'Start Young' collecting antiques, art, collectibles etc and occasionally trading or
selling them, but the main idea is to build a 'collection' that may include 'everything'
that in 20, 30, 50 years time will have accumulated a several hundreds percent
increase in value
while many people collect/trade as a business and income generator, the idea here
is that collecting is a hobby or passtime whose offshoot may be profitable, that the
collecting and owning is done for the pure pleasure of what's being collected â not
for pure monetary value the piece has and may have in the future
the following is based on watching many episodes of the BBC 'Antiques Roadshow'
PBS 'Antiques Roadshow' and some 'Pawn Star' episodes
what's apparent in the Antique Roadshows is that only a few of the guests can be
described as 'collectors', most often the objects guests bring to the show have been
passed to them from a family member
lucky finds from car-boot/yard sales, 'charity' or other shops, auctions, antique fairs
fleamarkets are common, where something purchased at a low cost is later found to
be worth a lot more than the purchase price, sometimes considerably more, and
that the owner had no idea of the true value of what they'd bought - tho some do
- who knew that 'baseball cards' would one day be worth thousands of dollars tho
few other sport or other such cards generate anywhere near those values
- the famed US Keno brothers started in the business as children and one of their
highest appraisals for a US side table ? was in the $200K - that sold at auction for
$400+K
- then there was the 'national treasure, yes sir a national treasure' Mid-19th Century
Navajo Ute First Phase Blanket appraised by Donald Ellis at $500K â
owner: "I had no idea. (voice breaking) It was laying on the back of a chair."
- and the man who worked for the 'card' company and liasoned with Charles Shultz
who gave him some originals of his work - now worth $250K
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/index.html - multi hour education source
the BBC Antiques Roadshow began in 1979 and you 'can't' watch 4 years of their
shows here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mj2y/episodes/2007
unfortunately i've discovered those older episodes can't be seen, the BBC only
makes shows available for a very limited period -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/programmes/genres/factual/antiques/player/episodes
also google: 'bbc antiques roadshow' 'youtube bbc antiques roadshow' etc
multi-hour education source
Get Educated - watching the BBC and PBS videos/site will provide a lot of that
while one doesn't need to become an 'expert' one does need to know that a Replica
may have been inadvertently and unintentionally classified as Original by the seller
whether the seller a private individual, at a yard sale, auction, 'antique' dealer or an
online/Ebay seller, and that Replicas of guns, coins, watches, ceramics, sculpture
antiques, antiquities, etc etc exist, legitimately, but, Copies are fraud; to beware of
Fakes and Counterfeit objects, that Watercolors in particular can be reproduced and
will appear to be Original rather than the difficult to distinguish Print, all of which of
course have a much, much lower value than an Original; that antiquities often have
a lower than expected value - too old and are often reproduced, copied, faked, but -
that the price paid may be 'full retail' even over-paid amount with little likelyhood of
an increase in value
that the Box or Packaging the toy came in can double or more the value of the toy
that chips and cracks on China/Ornaments etc sometimes don't lower the value too
much and may still be worth collecting
* to Never, Never, Never refinish an antique *
say a brass lamp polished-up will half it's value, as would the refinishing of an 18thC
table or other furniture, but - ask the expert first -
Professional Restoration can and does increase the value of the object , sometimes
considerably
Folk/Naive art/Crafts can also command high value, who'd have thought a handmade
weather vane sitting for years on top of an old barn would be worth thousands or the
'crappy' paintings done by an old woman are being collected by 'connoisseurs'
'antique' does not necessarily mean '100 years old', 'modern' objects are collected
and do see an increase in value, eg rock posters, celebrity siganture/letters, photos
art in general
since beauty is in the eye of the beholder the maxim is to collect what you like
virtually everthing is collectable, google 'what to collect' for guidlines
while some objects/groups have a high starting value others are very affordable
like stocks the value of a group of say Victorian furniture or Majolica ceramics may
rise and fall periodically reaching a high or being in a depressed market, one's buys
are for the long term buy-and-hold, tho one may cast an eye to a particular market
say Russian objects since Russians are all now rich, or a few years ago the Irish
market and sell into that rising market
the term 'collection' also applies to a group of objects: say a relative who was in the
American Civil War, you have his uniform - coat, pants, hat, belt, plus a sword,
maybe handgun, maybe long gun, maybe letters and/or diary from him, photograph,
all could be sold individually but are usually worth more as a collection
Provenance: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/glossary/index.html
"A term that refers to an object's path through time, its "life experience" including
who owned it, when, where and for how long-all of which, if known and verified,
often adds significant value to an antique or collectible." part of the proof of being
an original. watch out for who's the legal owner; an object might have been 'lost'
from a museum, may have been looted during WWII, an unauthorized reproduction
what's interesting and surprising about the Pawn Stars shows is the people pawning
their object - usually a straight sell rather than trying to sell it privately especially via
the internet where in theory they'd receive more money
the Stars have bought cars, boat, plane, motor bikes, Coke machine, barber chair
all of which they've had professionals restore to showroom finishes, and even after
paying for that restoration the object still has profit potential - none were antiques
in every show i've seen at least one expert is asked to come to the store to make
an evaluation of the object's authenticity and value -
if the Pawn Stars don't know they don't buy
while pawn shops are a strictly retail business and not likely to yield low priced
collectibles, Pawn Stars does offer some useful buying/selling and Real, Fake,
Replica info: http://www.history.com/shows/pawn-stars
the most often heard response of guests on the Antiques Roadshow is "WOW"
typical of guests who'd no idea of the value of their object/collection, even those who
had previously asked an 'expert' - you have to ask the right one - or have the object
insured for a given value. also typical are guests who own the object because they
bought it for a practical reason and very much enjoy it, or who became a collector of
lures because they enjoy fishing or started collecting decoys because they hunt
how much should you invest ?
