for £75-£100. There are bargains out there to suit your taste.”

But will buying antiques for your home make it look old-fashioned?

“I don’t think that’s the case,” Dickinson insists,“because if you have an eye for design, you can mix and match. You could put modern items with some antique items and collectibles, and it could be very effective.

“You can have the odd nice porcelain vase and put flowers in it to bring colour into the room. There’s all kinds of pieces – you don’t have to have a fuddy-duddy environment, you can have a trendy environment.

“Art Deco is extremely popular with young people – it has a look which has clean lines and a lot of people like that look. I can understand young people wanting that.”

Grandfather-of-four Dickinson, who quietly whispers he’s 84 later this year but has no plans to retire, does, of course, have a fair few antiques in his own “very, very nice penthouse apartment.”

But his own living space is by no means just full of “dust gatherer” old pieces, he says.

“It’s across the board – the apartment’s got lots of wall space, and I’ve got lots of pictures which I enjoy, that I bought over perhaps 20 or 30 years, and I get a lot of pleasure out of them.

“I have some modern furniture, some contemporary tables, but I have antique pictures, and interesting pieces of sculpture in bronze or terracotta as decoration. It’s a mixture, some modern, some antique.”

True to form, Dickinson is speaking from a sale room, and adds: “I’m looking at a picture right now which I’m considering putting a bid on because it caught my eye – it’s attractive, it would look well in my home. Old habits die hard.”

David Dickinson has partnered with iD Mobile to highlight the quality and value of refurbished mobile phones, which are fully tested and warranty-assured for performance and reliability.