Antiquing- The Road To Adventure
By Ida B. Reynolds, (c) 1995
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INTRODUCTION - Making It Happen
Many books have been written on the subject of antiques, but none is quite like the one you hold in your hand. This book is not to teach you on the subject of antiques, but rather, to show you how to become an “antiquer” or antique dealer.
This book gives tips on what antiquing is all about, not only the buying and selling, but the fun, excitement and spirit that goes with it. It shows how antiquing can add interest and anticipation to your life and make each day a new adventure. And it shows you how to make this happen.
It’s for antiquers who may only wish to collect, and also for antiquers who want to learn all you need to know to become a successful antique dealer.
This way of life brings with it not only the possibility of financial profit, but also opens up a way to put stimulation and happiness into your daily life. And there are no age barriers or other arbitrary restraints. All it takes is a love of antiques and a desire to do it. Together we can make it happen!
And then you’ll be on your way to a business that is more than a mere job, it can be that second career that adds zest to your life and opens up new dimensions, new experiences and new horizons.
It is not for everyone. If money alone is your goal, this business is not for you. But if you’re looking for a reasonable financial profit, combined with fun and anticipation, then you have the attitude it takes to become a successful “antiquer”.
This book will show you how easy it is to make that dream come true.
Ida B. Reynolds, Author, 1993
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That was more than 20 years ago (back in 1993). We collected until the inevitable happened, we became antique dealers. It was inevitable because our home, garage, and even a storage room could no longer accommodate our many finds; we had to do something with all those collected treasures. So we stumbled our way into the fascinating world of antique dealers.
At the time the usual dealers in antiques were retired couples who outfitted their RVs to accommodate show tables and boxes of inventory and mapped their shows for the warm weather states. California, especially Southern California, was a major destination for those snow-bird antiquers.
I knew many who wintered in California, doing shows up and down the state and even into Arizona. They combined their winter vacation with a schedule of antique shows which supplemented their fixed income and provided much fun at the same time. The fun of selling that find for a lot more than you paid for it. Usually the selling price is double what you paid, but sometimes you pay only a few dollars for something at a garage sale and later sell it at an antique show for 100 times what you paid. And that’s a thrill. But so is selling something for double the price you paid, it’s all exhilarating.
Its more than the money you make on the sale, it’s a validation of your judgment and your efforts. You are a success! Each show is an adventure and a succession of small highs, either with the selling or in the great buys you make from other dealers before the show opens. But in my enthusiasm, I have digressed.
As I said earlier, up to the 1980’s, older retirees were the norm for antique dealers, and a lot of us dreamed of doing the same thing when we retired from our jobs. But interestingly, a dramatic change has occurred during the past 10 – 15 years, and antique dealers have become younger and younger. Today many in their 30’s and 40’s are combining an antique business with their regular jobs or careers, and love it.
And it is a very wise endeavor since they are assuring themselves of an endless and fascinating adventure, regardless of age. It is great to see the young adults thriving in the antique business. And antique collectors are starting at an earlier age, buying everything from baseball cards to porcelain plates.
So antiquing is a vibrant, exciting hobby or business for anyone, at any age. It can provide a supplement to your income while at the same time providing interest and stimulation on a daily basis. Each day can be an adventure, meeting new people with similar interests, finding great buys, selling at a profit, and visiting new places in the process. I’ve written this book to make it easy for you to get started. A profitable adventure awaits you!
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Chapter 2 -How It All Began
Pushed out of my job in my 50’s, “early retirement” they called it, I was devastated. Up to that point in my life my career had been a very large part of my identity. In a way, it defined who I was.
For more than 30 years I had worked hard to achieve success. An endless string of 10 hour days and 6 day weeks, I gave it all I had because my career achievements were that important to me. Then one day it was gone. And I learned that there was no job market for those of us “over 50”. A combination of recession and government job freezes all contributed to closing job doors for older applicants. But I didn’t feel old. I was still in my prime! Nevertheless, after fruitless efforts, I finally accepted the reality that my job was gone, my career was over.
For months I retreated into my backyard, busying myself by planting beautiful flowers. I spent many months with those flowers, trying to come to grips with my plight. I tended those flowers with all of the attention and determination that I had given my career. They blossomed and thrived, I didn’t. That’s when I did my reality check. What will I do today? Next week? Next year? For the rest of my life?
Then one day I looked at all of the beauty around me; gorgeous flowers, birds, butterflies and blue sky. That’s when the bells went off, I was ALIVE. There was beauty everywhere. What am I doing moping in my backyard? There’s a big world out there, and I was ready to find a new way of life, and I did!
