I thought your own article was comprehensive and excellent.
Some of your readers may like to be reminded, however, that when the Roadshow started, producer Robin Drake and I had to field unfriendly questions from the trade.
There was a good deal of concern that featuring experts from auction houses would damage business in antique shops.
Indeed, when we staged a media preview of the programme at BAFTA’s headquarters on Piccadilly, representatives from the antiques trade press were, to say the least, quite hostile.
As a result, for the programme’s editorial guidelines, we let it be known that statements from expert presenters such as ‘this might fetch X amount at auction’ should be balanced with ‘in an antique shop, you might expect to pay…’
Today, I don’t expect there are any such concerns. In the event, I think all areas of the trade have done quite well out of the show.
Bruce Parker
Appleshaw, Hants
