Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Beware of Dealer Dumping Grounds

This is an odd time to be an antique and vintage dealer.  But it is even odder to be a "collector of things" and then tire of or want to liquidate your collection.  What do you do when you don't want to collect what you have collected or want to get rid of some clutter or change the look of your house or shop?

Auction ads these days are filled with auctions of collections of yesterday's treasures.  While that sounds obvious--more precisely I mean that auctions are filled with huge collections of things that are no longer in general favor and people just want to get some money out of them.

Seen any decorating magazines that show 2013's tips using carnival or depression glass?  toy tractors?  primitive kitchen gadgets? salt cellars? majolica?  staffordshire figurines (or figurines of any kind for that matter?)  matchsafes?  pressed glass? ice cream scoops or chocolate molds?  flow blue? barbershop mugs? If so--you and I are reading different magazines.

Dear Husbola and I are finding so many auction ads that contain loads of merchandise that are obviously collectors or dealers that are trying to sell items that are totally out of current favor.  Dealers who sell mostly in malls may find themselves over run with inventory that is not moving these days.  Not at any price.  Nineteenth and twentieth century collectibles that were mass produced at the time are not on anyone's list of "must haves" right now.  I am not sure they will be on anyone's list again in my lifetime.  That does not mean these are not quality items--or that they do not have decorative value.  Some people payed big money for these items in years past.  The price of majolica in the 1980s was staggering.  Not so anymore.  Big time not so anymore.

Antique malls fall into only two categories--those with dealers who keep and continue to try to sell their outdated items NO MATTER WHAT--and those with dealers who take their lumps and move out the dreck and try to keep things fresh.  As dealers we have to be careful when buying at auction--the "Dealer/Collector Dump" can be inexpensive and lull us into purchasing someone else's unpopular items.

Rest in Peace collectibles.

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