Collections of antiques
and collectibles have a special meaning and presence in the world of
antiques. Even seemingly mundane individual items can take on new
meaning and significance when placed
in the context of a well-focused and thoughtfully assembled antique
collection.
For example, we sold a collection
of Hog Oilers. When looked at or thought about individually, there is little
interest or much to consider
by most lookers. But when carefully
restored, displayed along the drive, or in the barn / museum,
they take on a different and special meaning. These farm
related devices offer a
glimpse into life on the farm back in their day, both for the hogs
and the farmers. That collection can be viewed in our sales
archives on our sister site
www.AntiqBuyer.com.
Antique collections can
be used to demonstrate how a particular idea or object evolved through
its different stages of development, or as a powerful and interesting
visual design statement, or simply as a means of preserving a portion
of our
heritage for future generations to enjoy, view, and learn from.
Over the years we
have bought and sold numerous collections of antiques from all over
the country, ranging from tool collections, collections of irons and
laundry-related antiques, antique pencil sharpener collections, a collection
of antique hotel or call bells, several collections of antique sewing
machines and accessories, and more.
We have also helped
sell portions several large antique collections and other collections in their
entirety for collectors who were ready to sell after years of
amassing and enjoying
their collections. We have done the same for the collectors heirs
or family when they were
unexpectedly left with the task.
We are experienced and are well
positioned to take on the task of, and the considerable work involved in
properly dealing with this sort of endeavor.
The
Situation Today
At every imaginable venue where quality
antiques and collectibles used to be offered there is now stuff that's not even as old
as I am, and stuff that is simply ordered new from catalogs being offered
up for sale as antiques. The criteria for something to be considered
acceptable to be offered at
2001 folks! It is a depressing situation.
General line auctions around the country,
which used to have great stuff are now full of
nameless insignificant fill and fluff. Antique shows mostly
consist of made up fantasy pieces, currently called assemblages,
repurposed, or Steampunk. Many of the offerings
there and at other venues are marked China and came straight from Wal-Mart.
The days of going out and finding, buying, and selling "real"
antiques the old ways are about dead and gone.
We have heard this from dealers
and collectors ever since we have been involved
with the antiques business. That is going on some 40 plus years now. We use to chuckle as we were still buying and selling some great stuff
back in the 80's and early 90's. That was before the
internet and its effect on the market took place. We worked hard at
it. The complainers were remembering the
"better old days"
when it just fell into their hands or walked through the door of
their antique shops.
But now we feel that for most quality
antiques that refrain has finally come to
be true. It is certainly true for those types
of antiques that are of primary interest to us, being Americana,
Advertising, tools,
technology, and scientific related antiques over 80 years old.We have come to
the conclusion, and must reluctantly admit, that the vast majority of
quality antiques we are interested in are already in collections around
the country.
The good old days of good stuff
coming out of the attic, or being dug out of the basement or garage are
pretty
much over. In the recent past we have consistently bought the
majority of our best and favorite antiques out of collections, from private collectors, individuals, and fellow dealers around
the country.
The common thread is that the vast majority of the great pieces always
seem to come from collections purposefully assembled over the years. These
antiques
use to come from shops, shows, auctions, and even private garages
and attics, but no longer in the volume it use to, or in the volume
necessary to run this business.
We
are actively seeking to help you sell large or small collections of
quality antiques
specifically related to those categories that are of interest to us.
Our Role
Collections of antiques
often need to be dispersed the same way they were assembled.
Carefully and piece by piece.
Broken
down into their core
sections and then dealt with as the situation dictates.
Sometimes sold as smaller collections or groupings, other times piece by piece.
It takes a special knowledge and acumen to properly
catalog, identify, appreciate, and properly redistribute some of these
larger collections of antiques.