For many years I had enjoyed antiquing. Going to antique shows and shops, searching for that great find, the “sleeper” that was the thrill of the day. On family vacations I would get out of the motel early while the family was still asleep and hit the shops or swap meets with the same fervor that I gave to my career. Sheer determination, and I loved it. Antiquing across the country was my ideal vacation, each day a new adventure in search of that great find. It’s better that fishing. You get to keep your catch forever, unless your family or friends admire it so much that you give it to them with much love. So now I had my second career, and what to do with the rest of my life, I became a full-time antique dealer.
Now I wonder why I spent 30 years buried in a career when antiquing was the real adventure I had always loved.
For many years since then I have followed that love and have found much fun and excitement. My life is filled with interesting happenings, satisfaction, thrills and even financial gain. Each day holds the real possibility of a new adventure; finding treasures, meeting new people, experiencing the drama in other people’s lives. Perhaps I’ll find a marvelous antique today, or at least a bit of nostalgia from the 50’s. Maybe I’ll meet an interesting person, or experience amazement at the reactions of people to life’s twists and turns.
Each day is a new experience, and I can’t wait to get up in the morning and “hit-the-road” in search of that next adventure. Because I know that there are literally thousands and thousands of “early retirees” out there who would thrive in a new career, I have written this book sharing some of my own encounters to show you how to get started.
Fun and adventure is out there. Let’s get started!
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Chapter 1 -Finding Your Adventure
When I was in my late 30’s I became a serious collector. With my young son and daughter in tow, I would go to as many antique shows as I could squeeze in on weekends. And our family vacations were filled with out-of-town and out-of-state searches of antiques shops and flea markets. My daughter, Debra, and son, Ernie, loved antiques and loved the search. They still do!
When I was in my late 30’s I became a serious collector. With my young son and daughter in tow, I would go to as many antique shows as I could squeeze in on weekends. And our family vacations were filled with out-of-town and out-of-state searches of antiques shops and flea markets. My daughter, Debra, and son, Ernie, loved antiques and loved the search. They still do!
That was more than 20 years ago (back in 1993). We collected until the inevitable happened, we became antique dealers. It was inevitable because our home, garage, and even a storage room could no longer accommodate our many finds; we had to do something with all those collected treasures. So we stumbled our way into the fascinating world of antique dealers.
At the time the usual dealers in antiques were retired couples who outfitted their RVs to accommodate show tables and boxes of inventory and mapped their shows for the warm weather states. California, especially Southern California, was a major destination for those snow-bird antiquers.
I knew many who wintered in California, doing shows up and down the state and even into Arizona. They combined their winter vacation with a schedule of antique shows which supplemented their fixed income and provided much fun at the same time. The fun of selling that find for a lot more than you paid for it. Usually the selling price is double what you paid, but sometimes you pay only a few dollars for something at a garage sale and later sell it at an antique show for 100 times what you paid. And that’s a thrill. But so is selling something for double the price you paid, it’s all exhilarating.
Its more than the money you make on the sale, it’s a validation of your judgment and your efforts. You are a success! Each show is an adventure and a succession of small highs, either with the selling or in the great buys you make from other dealers before the show opens. But in my enthusiasm, I have digressed.
As I said earlier, up to the 1980’s, older retirees were the norm for antique dealers, and a lot of us dreamed of doing the same thing when we retired from our jobs. But interestingly, a dramatic change has occurred during the past 10 – 15 years, and antique dealers have become younger and younger. Today many in their 30’s and 40’s are combining an antique business with their regular jobs or careers, and love it.
And it is a very wise endeavor since they are assuring themselves of an endless and fascinating adventure, regardless of age. It is great to see the young adults thriving in the antique business. And antique collectors are starting at an earlier age, buying everything from baseball cards to porcelain plates.
So antiquing is a vibrant, exciting hobby or business for anyone, at any age. It can provide a supplement to your income while at the same time providing interest and stimulation on a daily basis. Each day can be an adventure, meeting new people with similar interests, finding great buys, selling at a profit, and visiting new places in the process. I’ve written this book to make it easy for you to get started. A profitable adventure awaits you!
** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Chapter 2 -How It All Began
Pushed out of my job in my 50’s, “early retirement” they called it, I was devastated. Up to that point in my life my career had been a very large part of my identity. In a way, it defined who I was.
For more than 30 years I had worked hard to achieve success. An endless string of 10 hour days and 6 day weeks, I gave it all I had because my career achievements were that important to me. Then one day it was gone. And I learned that there was no job market for those of us “over 50”. A combination of recession and government job freezes all contributed to closing job doors for older applicants. But I didn’t feel old. I was still in my prime! Nevertheless, after fruitless efforts, I finally accepted the reality that my job was gone, my career was over.
