Antique coffee pot

Did I mention I love antique coffee makers? This was at the flea market this weekend.

Antique Trunk

This sold at the auction last night for $75 dollars. A bit underpriced.

Wooden boxes

I don't know why I love wooden boxes so much. I have bought and sold quite a few so I suppose that others must feel the same way. These were at two different flea markets I went to this weekend. The smaller one was priced too high for me to make any money on. The larger one looks great from the outside but is missing a board underneath. This of course defeats the whole point of a box. Still, I hope there are more wooden boxes for me to find in the future.

Antique coffee vacuum pot.

I love coffee and have owned several old coffee makers. This one caught my eye this past weekend. I did not pick it up (it had some problems) but I love it's shape and design.

Art

I wish I knew more about art. This painting caught my eye, but it has some major condition issues. I like the way the frame is constructed. It uses through tenons and seems quite stable.

Jars of stuff

This was also at the flea market. I think jars of stuff have a charm to them. I think that's why people seem to love collage.

This weekend

This weekend was super busy. Friday after work I stopped by the flea market. This was there.

Judith Miller the Grand Dame of antiques

If you don't read Judith Miller's blog you should. She is responsible for more research and valuation than you could possibly imagine.

Sunday estate auction

Had little to offer. This was the best of it. Most of it was just regular household stuff. They advertised starting at noon but really started at one. That and it got crowded. I left and spent my time at home puttering in the shop. Shame really, I had hoped to get a big score.

What I Bought: Victorian photo album

I picked up this Victorian photo album last night for one dollar. Its not in great shape, but it will do. It has an interesting wire clasp on the side and the book contained one picture. I thought it would go for more, however it did not.  The spine is a red velvet and the top a fake leather embossed with a village scene. I will put it up for sale but will have to do a little research to see about the cost. In its condition it probably wont be much, but anything over a dollar will probably be all right. I have a few other things I bought last night but they are in the back of the truck and I need to move them out before i take photos. Nothing great just some plant stands I can turn some profit on.

After a little research, I think I can price this at around 25-30 dollars. Less than the really nice albums, but still at a good level for profit. Now, if I could just protect it from people tearing it up in the shop. 

Another 19th century fork

I picked up this 1860's-1880's fork last night for one dollar. It is three tine, wood handled with a pewter inlay. My efforts to find any good solid research on forks of this type has not  been too successful. But I am always happy to pick up something that is a 'true' antique. I still have the other one I got last week and have it up for sale already, we'll see how this one does along with it. From what I can find the three tine forks are older than last weeks four tine. The poking part of the fork is made of a soft iron, probably rolled and stamped.  

Also at the kitsch market

Is this statue from the flea market yesterday. It's still there if you have a yearn for it.

Velvet Elvis

I said I did not do much in fine art. However, last night we sold this masterpiece. It went for $15 and I think that is underpriced. It could be resold in the kitsch market for 30-60 dollars.

Antique Radio

Also at the auction tonight. Sold for $150. Still worked. Vacuum tubes and all.

Cedar Chest

A nice copper hardware cedar chest we had at the auction tonight.

GE fan

I love this fan. I have reconditioned many a fan in the past two years. This one is nice but I can't make any money on it at its retail price.

Box of pens

I love stuff like this box if pens. There is some sort of interesting quality to it.

At the junk yard

Old wood stove. Pretty cheap but I don't think I want to go through the hassle of moving it. Plus I'm not sure that anyone else would want it.

Rare

Rare is a word that has bothered me for a long time in online auctions. Seems like I am not the only one. While I don't know anything about WorthPoint, I really liked this article.

Appraisals

I liked this article about appraisals and the role of 'field work'

Antique Fork

I picked up this 19th century fork for a dollar. It has a pewter inlay and a wooden handle. It probably dates from the 1860's to 1870's. The tines are made of steel and are well seasoned. It has a simple beauty to it that I find particularly appealing. 

Antique Porcelain

This is one of my favourite blogs covering antique porcelain.

You can check it out here: Porcelain Porn. You don't have to worry, it is totally safe for work.

Types of Antique Shoppers

I was thinking about types of customers for antique shops today and thought I might make a topology of them. It started with two but grew to three. I imagine I might think of others in the future. I have been all of these types so I think I can guess at their experience. But figuring out how to market to them is the step after identifying them.

Type 1: The Searcher

This antique shopper is searching for a particular type of item. They like organization because it helps them find the thing they want. Sometimes they are a collector of particular items, table salts, ice cream molds, or a larger category, Victorian.

Type 2: The Wanderer

This antique shopper is searching for whatever hits their fancy. They are there to look, pick up experience. They don’t have a particular thing in mind but if something strikes them in the right way they will pick it up. 

Type 3: The Sharpshooter

They want an 18^th century vase from the lower Danube in Bavaria in blue with handles. Or they read some decorator magazine and now want a wooden tramp made box just like the one that was posed on the tableau of the shelf int hat one picture in the may issue.  They will most likely be disappointed in the vast majority of antique shops in the world.