if one looks at collecting from the pov of retirement income, tho with a difficult to
assess annual roi, but a multi/several decade buyandhold strategy, one might base
one's buying budget on the cost to buy one object one's collecting, once a week,
month, quarter etc
will every purchase result in an increase of value ?
i'd say yes. judging by the Roadshows there's still objects today being sold at a
price far below their appraised value, objects being disposed of into skips and
dumpsters, estate/house sales, need-to-raise-cash sales, seller ignorance that
results in very low buy investments -
one wo/man's rubbish is another wo/man's treasure
insurance and storage
you may need to buy separate insurance each year since general household may
not cover your particular object/s/collection/s. if you collect a lot and/or it's very
valuable you may fill/over fill your home, and may need to rent a safety deposit box
or larger storage that may also need additional insurance
beware
that the pursuit of collecting may become a passion since there's much to collect,
buy/sell/trade along the way, and virtually thousands of places where one can visit
to acquire objects, so just as in stock etc trading one has to disciplined when it
comes to the amount of capital one takes on a collection hunt
time
most peoples' busy lifestyle have them investing in mutual funds, retirement plans
401s etc because it's easier for someone else to do it for them, so it's more than
likely particularly if one has a family the collecting time has to have a schedule, but
can be part of a family outing, if only once a month - with the occasional stop-off at
a garage sale or etc one happens upon or walks/drives past, then there's the weekly
auction, or two . . . . .
selling them, but the main idea is to build a 'collection' that may include 'everything'
that in 20, 30, 50 years time will have accumulated a several hundreds percent
increase in value
while many people collect/trade as a business and income generator, the idea here
is that collecting is a hobby or passtime whose offshoot may be profitable, that the
collecting and owning is done for the pure pleasure of what's being collected â not
for pure monetary value the piece has and may have in the future
the following is based on watching many episodes of the BBC 'Antiques Roadshow'
PBS 'Antiques Roadshow' and some 'Pawn Star' episodes
what's apparent in the Antique Roadshows is that only a few of the guests can be
described as 'collectors', most often the objects guests bring to the show have been
passed to them from a family member
lucky finds from car-boot/yard sales, 'charity' or other shops, auctions, antique fairs
fleamarkets are common, where something purchased at a low cost is later found to
be worth a lot more than the purchase price, sometimes considerably more, and
that the owner had no idea of the true value of what they'd bought - tho some do
- who knew that 'baseball cards' would one day be worth thousands of dollars tho
few other sport or other such cards generate anywhere near those values
- the famed US Keno brothers started in the business as children and one of their
highest appraisals for a US side table ? was in the $200K - that sold at auction for
$400+K
- then there was the 'national treasure, yes sir a national treasure' Mid-19th Century
Navajo Ute First Phase Blanket appraised by Donald Ellis at $500K â
owner: "I had no idea. (voice breaking) It was laying on the back of a chair."
