Brown and out of favour
Some years ago an elderly relative told me that her pre-war parents were quite self consciously modern, enjoying cocktails and rather minimalist décor. Needless to say, it was a fad that passed.
I was reminded of this looking at an advertising insert in one of the weekend newspapers, showing very expensive contemporary furniture. Today many people want to live in rooms that are light and airy, often on bare floorboards and without clutter. They do not like eighteenth and nineteenth century brown English furniture. It is totally out of fashion.
Coupled with the current financial squeeze, the result is that it is now pretty cheap. A mahogany bureau will sell for less than it did twenty years ago. Antique shops have disappeared and dealers are not having an easy time. Of course very high quality furniture continues to do well, but run of the mill antique English furniture is now relatively and absolutely inexpensive, despite being well built and something which will last. I was looking at such pieces in Suffolk over the weekend.
I suspect that rather like those who do well in the stock market, it is time to be contrarian. I personally regret not having the space or the resources to do this myself. I do feel is that the sometimes rather soulless fashionable look of today will pass, and good old mahogany will be desirable again one day, as it always has been.