Antiques trader Gordon Kennedy has doubled his money in five months to lead MoneyMail's Race to £10,000 by buying and reselling collectable items.
The contest challenges five financial experts to turn an initial £500 investment into £10,000 as quickly as possible. Kennedy has already increased his starting pot to £1,000, placing him at the top of the leaderboard alongside a vintage clothes seller.
His rivals in the competition include a cryptocurrency trader, a shares investor, a sports bettor, and the vintage clothes seller. Kennedy has achieved his returns by purchasing unloved objects at low costs and selling them on at higher prices.
His successful transactions include a mortar and pestle bought for £35 and sold for £70. He also bought botanical books and a pith helmet for £40 and resold them for £80.
Antiques fairs and early bird entry
Kennedy invited MoneyMail reporter Toby Walne to an antiques fair to demonstrate his strategy for finding profitable items. While buying from established antique shops leaves little room for a mark-up, sourcing items from car boot sales, jumble sales, and online platforms such as eBay offers better profit opportunities.
He focuses primarily on large antiques events, which gather thousands of buyers and sellers. In the UK, annual event calendars are published on the Antique Fairs in the UK website iacf.co.uk. The organisation hosts fairs 30 times a year at venues across Britain, open to both traders and visitors.
The largest event is the Newark International Antiques and Collectors Fair, which features over a hundred stalls. Kennedy woke at 3am and arrived at the Newark fairground at 6am to secure early bargains before other buyers arrived.
To set up early as a dealer, Kennedy paid £215 for a trading pitch. Members of the public can purchase an early bird entry ticket for £55 to gain access at 6am, three hours before standard gates open at 9am for £20.
Having worked as a trader for 15 years, Kennedy relies on a jovial, high-energy manner to build networks and build strong relationships with other dealers across the showground.
Buying on instinct and cutting losses
When selecting inventory, Kennedy relies on personal intuition and an emotional connection to objects rather than focusing strictly on potential profit margins. He noted that experienced traders develop an acute sense of market trends over time.
"I go for the feel of things, there is often an emotional attachment rather than looking at it in a hard-nosed way on how much money can be made," Kennedy said. "Being in this trade you also get a sense of trends."
"I must confess that if I particularly love an item, sometimes I buy it even if I'm not sure I'll make a profit," he added. "But it often turns out I liked it for a good reason and others will love it too. I rarely lose money in the end."
Maintaining momentum is another key element of his business model. Kennedy prefers to keep stock moving quickly rather than holding out indefinitely for maximum prices.
To demonstrate, he pointed to an antique stuffed parrot he had purchased for £300. Although he originally sought £370, after holding it for a month he was prepared to sell it for little more than his purchase price to free up capital.
Sales techniques and origin stories
Kennedy emphasizes using imagination when presenting items to potential buyers by explaining how unusual objects can serve practical functions in modern homes. An old wooden filing cabinet, for instance, can be marketed to collectors of stamps or dried flowers.
"I try to sell using imagination," Kennedy said. "You might have an old wooden filing cabinet, but when you talk to people it is worth explaining to them the unusual ways it could become a practical piece of furniture they could use."
"A light bulb goes on in their head, and they suddenly like the idea," he said. "For example, a curiosity like this cabinet could appeal to a collector of dried flowers or stamps."
Sharing the history and provenance of an object can also increase buyer interest. When selling six dozen handcrafted Turkish pots featuring a distinctive rustic glaze, Kennedy explained that the glazing technique had been passed down through six generations of the same family, even showing buyers their workshop location on a map.
He recommended researching item histories online whenever background information is missing. During the fair, a visitor mentioned seeing similar pots in Morocco for £10. Kennedy noted that retail shops charge £60, offering his pots for £35 individually or £25 each for purchases of three or more.
Wendy McGough, 63, a visitor from Michigan in the United States, bought one of the Turkish pots at the full £35 asking price without negotiating, drawn in by the item's background story.
Negotiation manners and stall trading
Maintaining polite conduct during negotiations is essential when both buying and selling stock. Kennedy avoids being rude even when an asking price appears excessively high.
"When buying I am never rude, even if I think something is too expensive," Kennedy said. "I explain I love the item, but the price is a bit too rich for my blood and ask if there is any wiggle room."
During the fair, Walne tested Kennedy's sales methods by handling a transaction for a vintage wooden wine crate stamped with the word "Apollo". Walne engaged customer Stella Bowdell, 59, from Huddersfield, who was looking for items for her daughter's 30th birthday garden party.
After discussing how the crate could serve as a decorative prop for dried flowers, Walne completed the sale. Kennedy had originally bought the crate for £15 and aimed for £35, but Walne sold it to Bowdell for £25, satisfying both seller and buyer.
Earnings, expenses and beginner advice
Full-time antiques trading can provide a comfortable living, with established dealers earning over £50,000 annually, though it requires significant manual effort and early hours.
Despite the financial focus of the business, Kennedy stressed that personal satisfaction drives most traders rather than pure monetary gain. Former corporate professionals who felt burned out by office careers often find new vitality in trading.
"I have friends who were successful in the corporate world who said they felt it was killing them, and working as a trader brought them back to life," Kennedy said.
"Of course, I would like to make more money, but profits are not what get me out of bed while everyone else is still fast asleep," he added. "Visiting homes and finding treasures from other stall holders is often exciting."
By the end of the trading day at Newark, Kennedy took in £2,000 in gross revenue. However, after accounting for item acquisition costs, the £215 pitch fee, and travel expenses, net profit amounted to roughly £1,000.
For newcomers entering the market, Kennedy advises against focusing solely on immediate profits. He suggests exploring niche categories such as 19th-century scientific instruments, rustic pottery, vintage automobile collectables, advertising signs, and stuffed animals, while keeping in mind that some fair days yield no profit at all.