For months I retreated into my backyard, busying myself by planting beautiful flowers. I spent many months with those flowers, trying to come to grips with my plight. I tended those flowers with all of the attention and determination that I had given my career. They blossomed and thrived, I didn’t. That’s when I did my reality check. What will I do today? Next week? Next year? For the rest of my life?
Then one day I looked at all of the beauty around me; gorgeous flowers, birds, butterflies and blue sky. That’s when the bells went off, I was ALIVE. There was beauty everywhere. What am I doing moping in my backyard? There’s a big world out there, and I was ready to find a new way of life, and I did!
For many years I had enjoyed antiquing. Going to antique shows and shops, searching for that great find, the “sleeper” that was the thrill of the day. On family vacations I would get out of the motel early while the family was still asleep and hit the shops or swap meets with the same fervor that I gave to my career. Sheer determination, and I loved it. Antiquing across the country was my ideal vacation, each day a new adventure in search of that great find. It’s better that fishing. You get to keep your catch forever, unless your family or friends admire it so much that you give it to them with much love. So now I had my second career, and what to do with the rest of my life, I became a full-time antique dealer.
Now I wonder why I spent 30 years buried in a career when antiquing was the real adventure I had always loved.
For many years since then I have followed that love and have found much fun and excitement. My life is filled with interesting happenings, satisfaction, thrills and even financial gain. Each day holds the real possibility of a new adventure; finding treasures, meeting new people, experiencing the drama in other people’s lives. Perhaps I’ll find a marvelous antique today, or at least a bit of nostalgia from the 50’s. Maybe I’ll meet an interesting person, or experience amazement at the reactions of people to life’s twists and turns.
Each day is a new experience, and I can’t wait to get up in the morning and “hit-the-road” in search of that next adventure. Because I know that there are literally thousands and thousands of “early retirees” out there who would thrive in a new career, I have written this book sharing some of my own encounters to show you how to get started.
Fun and adventure is out there. Let’s get started!
** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
The BWK Degree
Keep in mind that no one is born with the knowledge of an antique dealer, it is absolutely an acquired knowledge. So everyone starts off even.
Although a few people may have been raised with antiques and therefore acquired some familiarity in the process, most antiquers started only with an interest in the subject. Along the way they fell in love with one or more areas of the antiquers world and learned from there.
Finding a treasure
Now you are probably wondering how you recognize a treasure. How do you know a real buy when you see it? In fact, many treasures do go unrecognized. Otherwise, why would they be in a garage sale being sold for a few dollars? So the answer is that you must learn all you can so that you recognize antiques when you find them, and yes, even the learning can be an adventure.
What you need to know
We all know that before you can run, you must first learn to walk. And learning to recognize things of value requires obtaining the knowledge you need before you can take off running in search of waiting treasures.
Remember, people are not born with knowledge of antiques or anything else, it must be learned. Every antique dealer you meet has had to learn about antique pottery, glass, china, furniture, silver, toys, and so on.
Of coarse, the subject of antiques is so vast that it is impossible to be an expert in everything. Therefore, many antique dealers specialize in one or two fields and concentrate their interest (and business) in those areas. It is not uncommon to find even antique appraisers who exclude some specialized areas such as Orientialia, dolls or rugs to name a few.
For our purposes, we want as broad a knowledge as possible of the key fields of antiques. We are not undertaking an in-depth knowledge of all there is to know, our goal is a working knowledge of the most common fields. These include items such as pottery, china, glass, silver, furniture, and eras such as Victorian, Deco, Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau, and vintage 40’s – 60’s.
These are the types of antiques and collectibles that you are most likely to find at estate or garage sales. These are also the types of items that sell at shows. Without this basic knowledge, you will not recognize all of those potential “finds”. So the first step is to learn, learn, learn.
But how much knowledge is enough, and how do you obtain it in a short time? As I mentioned earlier, your goal is only a broad working-knowledge of the main fields of antiques and collectibles. This learning will be fun, and it will become part of your ongoing adventure.
Your reward
Once you have the foundational knowledge you need, you will be rewarded in many ways:
• You will have a feeling of accomplishment
• Your days will be filled with many places to go, and things to see
• You will meet interesting people with similar interests and come to know the widely diverse people who become antiquers
• Each time you recognize and buy a good ‘find’ you will experience a thrill that will keep you soaring for weeks or months
• Your knowledge will give you the edge that you need to buy well so that you can make money as part of this adventure!
So remember, the successful adventure depends on acquiring a broad knowledge of the basic fields of antiques and collectibles. That will get you on the road, and you can continue to add to your basic knowledge by learning about trends and other areas that interest you.
