Antiques May Pave the Way to a Better Future

From the Times-Picayune
Saturday, February 17, 2007
By Renée Peck
InsideOut editor
With thanks to Georgia Chadwick

New Orleans, Jeffrey Simpson writes in the March issue of Architectural Digest, is "like someone who has been shot in a barroom brawl and is still dancing."

That was a first and lasting impression for the nationally known author and antiques authority, a man who, until a year ago, had always maintained a distant love affair with the city...
"I had always wanted to visit New Orleans, ever since I was a child in the 1950s," Simpson said by phone recently. "At 13, when I learned that a girl in my class would be visiting the city, I gave her $5 to buy books about it for me."

Simpson made it here last year to research a story on the state of our antiques market for Architectural Digest. The magazine's editor, Paige Rense, plans an annual update on local affairs.

"She wants to do things for New Orleans," Simpson said.

During a series of visits between January and November, Simpson said he noticed little rebuilding progress -- "there was perhaps a little more urban energy in November" -- but saw signs of rebirth in the commercial arena, particularly along Magazine Street. "It's surviving pretty well."

That was good news for Simpson, who says he has loved the Magazine Street area since writing an article about it a decade ago. "Back then it was the upstart, an exciting alternative" for buyers seeking fun and funky furnishings.

Recent trade along the grander, more regal Royal Street, Simpson acknowledges, has not been as encouraging. But overall he sees a continuing appreciation here for the finer things in life, even after disaster.

"It's simply amazing the number of shops in New Orleans, particularly for a small city," Simpson said. "From edgy to grand, the choice is superb."

Even the new contemporary furnishing stores here, he notes, run more toward Design Within Reach than Crate and Barrel.

"It shows the quality of life that people want in New Orleans. Charleston (S.C.) is lovely, but there they perform for the tourists. In New Orleans, you perform for yourselves, and antiques play into that.

"It's part of your strong sense of community. People are living up to who they are, and doing their best. The vitality of the city is amazing."

Simpson's meanderings through the city's antiques stalls -- orchestrated by a number of friends here -- reinforced his assessment of a populace making the best of things.

"The locals have totally rallied," U-Dwell's Mary Satterlee told him.

"Before -- there is only one 'before' in New Orleans these days -- my business was half in town and half out of town; now it's mostly in town," Allain Bush added.

Overall, Simpson paints a picture of determined, passionate local sellers who will stay the course and help the city rebuild.

Simpson plans to return in the coming year, to track progress. I explained to him that not all of us can afford, emotionally or materially, to upgrade as we rebuild: You either splurge on fewer, finer things, or buy only items you can envision sitting on the curb.

"People should buy what they like," Simpson replied with a laugh. "Of course, my feeling is that you should choose the best you can afford. Who knows what will happen to any of us? New Orleans, in a good way, lives in the moment."

WHAT'S NEW IN BUYING OLD

Antiques expert Jeffrey Simpson has an unlikely love of fountain pens and a likely appreciation for 19th-century French Louisiana furniture. A few of his observations on antiques buying:

-- "Antique" no longer refers strictly to 100-year-old-plus objets d'art. Look to the generation before you for things that already stand out as classics.

-- Eclectic collecting gets a nod these days. Buy what you like, and mix it up.

-- European or made-in-America? "Europeans have a whole different attitude about polish," Simpson replies. European furniture tends to be glossy, while Americans are more into patina.

Simpson's article in Architectural Digest takes the measure of the antiques community via interviews with owners of these stores:

U-Dwell, 2101 Magazine St.

Passages Antiques, 3939 Magazine St.

Ann Koerner Antiques, 4021 Magazine St.

Piranesi, 2104 Magazine St.

Bush Antiques, 2109 Magazine St.

Mac Maison Ltd., 3963 Magazine St.

Keil's Antiques, 325 Royal St.

Moss Antiques, 411 Royal St.

M.S. Rau Antiques, 60 Royal St.