People who have been antique shopping for years know that if you are going to go out shopping in search of antiques, then you should absolutely stick to the antique shops that are still true to the business. What this means is that you should be sticking to the antique shops that care about the antiques, rather than simply turning a quick buck for what they feel is a bunch of old junk. You should be enjoying yourself when you go antique shopping, which means avoiding junky flea markets may be a good idea unless you really love a challenge.

You are definitely going to find a challenge when you go antique shopping in a flea market. You will find trash, you will find treasure, but most importantly of all, when you go antique shopping in this manner you will find plenty of fun. High end antiquing may be the way to go when you are a serious antique collector, but if you are into antique shopping for having fun, then toss your stuffy collar out and hit the trashiest, messiest and most disorganized flea markets and see what you can find. After all, antique shopping should be fun, enjoyable and therapeutic above all else, right?

If you are a serious collector and you are going antique shopping, then it would be wise for you to bone up on the things that you are interested in collecting. If you are not well versed in what you are doing when you go antique shopping, then bring a Kovels guide with you so that you do not end up buying something worthless, or passing up something priceless. Going antique shopping should be about enjoying yourself, that is a fact. Going antique shopping should also be about netting the right antiques however. This does not necessarily mean the most priceless, but it does means the ones that mean the most to you and benefit you the best.

There are a wide variety of truly excellent books, guides and resources available that you can bring with you when you go antique shopping. The local library is definitely going to be a good place for you to get the ball rolling. There are a number of excellent reference books for going antique shopping that you can look at if you want a broad range of the types of collectibles and antiques that are available. Specific books on specific antiques will also benefit you if there is a specific type of antiques that you are looking for when you go antique shopping.

Having fun when you go antique shopping is all about buying it when you like it. Buy any random item that you like as long as you have space for it, and as long as you are enjoying yourself in the process. This is what antique shopping is really all about.

Photo Credits: Dia™

Originally posted 2009-07-21 05:14:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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If you have ever watched a television show like Antiques Road show, where people find out that their family heirlooms or garage sale finds are really worth a fortune, then you probably have a secret hope that you may have some valuable collectible antiques in your possession as well. It has been common for people to scoop up an item from a tag sale for less than $10, and then find out a few years later that it’s really worth $500, or even $5000. But if you think that you have an item like this, what do you do? Where do you go, how do you have the item appraised, and even more importantly, where do you sell it once you’ve determined its worth?

Up until recently, if you had an antique that you wanted to have appraised or to have sold, then you would visit a local dealer of antiques, or you might even contact an auction company. Then, eBay came along, and they purchased an auction house that is known as Butterfield and Butterfield in the year 1999, and then suddenly people that were buying and selling collectible antiques had a completely new option to consider.

However, as you will know if you have ever auctioned an antique on eBay or if you have ever tried to sell collectible antiques on eBay, you will discover that moving antiques that are perceived to be big-ticket items is not going to be nearly as easy or as profitable as it may have seemed before you got started. Selling antiques through an auction house dealer, similarly, can get rather pricey despite its reliability when you begin to factor in additional considerations such as fees, commission fees, shipping and handling charges and so on. Buying an antique from a dealer or another source can actually be just as expensive along this same line of thinking.

Today, people who are interested in the act of buying or selling collectible antiques, who do not want to rely on the live auction route or the eBay route actually have a number of other options that are available to them. When it comes to buying and selling your collectible antiques, one of the considerations that you can make is that every option offers a different level of reliability, and every option is going to have different prices and costs associated with it. The best thing that you can do is to shop around and find an opportunity that is going to serve your needs without breaking the bank. When you find a method of buying and selling collectible antiques that works well with your expectations and requirements, that is when you can really come to enjoy everything that collectible antiques have to offer you.

Photo Credits: flo21

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You already know that an antique is something that is no less than 100 years old, but how exactly can you be certain that the particular piece you are looking at was truly crafted that long ago? Learning to identify antiques is not difficult, it just takes a little bit of know how and understanding of what qualities make an antique an antique.

Regardless if you are not sure of the age of a piece, want to check the accuracy of an age claim, or wish to be certain the antique has all of its original parts, there are various nuances that should stick out to you. Ask these questions of yourself in order to determine whether or not the item that you are dealing with is in fact an antique.

Question #1 - Is the piece in question made out of materials that are uncommonly or even rarely ever used in modern day production?

Question #2 - Do the details on the piece in question appear to be hand painted, or does it seem as if they were created by a machine?

Question #3 – Does the particular style of the piece in question reflect a certain period of time that may give away hints as to its origin?

Question #4 – For items that are made out of wood, how thick are the pieces of veneer? In general, older veneer is going to be significantly thicker than modern day veneer.

Question #5 – Does the piece that is in question happen to possess nails that are irregularly shaped, or pegs that are squared off? These are characteristics that are reminiscent of times long past.

Question #6 – For items that are used as tables, is the item’s under side lighter in comparison to the top? Antique tables should have lighter undersides.

Question #7 – If there are any carvings or details on the piece, look to see if they are all identical as this will help you determine whether they were done by hand or if they are reminiscent of work from a machine.

Question #8 – When appraising a wooden item, you should check to see if there is darker wood around all of the hardware, indicating that the hardware is original. When the shadows are inconsistent with the current hardware, that should tell you that the current hardware is not the original hardware.

Question #9 – Finally, is there any dirt in the crevices of the piece that has always been hard for you to clean?

You should remember that items that are 100 years old are always going to show their age no matter how well kept they were. Slight wear, even when an item is in top condition, is completely understandable.

Photo Credits: Lynn (Gracie’s mom) – I’m here…

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Some people choose to go about collecting wine to earn money, and other people get into the art of collecting wine just because they are passionate about wine. It does not matter why you are collecting, for profit or for pleasure, the art of collecting wine is one that requires a bit of an investment in order for you to get started. Enjoying it and collecting it are two very different things, and you need to understand this if you want to get the most out of the art.

When it comes to the art of collecting wine, one of the most vitally important things that you are going to want to consider is where you are going to keep the wine. One of the most substantial portions of your investment is going to go toward making sure there is a suitable place for storage that you can use when collecting wine. The motive here is going to be to make sure that your wine collection is going to be allowed to increase in its value rather than decreasing in value. The storage of your wine and the way that you keep your wine are going to make a huge difference in how well your wine is kept and collected. If you want your wine to last a long time and age beautifully, the right location is vitally necessary.

Wine that is protected, kept and collected in the most suitable conditions is going to age nicely. This is how you turn your collecting wine passion into collecting vintage wines. If your wine collection does not have the chance to be stored properly, then your wine is going to deteriorate, and nobody is ever going to appreciate your wine. If you ever try to sell your vintage wine, rest assured that it will have tell tale signs of being treated wrong, and everyone will know that you did not take your collecting wine hobby seriously.

When it comes to collecting wine, you should plan on doing some extensive research on how many wines are out there. Different wines have different storage requirements. What types of wines are you interested in collecting? How is this going to affect your wine storage situation? Make sure that you have the right storage for your wine before you buy it – Otherwise you will be caught ill prepared, and the quality of the wine that you are collecting will suffer as a result. Your wine bottles need the right temperature, the right humidity, the right air quality and many other details in order to age properly, and so you have to make sure that you have control over these things before you take your collecting wine hobby to the next level.

Photo Credits: NancyHugoCKD.com

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