Are antiques becoming a thing of the past?
Absolutely Not! There will alwasy be treasurables to be had! The neat thing about antiques is that you never know what future generatins will think is valuable. There are not as many antique shops as there used to be for a number of reasons. Number one being eBay. Sellers can put their items up for bid directly to the public. In addition there are antique websites and many retailers have gone Inet. Right behind eBay is Competition! In days of yore antique collectors were a small group. But thanks to programs like Antiques Rodshow, everyone is out there looking for that $2.00 spoon that will bring in $2,000! This equate to a major reduction in quality items available. Another factor is the sagging economy. People aren’t spending as much because everyone is in a money crunch. For an antiques dealer this is not a good thing. It means less sales and more customers who want to pay less because they have less. In such times, dealers are more apt to wait it out rather than sell too low. If you’re looking for antiques and your fav dealer is closed or has reduced hours, try estate sales. Estate sales can be anything from someone just wanting to get rid of things in their home to liquidation of major assets. You’re sure to find some goodies there. Most local newspapers have notices of upcoming events. Another option is auctions. With auctions, the value of an item may or may not beknown. You may be able to find some gems at auction for a reasonable price….depending on the competition…..have fun!
Antiques as you can see are old collectible items they are wanted because of its beuty, rarity, condition, utility, and or the features it represents a past age in human history. They usually show some decorations such as a desk or an automobile. If you ever want to see an antique then go to a historical museums thats where they keep them in order to illustrate historical events from long ago.
Any object can become an antique if it lives for a long time it is also determined by its acceptance socially. It is something that is 100 years old and is collected. Some of the antique furniture available are chairs, dinning tables, bureaus, chests some common woods are mahogany, oak, pine, walnut and rosewood. There are a number of antique styles depending on where and when they were made the most ones are arts and crafts, georgian, American pastoral and victorian.
There is a big difference in handing down a hand-crafted oak table or maple linen chest and getting Aunt Susan’s fiber board and fake wood desk. I am sure that some antiques will never go out of style. A mother handing down her wedding rings to a daughter for example. But the problem with antique furniture is that we simply do not make this stuff like we used to. Everything comes in a box with some assembly required, or is made out of recycled cardboard and sawdust. It usually doesn’t last a third of OUR lifetime, so why would we really think it is gonna last 3-4 generations? I would say that some things have sentimental value. In my case, my father is into woodworking and has built several beautiful things in his life…a large pine bookcase with four shelves and matching doors on the bottom….A set of oak spoon racks…a cherry photo display unit… These things I hope will be handed down from family member to family member. As for my Sears CD cabinet and Ikea stereo cabinet, that p
