The scheme is essentially very simple. We buy items on your behalf and offer them for sale. We share equally the gross profit. All the overheads in selling your item are ours, including the cost of exhibiting at fairs. The minimum investment is £10,000.

Points regarding investing in antiques on a profit sharing basis.

1. Items purchased on your behalf will belong to you until sold at a satisfactory profit.

2. Your potential return will, in the normal course of events, comfortably exceed bank interest.

3. If at any time you wish to take possession of your purchases we would suggest you pay us a small profit of approximately 10%. This aspect of the arrangement is left to your descretion. We can only have dealings with each other if we are both happy

4. Items purchased on your behalf can always conform to your collecting interests.

5. The scheme is flexible and tailored as much as possible to the wishes of the investor. You can for example participate in the purchase of your items that we will then offer for sale. Or you can decide that on purchases below a certain value you need not be consulted. Furthermore, you can decide on the price range of the items you wish to invest in. It useful to keep in mind that above a certain price, the number of potential customers becomes more limited. Conversely, if the items are below a certain level of desirability (which is usually related to price) they are less easy to sell. At this time I recommend investment in items in the £500 to £8000 price range. Within this range items can be both attractive and also affordable to a large number of collectors.

6. In general the prices for early ceramics have shown a good upward trend. The longer you keep it the more it is worth. The notable exception in recent years has been for grave items such as Tang figures; this was because a large number of such figures were being dug out of the ground in China and being smuggled to the West. Currently prices for these items offer good value and are now not likely to fall. It useful to keep in mind that it always safer to invest in wares that have a broad international appeal and to try and anticipate events. Mainland China has now started to buy back practically all Chinese ceramics with some age and quality, and in some areas prices have vastly escalated over the past two years. Many clients have benefited from accepting my advice that this was inevitable with the booming Chinese economy. Art has a tendency to go back to its country of origin.

One question that is raised by potential investors is what is the attraction from our point of view. This is quite easy to answer; we run out of money long before buying opportunities. Also, that the larger the ratio of capital in stock to overheads the more profitable we become. We therefore see these joint ventures as being mutually beneficial.