Clinton Howell Antiques

It would be churlish to deny that the Obama win was a victory over racism. It most certainly was and will, I hope, empower minorities around America and the world to believe in themselves and the strength of democracy and equality. That being said, however, I voted for a man with high ideals and strong convictions and a lucid intelligence, nothing more and nothing less.

It was just over a year ago when my sister sent me an email to say that Obama was an interesting candidate. I started to look at him seriously and by November of last year, I was a supporter. As I am also a fan of the NY Giants football team, my hopes were akin to those I have for them winning the Super Bowl every season--next to nil. As it happens, however, they did win the Super Bowl. I should have suspected it was to be a year of upsets.

Do I know that he will be a good president? No, I don't. But I like his resolution, his tenacity and I like the fact that he favors dialogue to reach a consensus. That our nation is divided on a great many issues is clear, but we still have to live and work together as a team. The Giants figured it out and made the improbable happen. May our nation do the same.

A week ago today, I bicycled to Potsdam with my son Henry. We were in Caputh for the wedding of a son of a dealer friend of mine. Caputh is about ten kilometers southwest of Potsdam and we figured it would be a great way to pass the morning before the 2:30 wedding. We set off on the road on the eastern side of the Templiner See which is one of a series of lakes through which the River Havel travels. I knew we would not have much time to see the sights of Sanssouci, Frederick the Great's palaces and pleasure pavilions, but I wanted to see as much as I could. As it was, the park where Sanssouci is located is huge and it was lucky that we were on bicycles.

Our return route was on the western side of the Templiner See and was without the aid of a map. Most of the biking was through woodlands on well packed trails although I think the number of cyclists on the paths is limited. It was a beautiful ride and we were fooled by the Templiner See's shoreline thinking that we had overshot our mark for the short ferry ride into Caputh. We eventually made the three minute ferry and were back in our hotel for a very quick lunch in order to get to the church. We were the last to make it in the doors.

The wedding had about 110 guests and the first thing we did after the photographs post the ceremony was to get onto a large ferry for a ride on the Templiner See. It was the perfect way to finish the bike ride because we were able to see just where we had gone from an entirely different vantage point. I would have liked to have had more time in Potsdam, but I have to say the thing that I must remember is the bike ride with my son.

"I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles....", is a refrain from a Who song from the 1960's that stumbles its way through my brain from time to time. The 1960's was not an era of the long view, at least as I recollect it. It was carpe diem.

Seeing clearly is what is necessary at this point in time, however, particularly if you believe in the long view. Antique dealers have to see clearly because when they don't it is a very expensive lesson. I have been down that road and it always hurts.

Politicians, financiers and those corporate honchos who have in one way or another contributed to our current perilous state need to see very clearly at the moment. I'm not adjudicating blame, just looking towards solving the problems of the moment. These people should take a hard look at themselves and look to where they can help.That hard look should be done in the reflection of a good 18th century frame with original glass. The reflection in such is very kind indeed.

Yesterday, I suggested that Christopher Mason, who published an expose in the NY Times about the antique dealer, Carlton Hobbs, was impugning the antiques trade, but in reading the article again, it is more like an indictment. The indictment is broad--the entire antiques trade and he uses a few decorators to hit home his point.

I do not wish to talk ill of decorators as it is a great trade, filled with honorable people. One thing I find, however, is that they know very little about the antique business. In the article, Mr. Mason quotes the decorator, Robert Couturier, as suggesting that he might never use antiques again. How snippy of him and what an enormously stupid statement. Maybe he should never go to the movies if he sees a lousy film? I could go on, but comments like this deserve oblivion.

An English, English furniture dealer who I had lunch with today said that he does not know anything better than great English furniture from any point of view. I share his bias, great English furniture is simply fantastic. Those decorators who have made mistakes by buying from the wrong people have had their heads turned for the wrong reasons. I wonder what those reasons were?

I read with interest Christopher Mason's article about Carlton Hobbs, the antique dealer on 93rd St., in the NY Times this morning. Basically, Mr. Mason seems to want to nail the coffin of the antiques trade shut and inter us six feet under. His causus belli are the alleged transgressions of John and Carlton Hobbs, brothers who were once partners and who have fallen out, dealers of very expensive antique furniture to the stars in the collecting and decorating world.

I know nothing of Dennis Buggins and little of John Hobbs operation in London although I find John, who I have not talked to for at least fifteen or twenty years, to be a thoroughly objectionable person--abusive towards those who disagree with him and condescending to almost everyone else. That the brothers have fallen out is no one's business but their own and yet Mr. Mason has used it as a tool to determine the alleged perfidy of the two brothers and, in turn, the entire antiques trade.

The subject of faking is not an easy one to discuss, particularly with people who are uncertain of what one is really talking about. Suffice it to say that fakery has existed in the trade since antiques became more highly valued than new or reproduction furniture. What exactly constitutes a fake? Making items from scratch is clearly wrong, but we have to remember that Mr. Buggins, the faker, was demanding money from the brothers. His testimony will inevitably be suspect.