For example, a broad
tool collection or a collection of diverse office antiques could well
hold more significance and interest when re-focused or re-assembled
upon specific segments or themes. Say just planes within a tool collection,
or just pencil sharpeners or typewriters from a collection that was
focused on general office antiques. The same end buyer /
collector is almost
certainly not going to be interested in buying both the collection of
fans, and pencil sharpeners, that one collector assembled, unless sold
at far below wholesale, and that is what often happens when diverse antique
collections are dealt with as a whole. This is the situation
when a collection is just handed off to an auctioneer. In most
cases it is just lotted up and sold with little regard or thought
other than how quickly can we get this done.
Another example of how not to deal w/ large collections is
to dump it all on the market one day in one auction. While a few key
pieces may do well, in almost
every instance flooding the market like this is a sure recipe for
lower values and oftentimes a disaster with pieces literally
bringing pennies on the dollar of their real or potential retail value.
Of late some of the larger better known auction houses have been
known to lot up good collections selling some poor collectors
lifetime collection in large lots. It has been a sad spectacle
to see.
Another consideration
that must be factored in, and handled, is that in any collection there is always a small percentage
of the
whole that is much more desirable, rare, and valuable than the bulk of the collection - - - this can't be avoided
given the nature of collecting. We call it the 80-20 rule.
Simply put, oftentimes the numbers can
work out to something like 80% of a given antique collections value
is concentrated in 20%
of the volume. This "rule" makes it crucial that the key pieces in a
collection be properly identified and dealt with so that their full
potential is realized. It also points to the pitfalls of
allowing somebody to "cream" a collection before parts of
a collection are sold and the true
value is determined.
When selling
collections we are willing to deal with and sell
the good, best. and the bad. This works to the benefit of the seller
who is not faced with the dreaded task of what to do with the
"fluff" or lesser items that are always left over after the top
pieces disappear. Oftentimes the original collector, or their
heirs do not have any sense of how to categorize and disperse
the different aspects of the collection when it encompasses
different categories. We handle all that when we handle
collections of antiques for heirs or other owners.
Take for example the
Glissman collection of
iron and laundry related antiques that we bought and sold. This single
owner collection included over
3,000 antique pressing
or sad irons and laundry related antiques. There
were also over
60 full size washing machines, 200 or more washboards, and 1000 or
more
trivets in the collection. That collection had to be
carefully sorted and inventoried and then strategically placed and re-distributed
into a number of smaller collections. It was so large and diverse
that no one typical buyer would ever consider buying it in its entirety. The sheer size of this collection made it unmanageable to the typical
buyer, collector, dealer or even auctioneer.
We carefully inventoried,
sorted, identified, cleaned, and
categorized the different segments of this massive collection, and then
carefully and methodically distributed most of it back into other more
focused and smaller collections and the hands of collectors.
By analyzing which items should
be sold at which venues we were able to resell this collection for full
maximum benefit. Some pieces were sold for $1 or less
and other pieces sold individually for thousands of dollars. The theory was
to enhance the value of the upper end items by not "diluting" their
value selling them in the same venue as the lower end items.
An important consideration that only somebody with the proper
understanding can handle.
To add a bit of perspective, I took 2 truckloads of that collection
to the scrap yard for $36.00. and sold 10 small boxes for 100K.
It was quite an undertaking,
but worked out well. The entire
endeavor including an auction 2,000 miles away was accomplished in a
little over 6 months. Selling off some other collections has taken longer, and should, and each
collection should be handled according to what is best, not just what is fastest
or most convenient.
We are interested
in buying antique collections, both large and small,
diverse or tightly focused.
* * * * We Buy & Sell Antiques!
* * * *
If you have a single antique, or a collection of antiques to sell
please Contact Patented-Antiques.com at patentedantiques@gmail.com giving us your PHONE NUMBER
and other contact info
and we will get back to you ASAP.
To view examples of the types of antiques and collectibles we have previously
sold and are always interested in buying please visit our
Past
Sales Archive Pages at our sister website
www.AntiqBuyer.com.
Thanks!!
Larry & Carole
