You don't have to be a stuffy old thing yourself to be interested in vintage, as a new RTE programme demonstrates. EDEL COFFEY reports

When you mention antiques, the images that spring to mind usually involve stuffy old men, musty old houses and huge price tags.

But antiques are no longer the domain of the rich and knowledgeable and you don't have to be a millionaire or an expert to get in on the game.

In their new show, The Dealers, antique dealers George Stacpoole and Niall Mullen give their insight into the do's and don'ts of buying at auction. And it's not nearly as difficult as you might think.

George Stacpoole is president of the Irish Antique Dealers' Association and has been a dealer for more than 40 years. He runs an antique shop in Adare, Co Limerick, and says the stuffy image of antiques-buying is one of the most off-putting things for beginners.

"The problem is when bits of furniture are sold at the trade fairs it's written up in the papers that an antique table has made ?200,000 - I think the younger generation think everything is in that price range. There's a terrific range and price-wise it can be comparable to flat-pack. They can go and buy a nice object for a few hundred or a few thousand euro."

His co-presenter for the RTE programme, Niall Mullen, runs an art deco shop on Francis Street, Dublin. He agrees there is an elitist image to the antiques business, but points out that you can find items for as little as ?50. "If you want things for that price, there's no problem."

In one episode of The Dealers, George buys seven items of furniture for under ?1,500. "I'm not talking about teacups," says Niall. "I'm talking pieces of furniture that needed a van to transport them - a dining table for ?240 that would seat eight people. In one case you could have refurbished the downstairs of a redbrick house in Dublin 8 for ?2,000."

If ?2,000 seems like a lot of money, Mullen says it is an amount that people shopping for new furniture regularly spend on single items. "I think if you went to Brown Thomas or Minnie Peters you might get one piece of furniture for ?2,000."

One of the reasons young people are not buying antiques, says Niall - who is the youngest member of the Irish Antique Dealers' Association - is that it is not a priority for them. "When you're young, your priorities are to get the apartment or get the house. Going into an antiques shop is not a priority."

There are other factors too, such as the long-held suspicion that antique dealers are selling their pieces for a huge mark-up. But George and Niall say the customer is expected to haggle and that the mark-up is only as much as what you would pay on a pair of shoes.

"A lot of people think we're buying this for a fiver and mark it up to ?500," says George. "I think if anyone looked at our accounts, we have the same profit margin at the end of the day as someone who's selling clothes."

There are also lengthy waits for a return on an investment, says Niall. "We don't pay ourselves a wage, per se. We take drawings from our business. I go to America, I go to Belgium and traipse around for days and eventually find my dining table. I haggle and buy it, pay for it in a draft, transport it back, get it restored and bring it in here. I may sell it or I may not. Eventually, I get my profit and I give 13.5% of it to the government."

Niall admits there are good times but the antiques business is probably one of the few industries to be hurt from the arrival of the boom in Ireland.

"We do suffer from modern Ireland," says Niall. "If someone gets up on a Monday morning, buying an antique picture or furniture would be way down the list. If you're on the M50 with three kids going to school, the last thing you're thinking of is an art deco suite. It seems to have slipped out of the public eye a bit over the years."

Both men admit there is always a risk involved when buying for investment or to resell. "We make mistakes too," says Niall. "I advised someone to buy a table in Waterford and we lost ?300 on it. They liked it, I thought we could make a profit on it but in reality we lost ?300. The same applies in here. I have things in my warehouse that I can't look at when I go in. So we do make mistakes."

The most important thing, says George, is to seek advice. "Talk to our members. If you're going to auctions, there's always someone there who would advise you."

One thing the television show will do, says Niall, is make people realise just how easy it is to buy an antique, and to find a bargain. "I think people will be staggered by the things you can get. We bought an amazing stool made 160 years ago for ?164 - that's a Des Kelly price - and it would look well in any house or apartment. What George and myself are trying to say is it's not just old people in tweed jackets that buy and sell antiques."

How to buy and sell antiques

GO TO A REPUTABLE DEALER "Straight off, I'd say go to a member of our association [the IADA]," says George Stacpoole. "There is a code of practice, so there is a guarantee of authenticity that comes with the pieces you buy. If you buy from a shop as opposed to at an auction, and you're not sure about a piece, you can try it out, no strings attached."

While it may be better value to buy at auction than a shop, there is a definite difference between the two, says Niall Mullen. "We will let you try a piece out and the large majority of us would take something back for the full price if somebody's having difficulties with it. In some cases, we're thrilled because the thing has gone up in value. Of course, it also applies the other way round when someone rings and says 'it's not working' and you say, 'oh no, not that table,' because we all have boomerang pieces that keep coming back.

LOVE WHAT YOU BUY "In relation to young people, I have one mantra - love the piece," says Niall. "And then everything else should flow from there."

MIX AND MATCH Niall says: "Don't be afraid to mix and match. You can put a piece of brown furniture in your main sitting area and put the stereo into it or put your drinks into it."

"It's important to realise that it's incredibly easy and can be done," says George. "You can absolutely mix it with your flat-pack furniture. Why not?"

USE YOUR ANTIQUES "Use them and enjoy them," says Niall. "If something gets an ink mark or a chip comes off it, it's not the end of the world. It can be repaired."

George says, "That goes for anything. I don't understand people who buy silver and then put it into a safe."

HAGGLE The other important thing to remember is that people are supposed to haggle with antique dealers. "Everyone haggles," says Niall. "I don't drop that much because I don't put it on just to take it off."

"There's always an element of marking up," says George. "It tends to be 10%."

EXAMINE EVERYTHING YOU BUY CAREFULLY "Look at things very carefully because things have been repaired and handles replaced - you want to remember that when you're buying at auction," says George.

"Also, when buying on the internet you should ask for a 'condition report', which gives you a description of the piece and what is wrong with it. It's very very important to get a condition report."

Television's golden oldies

The Antiques Roadshow

'The Antiques Roadshow' is the original antiques television progprogramme, and has been running since 1977. Its format has remained the ame: a groupgroup of antiques experts set up in a given town, while the locals pillage attics and car booboot sales to find out if they are sitting on a treasure. The show has some remarkremarkable junk in its time, as well as some remarkable finds, including a picture of a rabbrabbit by Helen Beatrix Potter valued at £50,000. LOV 'The Antiques Roadshow' is the original antiques television programme, and has been running since 1977. Its format has remained the same: a group of antiques experts set up in a given town, while the locals pillage attics and car boot sales to find out if they are sitting on a treasure. The show has featured some remarkable junk in its time, as well as some remarkable finds, including a picture of a rabbit by Helen Beatrix Potter valued at £50,000.

LOVEJOY

The television drama 'Lovejoy' ran from 1986 to 1994 and featured the loveable rogue antiques dealer, Lovejoy, played by Ian McShane. Lovejoy was the stereotypical antiques dealers, struggling to avoid the competition, doing dodgy deals and selling pieces for a huge mark-up.

BARGAIN HUNT

'Bargain Hunt' was originally presented by the real-life loveable rogue, David Dickinson, who led two teams of amateur collectors around Britain scouring for bargains. Dickinson was known for his eccentric dress, his attention to female contestants and his catchphrase 'cheap as chips'.

FLOG IT!

One of the new breed of antiques programmes, 'Flog It!' not only values antiques, but also gives their owners the opportunity to sell their valuables at auction.

The Dealers starts tonight on RTE1, 7pm.