Leonard Kaitcer the last antique dealer in Belfast is shutting his shop and leaving the city centre.
In 1969 there were twelve antiques dealers in Belfast. Five years later, only six of them remain in business.
The constant bombing and destruction in the city has meant that tourists once the backbone of the trade have been avoiding Belfast and as a consequence the antique business has slumped.
Antiques and coin dealer Leonard Kaitcer is the last remaining antique business in Belfast city centre. In 1972 his shop on the Dublin Road was bombed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and he moved to the Rodman Galleries in Arthur Street. The Europa Hotel where Leonard Kaitcer has a sales counter, has been bombed five times.
We’re not going to take a chance, because of insurance problems, of being bombed out again.
Along with the fear of further bombings, security in Belfast city centre is also a hindrance,
People are not coming into the centre of Belfast, we’re in the security barriers.
On 8 and 9 October 1974, Leonard Kaitcer’s entire stock is up for auction. This includes English Victorian paintings and works by celebrated Irish artists John Butler Yeats, Colin Middleton, William Conor, Tom Carr and William Percy French. Also going under the hammer are bronzes, antique and Victorian silver, porcelain, china, Waterford glass and many other objets d'art.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 7 October 1974. The reporter is Forbes McFall.
