Janet Carlile is an Independent accredited antiques and fine art appraiser with 30 years experience gained with major auction houses both in Europe and North America. As a consultant she is available to recommend the most appropriate route for disposal of property. Her expertise is in appraising European and Canadian fine art, furniture and decorative arts. Her training includes a first degree in Canadian History from the University of Waterloo, Sotheby's Decorative Arts Course which included appraisal work and research at the Victoria and Albert Museum and a Masters Degree in Modern Social History. She has lectured about antiques at the University of Toronto, Centennial College and Erindale College. Janet lived and worked throughout Europe for 25 years appraising antiques while also lecturing at Lancaster University about Artefacts and Implements relating to Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian Social History. At the same time she hosted and wrote a long running BBC Radio program called the A-Z of Antiques.

Janet continues to value and appraise antiques for the purposes of cultural property donations, insurance, probate, family separation and inventory for private individuals, law firms and public institutions. She has undertaken appraisals of government department collections and is an appraiser for the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Redpath Museum in Montreal, the American Embassy, the House of Commons, the University of Alberta and has worked for Rideau Hall, the official residence of the Governor General. She is consulted on a regular basis by an International auction house with regard to Canadian silver and furniture.

 In addition to her appraisal work Janet also writes and lectures. She wrote a popular syndicated Antiques column for the Southam Newspaper Group for over 4 years and has contributed to magazines including the Canadian Society of Decorative Arts journal The Bulletin. She writes the  Antiques at Home column for Canadian House and Home magazine and Edifice magazine and appears as an expert appraiser on the CBC' s Canadian Antiques Roadshow. Most recently she was invited to give a keynote address on Canadian Furniture design during the British Colonial period at the New Zealand Furniture History Symposium. She was appointed the Curator/Director of the Arnprior and District Museum in 2002, sits on the Board of the Arnprior McNab Braeside Archives and was a Director of the Ontario Historical Society. Janet is a member of the Canadian Professional Property Appraisers (CPA) and as such considers it a conflict of interest to purchase from clients.

Here's a quote from her interview with the Canadian Antiques Roadshow staff.  

“Canadians often look to the future with little regard for the past. We almost seem to have a negative view of our history. Few Canadians realize that Canada had Acadian settlers in 1604- the May Flower didn't arrive in the States until 1621. We are not the young country that people always say we are and because of our age a lot of artifacts are still around. Having said that many of our artifacts have disappeared and that is sad. Our past helps to explain who we are and why we are,” she says.

Janet offers this advice for anyone considering beginning a collection: “I would suggest they go to a few museums to start with. The ROM, as an example, has a good collection of glass and silver. It is well labeled and easy to see. I would then begin to attend as many antique shows and auction previews as I could in order to handle and see glass and silver objects up close. I would also be looking at reference books and any literature I could find. Knowledge is power when purchasing.”

In her spare time, Janet enjoys gardening, but she says that while “gardening gets me away from my desk, I would be lying if I didn't include antiquing as a hobby too.”

Janet is an accredited member of CPA (Canadian Professional Appraisers).  

To read the entire review of Janet from the Canadian Antiques Roadshow, please click here.

To read several testimonies of Janet Carlile, please click here.

To request information or to contact Janet Carlile, click here.