Forget Antiques Roadshow, Just Ask Jenn and Deb

It was tempting to lead with the ‘brown is dead’ phrase I’d learned, but the bright side is well, brighter and in interviewing and , it became clear that these two Stonington business women are riding out a recession, “glut of stuff,” and stagnant (some might say sinking) antique and estate market.

Norman, an antique aficionado who owns Grand & Water Antiques and Lacker, a restorer, researcher and appraiser of art and antiques have such a firm grasp of the climate and forecast that they can only be described as survivors.  

Not to mention they are two people that really enjoy a nicely varnished and polished piece of richly carved and steeped-in-soul mahogany; even if it is brown, albeit a dark, reddish brown.

“We’re in the midst of a big purge of stuff. It is part of the recession…this glut of stuff, especially after the flood, people asking, ‘What’s it worth? I want to get rid of it.’ I get calls all the time,” said Lacker, who earned a Masters at Boston University, with a concentration in painting, furniture and decorative arts.

“But it’s not just the recession and cleaning stuff out, it’s the new minimalism, the clutter, the big, the ornate – that’s gone. Armoires, sideboards, ornate… gone. Young people want quirky, minimal, catalog. People call me and say, ‘My kids don’t want this stuff. What’s it worth?’ Now, well, not very much,” she said. Lacker, who has worked with collections in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, recently earned an Art and Appraisal certificate from the RI School of Design.

“Brown is dead, anything brown. Paint it red, and maybe you’ll sell it.”

Norman agreed with Lacker.

“Style has completely changed,” she said. “Nothing heavy, dark or grandmotherly. What I find in a recession is that people just don’t want stuff anymore so they want to get rid of things and there’s a flood of stuff and nowhere for it to go. There’s so much on the market.”

But Lacker is still nonetheless busy providing appraisals for clients – as a professional she does her research and provides complicated, well-researched appraisals for insurance, probate, estate and auction purposes.

And Norman, whose Stonington Borough shop is a popular stop for local and visiting antique shoppers and browsers, is hip to the changing market and is she’s adapted; Norman sells in her bricks and mortar store but also online.

Lacker owns and operates J London Restoration & Appraisal, a furniture refinishing and restoration business and estate brokerage and appraisal business at 46 Taugwonk Spur Road, Stonington. Her studio is chock-a-block with antiques in various stages of repair and restoration as well as vintage curious and likely irreplaceable artifacts. Lacker provides meticulously researched appraisals by appointment. An artisan, she’s an art historian who is torn when it comes to deciding which her greater passion is -- her callused hands give her away.

“I love finding the soul of a piece,” she admits, adding that sometimes the value of a chair or a painting is not in dollars and cents but in its “soul.”

Norman agrees with that.

“What’s better than finding something that speaks to you?”

Norman’s antique shop Grand & Water, located at 145 Water St., in Stonington Borough, is renowned for its accessibility, intimacy and eclectic mix of hand-picked antiques, china, silverware, lithographs, gilded mirrors, crystal lamps and modern furnishings, unique and vintage décor with merchandise such as lamps or footstools are sprinkled throughout the store.