Antique buyers, though intelligent people who are enthused about their craft, sometimes do not grasp fully the process in which their antiques came into being. Because the process is understood so little, collectors and dealers often spend time they shouldn’t searching places that will not yield any results, because they believe valuable items will be found there. A good understanding of the antique process eludes far too many dealers and collectors.
The scene where antiques come from and where they remain is the best place to find antiques and other collectibles. They do not start at auctions, or at flea markets, or at antique shows – antiques originate in people’s homes. This is something that will remain true for 99 percent of any and all antiques that you will ever run across.
Primarily, these homes full of antiques are going to be the older people in the community. Typically, the younger generation does not own them as frequently as the older one does. The reason for this is simply because many older people are from a generation that saved everything and frequently have kept it all. The origins of antiques come from the older people’s inabilities to throw away the old toaster that doesn’t work, or the old toys they have from the 1950s.
Knowing these two fundamental truths about where antiques originate, begs a big question. How will you utilize the knowledge of antiques forming in older people’s homes when you are deciding where to spend the majority of your time? I wasted many valuable years in trying to grasp the following principles.
1. In order to buy new antiques, you have to be in a position to see more of them. 2. This means that you need to familiarize yourself more household accumulations of the items over time. 3. If you want to do this, you will simply have to get into more people’s homes, since this is where the antiques originate.
If you want to get a leg up over the competition, there is no better way than to use these simple concepts. Many well-meaning antique dealers use the same old five methods that have repeatedly shown themselves to be not great resources when looking for antiques. You’ll likely see your competition looking through their local estate or garage sales, auctions, “pickers”, flea markets, and stores such as Goodwill.
. Searching through where antiques originate, you will experience more success than looking in traditional sources. This simple tool of collecting can take you farther than you ever dreamed possible!