What Sells And What Doesn't

19th century English furniture doesn't sell. Well, I knew that. But what I didn't know is that 19th century French furniture does. Not ornate, haute-bourgeois furniture-heavy on the inlay and the ormolu (the kind my grandfather collected) but the farmhouse stuff. It's got clean lines, it's made out of light wood and one can picture Monet having it in his kitchen. It's a pity we don't have any to sell, but then, again, if we did, I think I'd want to keep it.

Another thing that sells well is G-plan.

We've been following an online auction again. We had 21 lots in it- and sold most of them. As before the big items of furniture came first- and the auctioneer raced through them because most of them were unsaleable. Our two chairs were among the few English 19th century items to find a buyer. They're Regency chairs, mahogany- with brass inlay in their backs: they went for £18 the pair...