Buying
and
Selling
Antiques &
Collectibles
for Fun
and Profit
Buying
and
Selling
Antiques &
Collectibles
for Fun
and Profit
By Joan & Don Bingham
Published in 1994 by Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc. of Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, Japan, with editorial offices at 364 Innovation Drive, North Clarendon, VT 05759 U.S.A.
Copyright © 1994 Joan and Don Bingham
Cover photograph copyright © 1994 David Carmac
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bingham, Joan
Buying and selling antiques and collectibles: for fun and profit / by Joan and
Don Bingham.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN: 978-1-4629-0441-9 (ebook)
1. Antiques—Collectors and collecting. 2. Collectibles.
I. Bingham, Don, 1930- II. Title
NK1125.B5 745.1'068—dc20
94-7707
CIP
3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
(M&G)
Printed in the United States of America
We'd like to thank the people at Charles E. Tuttle Company
for their help with this book: Peter Ackroyd, President and C.E.O.,
for deciding it was right for the Tuttle list; Isabelle Bleecker, Managing Editor,
for pulling it all together; and Karen Aude for a super job of editing
Contents
| Introduction | ix |
| Chapter 1 | 1 |
| Finding Merchandise: The Never-Ending Quest | |
| Chapter 2 | 23 |
| Identifying Antiques: A Primer for Beginners and Intermediates | |
| Chapter 3 | 55 |
| Know Your Collectibles: An Indispensable Overview | |
| Chapter 4 | 105 |
| Auction Psychology: To Beat 'Em, Join 'Em | |
| Chapter 5 | 129 |
| Housekeeping Hints: Clean and Repair Your Wares | |
| Chapter 6 | 161 |
| Where to Sell: Cultivate the Art of Knowing | |
| Chapter 7 | 199 |
| Exterior or Interior Decor: Set Up Attractive Display | |
| Chapter 8 | 223 |
| The Fine Art of Selling: Creative, Common Sense Fun for Profit | |
| Chapter 9 | 241 |
| Take Care of Business: You'll Be Glad You Did | |
| Appendix 1: | 259 |
| United States Patent Numbers and Dates (through 1980) | |
| Appendix II: | 263 |
| Price Guides and Other References |
Introduction
We're often asked how we happened to get into the business of buying and selling antiques and collectibles. The truth is, we started doing this as a hobby. We are, and have been all of our adult lives, writers. And writing is a solitary profession. Both of us felt the need to get out into the world more. After all, we do like people.
A good friend, who's an antiques dealer, suggested we attend a few auctions... just for the fun of it and because we like antiques and were, at that time, looking for furniture and accessories for our home. We took the advice and went to auctions, we saw lots of merchandise, we bought things for our house, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The only trouble was we had soon purchased everything we needed, and we still wanted to go to auctions. "Well," our friend said, "Why don't you go into the business?"
After a bit of discussion, we decided it was worth a try. We might not make money at it, but we would have fun, and we could continue to attend the auctions we had grown to love. Our initial efforts at purchasing inventory were not always successful. Before we started in business, we purchased only those things that we personally wanted to own. But once we were in business, we knew we had to get merchandise that would appeal to a variety of people.
Certain names and items were familiar to us— Limoges, Bradley and Hubbard, and Tiffany, for example. When an item came up at auction that bore one of those familiar names, we'd bid and more often than not we'd take the item in question home—delighted with our purchase and with our knowledge. It didn't take us long to discover that Limoges (or any china) with a transfer pattern is generally worth far less than it would be if the design were handpainted. We then bid on everything we saw that was handpainted only to discover that some handpainted articles were well done and others were not,