Many people do not grasp exactly how antiques originate, and you should endeavor not to be this kind of antique buyer. 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. This lack of adequate time management can be contributed to a simple misunderstanding about the way in which antiques originate by many dealers and collectors.
If you want to find fresh-to-the-market antiques and collectibles, you need to go where they are in great abundance, and where they come from! Rather, 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.
Another fact to keep in mind is that most antiques are in the homes of older citizens. You will, more or less, find less of an abundance of the items in a young person’s home than in an older one’s home. Many older people came from a generation that saved everything, which explains this occurrence. Whether it’s toys from the 1950s, or a toaster that doesn’t work, many antiques are found in the homes of the elderly simply because they didn’t wish to throw them away.
Knowing these two fundamental truths about where antiques originate, begs a big question. That question being: knowing that antiques form in people’s homes - especially older people’s homes - where are you gong to spend your prime time? For the concepts that follow, it took me literally years to comprehend.
1. To buy more fresh antiques you have to see more of them.
2. This goal is accomplished by looking at more household collections frequently.
3. In order to achieve this, you must gain access to more people’s homes where the antiques originate.
These aren’t hard principles to understand, but putting them to use will give you lots of advantages over the competition. Take my word for it, most antique dealers and collectors find their antiques through one of five methods. These methods usually include: garage/estate sales, auctions, Goodwill or similar stores, flea markets, and “pickers”.
Of course, having read and understood the concepts in this article, you now that the place where you will find the largest amount of antiques is in people’s homes. You will achieve a greater degree of success if you search only where the antiques originate. Through focusing on that concept alone, you will go much further than you thought!