It is silly to impugn anyone through innuendo and yet I believe that Mr. Mason, who quotes leading decorators about being worried about the antiques trade--not just the Hobbs brothers--is impugning all of us. When he called me and asked me about the future of the industry, which I assured him would survive this scandal, I should have said that the business is about one thing and that is trust. If the Hobbs brothers have lost that trust, it is their problem, but to imply that the entire antiques trade hinges on their reputations is both inaccurate and an injustice.

I was asked by a journalist today what I thought about scandals to do with faking in antique furniture. My mind immediately jumped to the mortgage backed derivatives that theoretical economists developed and which has nearly dissolved the financial structure of the globalized world. I was wondering if one of these economists might have done well in creating fake Chippendale furniture as they were so good at creating false value.

No one likes to get fooled. Not only do they not like getting fooled, they don't like other people to know that they were fooled. This is a conundrum for a foolee as they are unable to admit their foolery. It is a difficult position to be in.

Fakes, as the mortgage derivatives have proven, are a part of life. Fakery is everywhere. There are fake emotions, fake intellectuals, a fake vice presidential candidate, it is astounding how credible we can be. I sort of wonder whether we should inure ourselves to living a lie? Having just finished reading "East of Eden" where neither innocence or evil is a favored state, I would say, as one of the characters does, that "truth is more permanent".

You forget just how great some literature can be until you decide to try it. "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck is one of those great books that offers superb, crisp sentences, expansive characters in taut and very real situations and, to boot, some intricate philosophy. The man knew how to write.

We are in an age where information can kill us. Not literally, of course, but we are so inundated with the state of the world from moment to moment that we don't really know how we should be. In essence, our thoughts should be where our center is and that is in appreciating what is good, not searching for a profit.

As a confirmed aesthete, I have to say that you can find your center and enjoy more of the world. That beauty that is so elusive can be found just about anywhere, but if you would like to visit, I can assure you that some of it is in my gallery at this very moment. There is a release in not thinking about profit and loss, a place where the highs and lows are far more subtle. English antique furniture is, from my point of view, something you can hold onto when everything else seems ephemeral.

Would that I could offer some bromide about the financial debacle, but I am not qualified. It seems to me to be sheer panic. Unfortunately, we won't be able to change the channel until the show has run its course and the nightmare is over.

What does it mean for antique dealers? I have bought at least eighteen items in the last month or so and, to my way of thinking, it is the right and only thing to do. I might pay a little less, but beauty is beauty and I believe that people will always be intrigued by beautiful things. 

If you have levaraged yourself financially to a point where you are losing everything, I fear that focusing on beauty will not be a palliative. But if you have lost a lot of money but not your lifestyle, it might be worth focusing on beauty in some part of your life. It is the only bromide that I know that actually works.

The antiques business has a crazy relationship to the economics of the moment. It tends to mute the speculator interest making auctions a little less expensive. That should be good for the business except that there is very little coming up for sale. Demand hasn't diminished in the slightest as far as I am concerned with interest in things at all price points. I don't know if this makes sense or not, but our financial system is not lacking for cash in the private sector as far as I know. And I still would rather live with some wonderful things than multiple millions in the bank. That is exactly what I am doing so what else is new?

To watch an alleged debate between two candidates running for president is a form of torture that this country thinks gives them the information needed to vote for either candidate. I don't think so. McCain comes across as platitudinous and condescending and Obama sounds frustrated by the fact that no one seems to get the solution he is offering. I have sympathies for both candidates in that these times require a great deal of analysis that belie sound bite answers. This country is in a mess and needs, to begin with, a leader that has courage and an inner compass that is able to withstand the pressure of special interests. So far, I think Obama is ahead on that score.

The running mates are a different matter. The NY Times editorialists, Thomas Friedman and Maureen Dowd both focus on McCain's running mate today. That candidate's willingness to play the attack dog is a disgrace to the American political system. It is contemptuous of the voters and ignores the realities we are facing from financial melt downs to job losses. Obama's running mate is getting no press which may be a good thing, but I do wish there was a second debate that focused on the legitimacy of character slagging. Soap opera should be fictional television fare, not part of our political process.

As an antique dealer who has had the good fortune to care about aesthetics all my life, a non-threatening environment if ever there was one, I regret having to talk about politics in this blog. I would much rather talk about the beauty of the world as seen in art and antiques, but this campaign is extraordinary. That one VP nominee has me more scared than I can say. If she ends up running this country, my hopes for the future of America will be on very shaky ground.

In the 1960's political discourse was like the dessert course to every meal. Parents and children, if they were old enough, would discuss the war, the military industrial establishment, the government, the intense rioting all over the country and on and on. The discussions were almost always heated, but many parents, at least mine, were open to the message that the US government left a lot to be desired in the way that things were run. That openness almost seems hallucinatory in retrospect, because it does not seem to exist today. Today, we are all entrenched in our issues. For people my age, it is lower taxes. Excuse me, look at the US debt and tell me we should lower our taxes.