Perhaps Type 4: The Just Walked In

They don’t know why they are there, they thought it was a fruit store, well you did name it the Apple Orchard. (please before you name your shop read Reis and Trout)

I think Type 1 and 2 are the core market for antique stores. Both are good shoppers and a wide variety of material appeals to both of them.

Type 3 is good if you have the item. You can charge them a premium but their needs are more suited for the online purchase and auctions. If you can convert Type 3 into Type 1 you will have a good and loyal customer. But that is a matter of teaching them that decorator magazines are better used as a creative inspiration rather than to be used as a form of direct copying.

What do you think? Other types? Perhaps Type 5 should be the Status Buyer…

or The Clueless "my wife likes old things and its her birthday" 

Booklet: Now I am a Fish and Seafood Expert!

Came across this at the flea market. I did not know what to do with it so I left it there. Still, I thought it was pretty neat. She almost smiles too much. 

Back at the Auction

The auction started back up last night. It had been closed for the holidays. There were over 207 folks there because that's where we got to in the numbering system for the bid cards. There was in fact more because many couples or families share card. We also had a potluck where folks brought food and ate before it started. Not to shabby.

The goods were on the lower end last night and not much got my antique motor going. There were a couple model cannons but they sold for too high a price. (good news for the consigner bad news for me)

I did not get to really handle anything neat, there was an antique mirror with a plaster frame that was interesting.

There was an interesting Swedish knife but it was not in my ring so I did not get to handle it too much.

It was a short auction and I got home early.

Well, there is always next week.

Flea market.

One of the places I hunt for antiques is the local flea market. It is a mix of junk, trash, household goods and various detritus of mankind. Sometimes there are good things to be had. Sometimes I can spend a couple hours looking around to find nothing. There are a few dealers there that do have nicer material, but I rarely buy from them because they already took their premium from buying previously. This means that I cannot profit from the resell. As you can see, in some places there is some digging to be done.

On this day my best find was a hand bound book from the Roycrofters. Not a rare one, but a good condition version of Elbert Hubbard's Scrap Book. I picked it up for five dollars, and believe I can sell it for a little more. I also was supposed to pick up some Charter Oak silverware, but the chap that was supposed to bring it forgot it at home.

One thing I forgot to mention is how often I have to stop and wash my hands here. Not five minutes after I arrived I picked up a Navy WWII issue syrup pitcher and got sticky crap all over them. 

What Makes an Expert?

I meet a lot of folks that know a lot of things about antiques.  I trust and follow the advice of many of them. I also meet a lot of people that tell me things about antiques that I know to be false or find out later that they were misinformed. When I first started in the trade I believed everybody.  I don't do this anymore.  I still try to listen to everybody because even if I know they are misinformed, it is good to know how and possibly why this is.

I don't get to meet many true experts. These folks have spent hours studying the nuance of history of objects. I read recently that to understand a category of antiques you need to handle at least 500 pieces. I think this might be true.

I had a boss tell me once that one became an expert when others started to refer you to you as an expert. I think this might be true as well.

Working definition of the Antiques Trade

Working definition of the Antiques Trade

The antiques trade relies on the movement of a material object from a place where it is undervalued to a place where it is valued and extracting the surplus value created in that movement.

Example One:

            At the flea market, I purchased a 1940’s Boy Scout fork knife and spoon set for a dollar.  A person or persons (I don’t know) comes through my booth and buys anything Boy Scout related that I put out.  I moved the object across town. It did not require any modification, cleaning, repair etc. I mean I literally moved it less than three miles across a geographic space. It sold for sixty dollars. The total profit is about 45 dollars if we consider booth rent, gas time etc. That is 45 dollars for moving an object from a space where it was undervalued to a space where it has greater value.

            Of course, this makes it sound easy.  There is an art to knowing what objects to purchase, research time, expertise etc. Knowing what to buy and where to sell it is a bit trickier than it sounds but in the end, this is the whole game of antiques.

And yeah, a 1940’s BSA mess kit is probably more a collectable than an antique but lets keep some fluid definitions here.  I might talk about the difference later but right now, I don’t want to get in to it.

Example Two:

            A friend of mine bought a group of dolls on top of a table at an estate auction. Within twenty minutes, he had sold a portion of these dolls to another person for about twice the cost of the original purchase. This covered his table cost and created a surplus value or profit. The purchaser had been busy when this table came up for sale and still wanted this group of objects.  In this case, the movement was not across space but across time.

The Takeaway:

          Knowing what to purchase, and where to sell it is tricky but in the end the antique dealer is an object mover that extracts value by shifting the market of the object. To do this the antiques dealer must know the object and its surplus value. Or just get lucky.

Use value in Antiques

Use value

Use value is the cost of an object because it has a use. Use value can be the value in wanting an object, but we are going to focus more on the utility of the object as our ‘useful’ form of use value.

Consider hand cranked meat grinders.

I see a lot of these and generally pass them up. Mainly because I don’t know anything about them.  However, they sell well in the vintage markets. Why? They may have some sort of industrial ascetics but in truth I think they sell because they have use value. (or at least perceived use value)

Many antique objects have use value. They can be used. Furniture is a good example. An art deco dresser can still be used as a dresser.  

