King of the Clappers

In the early 1950’s antiques and works of art were very plentiful in Britain, and although there was a profusion of fine quality items available, the public seemed unaware of their true value. Many homes contained unvalued possessions that had been their property since the Victorian and Georgian days.

However, buyers from other countries realised the more accurate value of the ‘works of art’. The Italians and Americans responding to responding to local demand were loading daily shiploads of our antiques from our docks. This had the effect of making our remaining pieces rarer, and the price rose accordingly.

By the 1960’s it was announced by the Antiques Review, that at least six large ships would leave every day, full of our National Treasures. You did not have to be a financial genius to realise that owing to the continuing scarcity of antiques, the price must eventually rise.

A new breed of dealers who were on the fringe of the antique trade appeared. These traders generally had some local knowledge of antiques but did not have the financial strength to open a shop or business. Instead they travelled around the Country and the surrounding districts, knocking on doors, offering the owners 'high prices' for any object they could buy. They were called 'Clappers' by the orthodox dealers.

These gentlemen would buy as much as the householder could be persuaded to accept and they would then sell the goods to the antique shops.

There were occasions when to tempt the reluctant seller to do business, they would offer a stupendous high price for a practically unsaleable item, then proceed to buy the treasured goods that was previously denied to them.

They would then offer to pay for all the goods except the one with the excessive high price, saying that "we will be back tomorrow with the cash for that one". Of course they never returned, but they had achieved their objective. As they had no regular address, the seller had no 'come back'.

Not all the Clappers behaved like that, but the temptation to do so was very evident. People would often come into my shop offering for sale articles of jewellery and works of art and we had to be particularly careful that the items were not stolen. We always checked up on the people, found out their address and established their 'bone fide' as to their ownership.

I remember very clearly, when a smartly dressed man walked into my shop and gave me the name of a recently widowed friend. He told me that he was a friend of the lady, and she had recommended to him saying "That Mr Russell was the ideal man to buy jewellery". He told me he had some large gem stones but they were 'not quite right', which in the lingo of the rough trade meant hot or stolen. I was so amazed at his effrontery to blatantly offer me dodgy goods, that I ordered him out of the shop, telling him I would inform the police of this conversation.

About ten minutes later two tall Policemen came into the shop to gather the details. After I had told them the facts they asked me to describe the stolen jewellery to them. Unfortunately I told them that I did not see, or want to have anything at all to do with him and therefore did not ask to examine his goods. I just told him to get out of my premises. The Police told me that they would have to make a report to the main police station and would continue their investigations later.

Two days later, the two policemen returned to my shop and told me that 'gentleman' had visited another shop in the town and had offered the same story to the assistant. She asked the man to come back in half an hour as she was not the owner and her boss would be back by then. She also telephoned the police, who after hearing her story, decided to wait behind a screen in the shop for him to return. The owner asked to see the gem stones he had for sale and the man opened up his briefcase and showed her a quantity of large diamond rings and jewellery. He suggested that they should be put in a safe place for at least two years when the 'hot goods' would become cooler. The price he asked for the jewellery was about half the normal one would expect to pay.

The police came out from behind the screen and arrested the man. When they asked him where did he get those diamonds from, the man said that the items in the case belong to him and in any case they were not diamonds, but Zirconia's. At this time the Zirconia's were being imported from Russia. They were a brilliant flawless copy of diamonds, but the stones was valueless and any knowledgeable jeweller would spot this.

The Police then took him to a local prominent jeweller who confirmed that they were not diamonds, and thus the plot became clear. The idea for his group, was to offer these phoney goods to shady dealers who were not too particular where the goods came from. They would hint that they were stolen and get paid a good price on the basis the dealer would make an attractive future investment. After all, how could the buyer complain to the police that a man had sold them fake diamonds when he was clearly told that the goods were stolen! It was a great sting and I suspect it must have been successful in many cases, as the seller was just one of many going around the country.

In the end, it was decided by the authorities to charge the man with attempted fraud. I was a witness for the prosecution. To our surprise, the defending Barrister was one of the most prominent legal experts in London, yet the man selling the goods was practically penniless. So who paid for the barrister's expensive services?

The upshot was, that he was found 'not proved' and was released, free to continue his tricks if he should so desire. These days of course, Zirconia’s are easily recognised they are a soft stone and no jeweller worth his salt would be unable to detect them.

The police were very grateful for my help. They told me that they would watch him closely. Sure enough, some time later, he was caught and sentenced for burglary.

Many of the genuine Clappers were a friendly and hard drinking crowd. They all knew each other, and they would spend their time knocking on doors every day to earn a living.

As mentioned earlier, usual method of their buying was to ask the householder if they had any jewellery or silver for sale. They would then offer the owner a very much inflated price to attain the sellers confidence, and although they would lose on the first purchase, they usually made up for it with the following ones, showing a hansom profit.

One of the more prominent Clappers was Harry Nathan, who was a charming man, with a great sense of humour.

He told me that one Sunday a Clapper - one he did not know - knocked on his door to ask if Harry had any jewellery that he wanted to sell. Harry replied that he had a few minor pieces for sale but the really fine goods were put away in a safe place and had to be unpacked. He said it would take at least an hour to get to them. In the meanwhile he asked how much would the clapper pay for the few minor pieces he had shown him? The Clapper, as was the usual method, offered an excessive price for them, paid for the unsaleable items and said he would return within the hour to view the fine Antiques after they were unpacked.

When he returned an hour later, Harry said to him, "do you know who I am"?

"No" said the clapper.

"Well I will enlighten you. I am Harry Nathan, KING OF THE CLAPPERS." He then gave him the money back, and told him to try elsewhere