1. Our US clients
Many and probably most of our clients are based in the United States. We sell to private collectors in the US and to museums. Several of our items are now in
the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco for example.
2. Paying from the US
Our US clients usually pay via credit card or direct bank transfer. In terms of credit cards, we accept MasterCard and Visa. We do not accept American
Express. In terms of bank transfer, most US banks can provide an international bank transfer. We charge in pounds so the bank will need to convert dollars
into the correct pound amount before the funds are transferred.
Our prices are expressed and charged in pounds sterling only. Approximations of prices in US dollars can be provided but these are approximations only.
3. Shipping & US Customs Duties
Usually we usually send items to our clients in the US via a private courier service with tracking.
Under US law, items over 100 years old are not liable for US customs duty. Accordingly we send all our items to the US with a signed US customs antiques
declaration form so that you will not be liable for US customs duties on the items that you purchase from us.
4. Paperwork
You will receive any credit card receipts, a full written invoice or receipt describing the item and its price and with your details and ours, and a full description of
the item with an image with each item or shipment that you receive from us.
5. Guarantees
We guarantee all our items as described. We sell items from this website but we are not an Internet-only retailer. We have a gallery that is open to the public
in the heart of central London and we sell to collectors and museums worldwide. We have a reputation to protect. We choose our items very carefully and do a
great deal of research to support our acquisitions.
6. Where do our items come from?
We do not source our items from their countries of origin. We travel to Asia regularly but these are not buying trips. They are trips to visit local museums and
call on our clients. We find that many items available in Asia today have questionable provenance, excessive restoration or are reproduction pieces. Instead,
we source almost all our items from the UK and the rest of Europe from collections and contexts which suggest that the items were collected and brought to the
UK and Europe during the colonial era. Britain alone colonised India, Malaysia, Singapore, much of Africa and parts of the middle east so that today the
largest source of fresh-to-market antiques from these areas are to be found in the UK – in the homes of the descendants of former colonial administrators and
the like. The UK also was wealthy early on and imported many art-related goods from its colonies which were retailed in London and elsewhere – silver items
came from India, brassware came from Malaysia and so on. Many of these items came to the UK over one hundred years ago, they were new when they
arrived and in most cases have been well maintained since. Ironically the UK particularly is a better source of well provenanced antiques from Asia, Africa and
the Middle East than are most countries in these regions today.