Two recurring antique dealers from Salvage Hunters: The Restorers, Karyn Sparks and Tony Geering, returned for the fifth season.
Salvage Hunters: The Restorers is one of the spin-offs of the 2011 original Discovery Channel hit reality show, Salvage Hunters.
Introduced in 2018, the premise of the show is that Drew Pritchard and John Tee travel all around Europe in search of antiques and artefacts to restore and resell.
Throughout its five season run, the show has given rise to a number of antique dealers who have earned acclaim in their respective fields.
While some have come and gone, two recurring antique dealers returned for season five – Karyn Sparks and Tony Geering.
The advantage of being a Salvage Hunters antique dealer
There is a commercial value to being casted as an antique dealer on Salvage Hunters.
This is aside from the reported compensation that they receive for being on the show, and it is arguably more advantageous in the long run, since the exposure that the antique dealer receives can only improve their own businesses.
The featured antique dealer is considered to be an expert in their field of restoration and antique dealing.
As such, they usually get more business, sometimes so much so that they have a waiting list of months in advance, or they do not take on new clients due to how in demand they have become through the show.
Antique dealers on Salvage Hunters: The Restorers
In the five-season run of Salvage Hunters: The Restorers, there have been a number of antique dealers which have received acclaim through the show.
It is important to understand the difference between restorers and antique dealers, as the show has created famed restorers, who are responsible for restoring the artefact or antique.
The antique dealer can then either sell or estimate the value of the restored antique and artefact.
Arguably, in most instances, it is the restorers, like Alex Webster and Nick Elphick, that have garnered much of the acclaim. But antique dealers have also earned acclaim through their affiliation with the show.
As a result of the antique dealers’ own businesses and careers taking off after their appearance on the show. Some have left the show, and some have stayed and returned season after season following their feature on the show.
In 2022, according to IMDB, two antique dealers returned for the most recent seasons. The first is an antique dealer who has been part of the show since 2019 and has since been returning for each new season thereafter.
The newest returning antique dealer is Karyn Sparks, who first appeared in 2020, and this marks her second season as part of the cast. A look at the returning antique dealers and their profiles showcase their various expertise.
Who is Tony Geering from Salvage Hunters?
Tony Geering is a self-taught antique dealer with a focus on arts and craft furniture, and he is now considered one of the experts in the niche. Betony is apparently responsible for almost half of the furniture that is sold by Liberty in London.
Geering has been responsible for some of the most lucrative sales, including when he paid £750 for an item from an antique shop, then consigned it to Sotheby’s where it fetched £20 000-£30 000 the following week.
All of this has made his addition to Salvage Hunters: The Restorers immense and has resulted in him being beloved by fans of the show as he continues to return every season since 2019.
Who is Karyn Sparks from Salvage Hunters?
Karyn Sparks is more than just an antique dealer, she is also one of the authorities of the trade as she is the managing director of Molecula, a trading arm of her publication, VE, through which she trades antiques and artefacts.
Specifically, her focus is on mid-century and vintage antiques and artefacts. Her publication is dedicated to, “real men and women with a passion for interesting, well-made items with heritage, charm and individuality.”
Are there too many antique dealers on Salvage Hunters: The Restorers?
One of the biggest recent critiques of Salvage Hunters: The Restorers is the number of antique dealers that appear in a single season.
This is as the first seasons of the show had fewer new faces as it focused on a single location for the season. But now that the show travels to various places in a single season run, it means that more antique dealers are featured.
Moreover, the more seasons there are, it seems that fans are looking to see familiar faces that they can establish a rapport with, which is difficult to do when the show itself is inconsistent with its regular cast members, that is except for Drew Pritchard and John Tee.