Growth in the market for Early English Mahogany Furniture

Alongside ample evidence of the continued difficulties in the antique furniture market as a whole, the index recorded a small rise in the stock of Georgian mahogany.  Early Mahogany, a category based on good-quality, middle-range pieces made between 1730 and 1760, during which the reputation of English furniture was established, rose 3% in 2012.

While large amounts of Victorian and Edwardian mahogany furniture continues to be discarded cheaply at auction (the separate Victorian & Edwardian index registered another double-digit fall at -14%), the Late Mahogany (c.1760-1800) category also fared relatively well, registering only a small drop (-1%) - and this despite the continued decline in formal dining furniture and the fall in demand for pieces too bulky for the modern interior. The latter part of 2012 had some cheerful signs of better activity and optimism about the market. It is still not possible to conclude that a substantial recovery is imminent, but the mahogany furniture that took so much criticism over the last decade is now being viewed with much better understanding.

This year's update of the ACC Index comes at the end of a depressed decade for antique furniture. Certainly, as so much antique furniture is now affordable, there are signs that the rate of decline may have slowed and the modest drop recorded in 2012 comes in the wake of much larger falls in 2011 (-7%) and 2010 (-6%).