Go to antique shows, shops and malls. Read the various price guides and reference books on subjects that really interest you. That’s how antiquers become specialists and experts in a particular field. As you learn more and follow the techniques set out in this book, you will increase your finds, your sales, and your thrills!
While some days you may ‘kiss a lot of frogs’ and come home empty-handed, those days will become fewer and fewer as you become more knowledgeable.
What’s the game plan?
Basically, the Broad-Working Knowledge (BWK) needed for our purposes will be acquired through seeing (shopping), touching (feel the items for uniqueness), observing (the difference between old and new), and by reference books (including price guides). Our goal is not to become experts in any one field, therefore, no endless research or visits to museums.
Our goal is to achieve a BWK of items 25 to 100 years old. Basically, things that are selling now in shows, zeroing in on the things that people are collecting today. The 100 year span of Victorian, Art Deco, Depression, and vintage 50’s and 60’s meet that goal.
I will provide you with a start to your BWK foundation through some tips and techniques for both buying and selling antiques, to help set the stage for you to start becoming an antiquer.
=======
More coming soon.........
=======
Keep in mind that no one is born with the knowledge of an antique dealer, it is absolutely an acquired knowledge. So everyone starts off even.
Although a few people may have been raised with antiques and therefore acquired some familiarity in the process, most antiquers started only with an interest in the subject. Along the way they fell in love with one or more areas of the antiquers world and learned from there.
Finding a treasure
Now you are probably wondering how you recognize a treasure. How do you know a real buy when you see it? In fact, many treasures do go unrecognized. Otherwise, why would they be in a garage sale being sold for a few dollars? So the answer is that you must learn all you can so that you recognize antiques when you find them, and yes, even the learning can be an adventure.
What you need to know
We all know that before you can run, you must first learn to walk. And learning to recognize things of value requires obtaining the knowledge you need before you can take off running in search of waiting treasures.
Remember, people are not born with knowledge of antiques or anything else, it must be learned. Every antique dealer you meet has had to learn about antique pottery, glass, china, furniture, silver, toys, and so on.
Of coarse, the subject of antiques is so vast that it is impossible to be an expert in everything. Therefore, many antique dealers specialize in one or two fields and concentrate their interest (and business) in those areas. It is not uncommon to find even antique appraisers who exclude some specialized areas such as Orientialia, dolls or rugs to name a few.
For our purposes, we want as broad a knowledge as possible of the key fields of antiques. We are not undertaking an in-depth knowledge of all there is to know, our goal is a working knowledge of the most common fields. These include items such as pottery, china, glass, silver, furniture, and eras such as Victorian, Deco, Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau, and vintage 40’s – 60’s.
These are the types of antiques and collectibles that you are most likely to find at estate or garage sales. These are also the types of items that sell at shows. Without this basic knowledge, you will not recognize all of those potential “finds”. So the first step is to learn, learn, learn.
But how much knowledge is enough, and how do you obtain it in a short time? As I mentioned earlier, your goal is only a broad working-knowledge of the main fields of antiques and collectibles. This learning will be fun, and it will become part of your ongoing adventure.
Your reward
Once you have the foundational knowledge you need, you will be rewarded in many ways:
• You will have a feeling of accomplishment
• Your days will be filled with many places to go, and things to see
• You will meet interesting people with similar interests and come to know the widely diverse people who become antiquers
• Each time you recognize and buy a good ‘find’ you will experience a thrill that will keep you soaring for weeks or months
• Your knowledge will give you the edge that you need to buy well so that you can make money as part of this adventure!
So remember, the successful adventure depends on acquiring a broad knowledge of the basic fields of antiques and collectibles. That will get you on the road, and you can continue to add to your basic knowledge by learning about trends and other areas that interest you.
Go to antique shows, shops and malls. Read the various price guides and reference books on subjects that really interest you. That’s how antiquers become specialists and experts in a particular field. As you learn more and follow the techniques set out in this book, you will increase your finds, your sales, and your thrills!
While some days you may ‘kiss a lot of frogs’ and come home empty-handed, those days will become fewer and fewer as you become more knowledgeable.
What’s the game plan?
Basically, the Broad-Working Knowledge (BWK) needed for our purposes will be acquired through seeing (shopping), touching (feel the items for uniqueness), observing (the difference between old and new), and by reference books (including price guides). Our goal is not to become experts in any one field, therefore, no endless research or visits to museums.
Our goal is to achieve a BWK of items 25 to 100 years old. Basically, things that are selling now in shows, zeroing in on the things that people are collecting today. The 100 year span of Victorian, Art Deco, Depression, and vintage 50’s and 60’s meet that goal.
I will provide you with a start to your BWK foundation through some tips and techniques for both buying and selling antiques, to help set the stage for you to start becoming an antiquer.
=======
More coming soon.........
=======