- and the man who worked for the 'card' company and liasoned with Charles Shultz
who gave him some originals of his work - now worth $250K
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/index.html - multi hour education source
the BBC Antiques Roadshow began in 1979 and you 'can't' watch 4 years of their
shows here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mj2y/episodes/2007
unfortunately i've discovered those older episodes can't be seen, the BBC only
makes shows available for a very limited period -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/programmes/genres/factual/antiques/player/episodes
also google: 'bbc antiques roadshow' 'youtube bbc antiques roadshow' etc
multi-hour education source
Get Educated - watching the BBC and PBS videos/site will provide a lot of that
while one doesn't need to become an 'expert' one does need to know that a Replica
may have been inadvertently and unintentionally classified as Original by the seller
whether the seller a private individual, at a yard sale, auction, 'antique' dealer or an
online/Ebay seller, and that Replicas of guns, coins, watches, ceramics, sculpture
antiques, antiquities, etc etc exist, legitimately, but, Copies are fraud; to beware of
Fakes and Counterfeit objects, that Watercolors in particular can be reproduced and
will appear to be Original rather than the difficult to distinguish Print, all of which of
course have a much, much lower value than an Original; that antiquities often have
a lower than expected value - too old and are often reproduced, copied, faked, but -
that the price paid may be 'full retail' even over-paid amount with little likelyhood of
an increase in value
that the Box or Packaging the toy came in can double or more the value of the toy
that chips and cracks on China/Ornaments etc sometimes don't lower the value too
much and may still be worth collecting
* to Never, Never, Never refinish an antique *
say a brass lamp polished-up will half it's value, as would the refinishing of an 18thC
table or other furniture, but - ask the expert first -
Professional Restoration can and does increase the value of the object , sometimes
considerably
Folk/Naive art/Crafts can also command high value, who'd have thought a handmade
weather vane sitting for years on top of an old barn would be worth thousands or the
'crappy' paintings done by an old woman are being collected by 'connoisseurs'
'antique' does not necessarily mean '100 years old', 'modern' objects are collected
and do see an increase in value, eg rock posters, celebrity siganture/letters, photos
art in general
since beauty is in the eye of the beholder the maxim is to collect what you like
virtually everthing is collectable, google 'what to collect' for guidlines
while some objects/groups have a high starting value others are very affordable
like stocks the value of a group of say Victorian furniture or Majolica ceramics may
rise and fall periodically reaching a high or being in a depressed market, one's buys
are for the long term buy-and-hold, tho one may cast an eye to a particular market
say Russian objects since Russians are all now rich, or a few years ago the Irish
market and sell into that rising market
the term 'collection' also applies to a group of objects: say a relative who was in the
American Civil War, you have his uniform - coat, pants, hat, belt, plus a sword,
maybe handgun, maybe long gun, maybe letters and/or diary from him, photograph,
all could be sold individually but are usually worth more as a collection
Provenance: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/glossary/index.html
"A term that refers to an object's path through time, its "life experience" including
who owned it, when, where and for how long-all of which, if known and verified,
often adds significant value to an antique or collectible." part of the proof of being
an original. watch out for who's the legal owner; an object might have been 'lost'
from a museum, may have been looted during WWII, an unauthorized reproduction
what's interesting and surprising about the Pawn Stars shows is the people pawning
their object - usually a straight sell rather than trying to sell it privately especially via
the internet where in theory they'd receive more money
the Stars have bought cars, boat, plane, motor bikes, Coke machine, barber chair
all of which they've had professionals restore to showroom finishes, and even after
paying for that restoration the object still has profit potential - none were antiques
in every show i've seen at least one expert is asked to come to the store to make
an evaluation of the object's authenticity and value -
if the Pawn Stars don't know they don't buy
while pawn shops are a strictly retail business and not likely to yield low priced
collectibles, Pawn Stars does offer some useful buying/selling and Real, Fake,
Replica info: http://www.history.com/shows/pawn-stars
the most often heard response of guests on the Antiques Roadshow is "WOW"
typical of guests who'd no idea of the value of their object/collection, even those who
had previously asked an 'expert' - you have to ask the right one - or have the object
insured for a given value. also typical are guests who own the object because they
bought it for a practical reason and very much enjoy it, or who became a collector of
lures because they enjoy fishing or started collecting decoys because they hunt
how much should you invest ?
if one looks at collecting from the pov of retirement income, tho with a difficult to
assess annual roi, but a multi/several decade buyandhold strategy, one might base
one's buying budget on the cost to buy one object one's collecting, once a week,
month, quarter etc
will every purchase result in an increase of value ?
i'd say yes. judging by the Roadshows there's still objects today being sold at a
price far below their appraised value, objects being disposed of into skips and
dumpsters, estate/house sales, need-to-raise-cash sales, seller ignorance that
results in very low buy investments -
one wo/man's rubbish is another wo/man's treasure
insurance and storage
you may need to buy separate insurance each year since general household may
not cover your particular object/s/collection/s. if you collect a lot and/or it's very
valuable you may fill/over fill your home, and may need to rent a safety deposit box
or larger storage that may also need additional insurance
beware
that the pursuit of collecting may become a passion since there's much to collect,
buy/sell/trade along the way, and virtually thousands of places where one can visit
to acquire objects, so just as in stock etc trading one has to disciplined when it
comes to the amount of capital one takes on a collection hunt
time
most peoples' busy lifestyle have them investing in mutual funds, retirement plans
401s etc because it's easier for someone else to do it for them, so it's more than
likely particularly if one has a family the collecting time has to have a schedule, but
can be part of a family outing, if only once a month - with the occasional stop-off at
a garage sale or etc one happens upon or walks/drives past, then there's the weekly
auction, or two . . . . .
