It is with some sense of awe that I write these lines, for it was twenty years ago this February that Hampshire Antiques first opened its doors. We now rank number three in longevity on Granville Street (along with Michael Tee & Uno Langmann) which is no mean achievement for a small store competing on a big expensive street.

Much like the Saints - no, I'm not invoking some divine power here - but referring to Hampshire's longest soccer survivor in Britain's premier division - you have to be nimble to survive and flourish in the middle range. If life indeed is really like a soccer game, one needs for a small business (team) to take chances, re-invent yourself, have enthusiastic support and, most importantly, score. There's the usual amount of luck and timing involved in there too.

Looking back over two decades - which is a lifetime in any job nowadays - one is struck with the thought of what an odd business it is. Littered with fascinating things, and occasionally fascinating people, it is the only retail business that does not have a guaranteed source of supply so we are in the rather ridiculous situation of turning more customers away than we sell to.

It is said that antique dealers spend 75 per cent of their time looking for inventory and 25 per cent of their time selling it. At Hampshire, our highlight reel in finds was in Northern California in the late '80s when the opening of a new store there was the catalyst for us to move to our present location. Moving shop is very expensive and the profit from the truckload of antiques purchased down south settled us nicely into our present location.

The thrill of the chase is what motivates a lot of collectors and dealers, but real finds can be almost as elusive as lottery jackpot winnings unless you're an extremely knowledgeable and in the right place at the right time. The real payoff here is the joy of collecting - never knowing what's around the next corner in the road or what's in that box that someone has just trundled through the door with.

This brings us to people. There's an old Yorkshire saying "There's nothing owt so queer as folk." Amen to that. I never realized until I started this antique store how different everyone is. The late Nobel Laureate and my wife's boss, Michael Smith, a Yorkshireman and a wonderful man, pointed the way with his research into DNA. If we've each got billions of DNA, clearly everyone is different which can put quite a strain on anyone handling hundreds of people per week.

The old Chinese saying "He who cannot smile, shouldn't run shop." is really what it's all about in the antiques trade. One has to cultivate not only buyers but sellers, without whose co-operation there would not be many antiques shops. The latter often means hours of talk and visits which may or may not be fruitful depending on the whims and caprices of the seller involved. I once waited 15 years for one collection to materialize! It's nothing to be called back to a home 2 to 3 years after the initial visit to still await a decision to sell. On the selling side, selling cycles for antiques have greatly changed in twenty years. The go-go days of the '60s and '70s saw antiques sell very quickly, sometimes overnight. Fast sales today depend more on having something lined up for a customer than waiting for Mr. or Mrs. Right to walk through the door. When you think that twenty years ago the sales tax was 6 per cent, there was much more disposable income and there was no GST to ruin everyone's life, no wonder things were much better then!

To any Rip van Winkle out there returning to Vancouver's antique shops after a twenty year absence, the most glaring thing to hit them in the eye would be the change in dealers and stock. Fashions move on so there would be little in the way of crystal, brass, copper, pewter, Limoges dinner sets, silver cutlery, plain furniture or fussy figurines. Instead they would see stores reviving the 50s, others selling battered furniture old and repro, with peeling paint, tons of 20th century china and lots of decorative items of virtually any vintage. They would be flabbergasted too at the prices for good fashionable art and antiques which have left the ordinary and humdrum far, far behind.

The most surprising trend since '81 has been the switch from a city of buyers to a city of sellers. One can almost be forgiven in thinking that antiques have largely gone out of fashion and that cheaper collectables are consuming many collectors interest. The most unexpected event has been the inexorable decline in the value of the Canadian dollar against the U S dollar. This has made the purchasing of quality antiques outside of Canada almost impossible and has literally driven truckloads of good antiques out of the country.

A fairly foreseeable trend has been the steep rise in prices for fine, fashionable antiques in the UK, which has not only encouraged British dealers to travel the world to take tons of quality antiques home, but has also made the business of stocking them a huge capital outlay. It has also created a huge reproduction industry in about everything imaginable. Is there a future in selling things from the past? Of course! At the moment one would advise people to head south or east for opportunities in the business. The most successful dealers are the ones with the greatest knowledge with commensurate financial backing. You have to learn from the right people about the right things.

All things being equal, I think the key to success in the antiques business is longevity. If you're around long enough you should have learned a lot, kept pace with trends and, most importantly, placed your name in the minds of thousands of people for future transactions both buying and selling. It's going to take a while, though. I reckon by the time I'm 102, I'll finally be making a fortune out of the business!

Antiques & the Internet Part III It seemed like such a good idea - hit a worldwide audience with your inventory and watch the money roll in as collectors around the world snap up your stock. But it hasn't quite worked out that way. Since last spring when the high-tech stocks started their downward slide, the Internet just hasn't been the same. At least, that has been our experience. The downturn in business has forced some sites to merge or close and even the big daddy of them all, EBay, is facing a $100 million lawsuit in California.

The problem seems to be that there have been, and are, problems. Enough people have had less than satisfactory experiences, especially with more expensive pieces, so buyers are shying away from things that they cannot actually hold in their hand. The EBay case is all about six people finding the sports memorabilia they bought on-line is fake. They want EBay to take responsibility for goods sold.

California has a state law governing the sale of sports memorabilia and a judge has ruled the case can proceed. The implications of this, should the claimants win, will be far reaching and could put EBay out of business for the cost of vetting millions of items would be enormous.

EBay's argument is that, as it does not describe and list items for sale, it cannot be deemed an auctioneer. They also argue that they cannot see the items as they are not in their possession. This latter statement doesn't really hold water because on the Sothebys .com site (of which we are a member) all items are guaranteed because Sotheybs have vetted the sellers such as ourselves.

This, it would seem, is the only way to build a solid foundation for Internet sales. Potential customers have to have full confidence that the seller will deliver, safely and promptly, the goods as described. Clearly, collectors of serious purchases will return only to sellers who function professionally and to sites that are stringently vetted. It will be fascinating to see the outcome of the EBay lawsuit and we will report on it next time.* NOTE: Our old Internet site SothebyAmazon.com is no more. It has been merged into Sothebys.com where you will find us from time to time listing interesting items for sale.

*As of press time, the suit had been thrown out of court but the collectors are planning to appeal.