I like to buy antiques for myself and retail that have use value.  I think they are more likely to sell. 

Except furniture and some high-end metal objects use value helps to move objects for the reseller.

Decorator and craft magazines help identify for the dealer current trends in use value.

Three years ago I couldn’t move milk glass for the world. Recently decorator magazines have been showing it in table decorations and tableaus. It is selling well in my area now. I still wont buy it but that is because of my personal rule “Don’t buy glass” I may write about that rule later.

I started in this business because of use value.  I could go to Lowes and buy a Chinese made hammer for 20 dollars or I could buy a used hammer for eight. Not only do I end up with a vintage object but I also end up with an object with use value.

If you have an object that has use value then I think you have a higher chance of reselling it.

Some exceptions:

            Vintage appliances-never had any luck with these. I know there are collectors that get these for non-use value but not in my area.

            Some use value objects-such as large case clocks or jewelry are sought for their exchange value or ascetic value more than their use value even though they do have use value. 

Topology of Antique Retail Spaces

Topology of Antique Retail Spaces:

            This is an introductory topology of retail spaces for the antique market. These are brick and mortar shops that are open to the public. This list does not include auctions and temporary retail spaces (such as antique markets, flea markets etc.) It also does not include retail through auction. However, often retailers will employ the store, market, and auction triad to expand their sales.

Class One Retail Reseller:

This is the highest end of antique store. 

They sometimes specialize in one singular subject (e.g. silver, art deco, colonial furniture).

They employ people with a high level of expertise gained through a lifetime of study.

They employ persons with professional certifications (such as appraisers).

They deal in materials considered fine art as well as antique material objects.

Museums rely on their expertise and inventory.

Many are also auction houses.

Reputation is key to their business model.

May have a national market for their goods.

Find objects specifically for their clients.

Class Two Retail Reseller:

            Larger owner operated shops.

Do not specialize in a singular type or period of object, but maintain a diverse inventory.

Inventory is of high quality objects.

Staff has a high level of knowledge about inventory and some subjects, but lacks recognition of expertise by larger community or professional certifications.

Shop does not employ professional appraisers.

Class Three Retail Reseller:

            Multi-dealer shops.

            Inventory is a mix of high quality objects and vintage, collectables.

Retail functions similar to a non-antique retail shop with little or no professional expertise. Staff exists for checking out customers.

Shop contains large volume of objects.

This volume of objects assists volume of trade, but many objects create a hodge-podge of eras, quality and prices.

Customer must do the searching for object types they desire.

Class Four Retail Reseller:

Sells a mix of high quality used contemporary objects, vintage, and collectables.

May or may not recognize the value of any antiques they resell.

If they do recognize an antique, it is often overpriced because it is “an antique”

May be a single owner shop or a multi dealer shop.

Retail space clean and somewhat organized.

Cleaner and brighter than a class five shop.

Sells ‘used’ goods.

Thrift shops are an example of this type.

Class Five Retail Reseller:

            Sells a mix contemporary objects, vintage, collectibles, junk and  garbage.

            Inventory is tossed on shelves, stacked on floor and may be hard to navigate.

            Inventory is not organized.

            Retail space is disorganized and cleaning in negligible.

            Often prices are not clear.

            May be single dealer or multi dealer.

            Antiques may be mixed into the piles of inventory.

            Customer must dig to find material.

May have an outside area where objects become exposed to elements reducing their value.

True junk stores.

You will want to wash your hands after searching for things here.

I have turned over a stack of blankets in a shop like this once to find a rats nest and have my hands covered in stale urine.

           

            

Post the First

I run a blog about silver and silver plate here: http://silverandsilverplate.blogspot.com
but I did not get the chance to post there as often as I would like. This is mainly because my time and experience in the world of antiques has changed a bit and expanded a lot. That blog is a bit too constricting for that experience. Its more 'academic' and research oriented and focused on a single subject. I needed a space to talk more openly about the life of the dealer,picker, researcher, hustler part of the trade so I created this blog. I wish I had done it sooner. I would not expect too many long post here but snippets of my work. Pictures of cool stuff I find and the like.  I can't say I do this professionally, though there are some months when my work in antiques eclipses my salary from the university where I work. So where do i fit in in the world of antiques?

Well, I am not in the world of fine antiques. Though I would like to be and am working hard to move towards that. Start up capital and recognition/reputation seem to be the key factors here.

I work in an area of small antiques/vintage and sometimes just junk. The buyers I have seem to like my eye, and right now that's where I am. Some of that is the geographic area I live in.

I have a booth, you know antique mall type place and do fairly well there.

I sell directly to dealers.

I work at an auction house a good solid firm but nothing fancy.

Mainly I turned a hobby I was spending money on into a way to make a little extra money to spend on the hobby I was spending it on.

Plus it keeps me busy on weekends.

My professional training is in Semiotics and ethnography and I get the chance to use both. I like tothink of this blog as a type of 'field notes'.

I get to think business strategies something I enjoy.

Most importantly I get to think about and play with the material goods of the past.

At any rate I hope you enjoy.

R.E. Davis