On a separate subject, when I hear one of the VP candidates speak, I am made aware that the candidate is uneducated. Folksiness is fine, up to a point, but bad grammar reveals someone who has never been exposed to good grammar. And that is only the starting point. Lack of education does not mean a lack of brain power, but I have to say that anyone serving me or my district needs, from my point of view, an education. Education gives breadth and depth to analysis. I don't care whether someone knows the Bill of Rights or who the president of Pakistan is, but I do want them to know how history has a habit of repeating itself. I would like them to know the mistakes made in the past so that they aren't repeated. That means a great deal to me. This candidate scares me more than any of the other three, I don't care what scandals they have been involved in or who they might have associated with, a lack of an educated candidate for the second highest office in the land is a scandal in its own right. I cite the 50 and 60 year olds of my generation who are ignoring this fact. It is extremely distressing.

What actually does matter for the United States? We all know that a well educated populace creates a work force capable of a great deal. We also know that a health system that works eases the minds of everyone. We need it desperately. The best thing about this election is the amount of interest there is in it. The worst thing is that we aren't talking about these two issues let alone a host of others that need discussion. This is beyond distressing.

My pre-dawn thoughts centered on the nature of beauty. As we know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but we also know that a rose by any other name is still a rose. What is beautiful will come out, sooner or later, and what is not will be forgotten.

Contemporary art is often not beautiful. It often needs an explanation to accompnay it. The picture of Damien Hirst in front of his bull in formaldehyde reminds me of the film "Moses" and the golden calf that sort of looks like Mr. Hirst's bull. Maybe that is the point. I don't get it.

Carping about contemporary art is a waste of time. The people who love it have their reasons and so they behold. My curiosity, and I can't possibly live long enough to see the answer, is where oeuvres like Hirst's will end up. But time is a serious judge and takes a long time to think things over. The one thing I am certain of is that beauty will win the day.

In the semi-lucid moments of half sleep that I often encounter during the night, my mind turns to subjects that I probably should not think about but which bedevil me just the same. Why do we collect things from the past? What is it about things from the past that captures our attention? Do these things give a dimension to our existence that otherwise might not exist?

Words, and even emotions for that matter, don't offer a tactile sense of moment that something tangible has. True or false, there is a shelf life to words and emotions that is not as durable as a piece of furniture that is 200 years old. These objects actually represent something for having survived, and that representation for all of us is quite personal. 

This is not true for everyone. We all have our preferences and we all see the world in our own fashion. Newness, for example, offers a certain palliative to some people. Whether people who collect have a deficiency or a more finely honed intellect or perhaps a combination of both, is something I will never figure out. I am just glad that some of them value what I sell. I know I share their passion.

About five years ago, a Guatemalan I know was being besieged to take a loan of $20,000 by a local banker, receiving five to ten calls a day for several months. There were no requirements to the loan. The man could have taken it and disappeared to Guatemala. He did not take it. This was Main St. doing the job that Wall St. is being criticized for at this moment. Seems like the responsibility for this mind set cuts two ways.

What was this cheap money all about? I would suggest that it was a sense of entitlement. Bankers were making money off of loans and Wall St. was making money packaging these loans into derivatives. The dearth of any sense of responsibility lay with all those people placing the cheap money, not to mention the Fed which created the cheap money to begin with. I don't wish to be political, but the economy is a sensitive political issue and a strong one makes the sitting president look good. Hmmmm.........

I believe that the nation needs to be strong in three areas to be successful and they are health, education and infrastructure. Of these, education is the most important for obvious reasons. It seems like there should be one additional element on that list--responsibility, and it may be the most important of all.

On another note, I am sad to see the demise of The Sun newspaper. It had the very best arts section of any newspaper I have ever read, bar none. That coverage will be missed. I did not agree with their political slant although I found the editorials vastly amusing at times. And the crossword puzzle was a killer. I seldom finished the most difficult ones on Friday. May the puzzle be resurrected somewhere else and would someone please let me know if it is.

While reading the review of Bob Woodward's fourth volume of the George Bush presidency, I realized exactly what I want in a politician and that is a man who, like Bush, has a strong will, but who also has the desire to understand the nature of any problem he is confronted with. Unfortunately, Bush has used will as a substitute for preparedness and deliberation.

Antique dealers who tout that what they have is the "very best" are often deluding themselves and, as a consequence, deluding their clients. Not every item needs to be the best of the best. That is an impossibility. What is needed is a good understanding of what you are selling. When I buy decorative items, for example, I buy them because they appeal to me, not because they are unique, I wouldn't know if many of the decorative items I sell are are unique or not.

I think what I am talking about is having enough balance to know what the middle of just about any situation is. If you are talking about an antique, what is it about it that makes enough sense to have the item in your shop? There must be reasons for it being on display. In a politician, I want understanding before I get action. The world is too dangerous a place to be heedless of consequence.