Nick Dawes knows as much about antiques as probably anyone alive. With more than one hundred appearances on Antiques Roadshow since its US edition premiered in 1996, Dawes has sifted through thousands, perhaps millions, of family heirlooms in the thirty to sixty seconds allotted for each supplicant by the busy TV production schedule. Talking antiques, Dawes reminisces about “the ones that got away,” and the time he discovered a ceramic vase painted by Picasso that sold for $400,000. Word to the wise: if you ever hear the phrase “this is a very interesting object . . .” brace yourself—your curio is probably worthless.
Nick Dawes is Senior Vice President of Heritage Auctions in New York and a former auctioneer at Phillips and Sotheby’s. He grew up in the antiques business in England before moving the New York in 1979, and is the author of four standard works on decorative arts and considered this country’s leading authority on the work of Rene Lalique. Dawes has over one hundred appearances as an expert appraiser for PBS Antiques Roadshow since the first season in 1996.
