Editorial Archives - Page 10 of 40

Farewell to a Dealer of Central American Jade

I was on eBay the other day looking for a profitable way to use a $5 coupon the online auction house had been gracious enough to give me. As I was browsing through the rough jade listings, I made a shocking discovery. Much to my dismay, I found that one of my favorite rough jade dealers – Paul’s Rok Shop, located in Lake Arthur, Louisiana – was closing.

This gentleman was a dealer in all of sorts of lapidary slabs, but seemed to specialize in Central American jade, aka Guatemalan jadeite jade. This was quite fortuitous, as I believe that rough jade blocks and slabs are an intriguing tangible investment alternative to precious metals. And out of all the world’s jades, I find those from the Americas – jadeites from Central America and nephrites from the Pacific Northwest and California – to be the most intriguing from an investment perspective.

These North American-sourced jades are rarely subjected to the same harsh enhancements that are commonly applied to Burmese, Chinese and (occasionally) Russian jades. So when you buy North American jades, you are almost assured of getting fully untreated, completely natural stones – a tremendous advantage in a world dominated by polymer impregnation, artificial dyes and other scummy gemstone treatments.

But you won’t be getting them from Paul’s Rok Shop, at least not according to the poignant message he left in his last listings:

“After 13 years on eBay, I am shutting down my rough rock sales here. [It’s] just not worth my time to be here [on eBay] anymore. I will not be relisting any rough rock at all after May 31st [2019]. I suggest that you get what you may be interested in before the end of the month. If things turn around in [the] next couple years, you may see me again. To those of you who have followed and bought from me over the years, I am grateful.”

If you have any interest in purchasing rough Central American jade, I urge you to stop by Paul’s Rok Shop before it closes for good. He has been aggressively marking down prices in an attempt to move his remaining inventory and there are great deals to be had. Unfortunately, if you are reading this any article any later than June 2019, I doubt he will have any active eBay listings left.

Out of this sad event springs two topics that I want to discuss.

The first is Central American jade. Jade is a gemstone that has been revered in many cultures for thousands of years, but curiously not in the West. The ancient Chinese loved it. The Pre-Columbian civilizations of the Olmec, Maya and Aztec loved it. The indigenous Maori people of New Zealand loved it. But we Westerners tend to shrug our shoulders at the green wonder stone.

Why is that?

I believe it is largely a question of exposure. High quality jade deposits are not found in Europe, meaning that ancient European civilizations never saw the stone at its best. In contrast, East Asian, Meso-American and New Zealand peoples had ready access to fine jade which left an indelible mark on their respective cultures. This reverence for the beauty and utilitarian value of jade eventually elevated the gem to ceremonial and even monetary status, but only in those societies that had access to it.

Jade was so important to these ancient civilizations that I believe archeologists and historians should make room for a “Jade Age” sandwiched in-between the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods.

Furthermore, many modern-day Europeans and Americans have simply never seen good quality jade before, much less held a fine rough jade specimen in their hands. Most Westerners’ experience with this legendary material has been via poor-to-mediocre quality jade jewelry that has undoubtedly been treated to within an inch of its life. And that’s assuming they’ve beheld real jade at all, and not some inferior imitation or simulant, like serpentine, aventurine quartz, maw-sit-sit, etc.

When jade is treated, the properties of the stone often fundamentally change. Acid or alkali baths leach out stains and impurities, but also render jade brittle and susceptible to discoloring over time. The dyes, polymers and paraffins injected back into the treated stones in an attempt to make them salable might render these treated jades superficially attractive, but don’t restore the superlative properties of true, untreated jade.

On the other hand, genuine untreated Central American jade is a marvelous thing to behold. At a distance, it appears as if it might be some impossibly soft material – satin…moss…even Jell-O. But the truth is that real jade is both harder and tougher than steel. It is an extraordinary gem created under the tremendous geological pressures found almost exclusively at tectonic plate boundaries.

In spite of its toughness, handling jade is an intimately tactile experience. The stone persistently whispers for you to gently caress it. And when you do, real Central American jade rewards you with a heft, solidity and glass-like smoothness that seems otherworldly. It is almost as if some super-advanced material from the distant future was transported back in time to amaze and astonish us in the present day.

As the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius once stated quite perceptively, jade possesses “perfect compactness”. This is due, no doubt, to the gemstone’s unique, interlocking micro-crystalline structure.

And the colors! Central American jade comes in a range of attractive shades, including “Maya mint” green, “Olmec” blue-green and mottled deep-green “jaguar jade”, just to name a few.

Simply put, you have to actually see and hold a piece of real Central American jade to truly understand its allure. Mere words, regardless of how poetic they are, cannot hope to do that transcendent moment justice. Jade’s appeal is very similar to that of gold and silver. Once you place a piece in the palm of your hand, you immediately and viscerally appreciate how valuable and desirable this precious material truly is.

And this leads me to the second thing I wanted to talk about: the loss of yet another small business.

I have written before about the troubles facing physical antique stores. I have also written about the decline of American retail, with an emphasis on the closing of mom-and-pop shops. I would like to say that these trends are unrelated to each other.

Unfortunately, I cannot.

Ever since the 2008 Financial Crisis, the United States (and most of the world for that matter) has been experiencing a soft depression. These unrelenting economic travails have robbed middle class households of much of their discretionary spending power. Money that would have been spent on art, jewelry and antiques simply never made its way into the hands of the middle class.

As a result, the many small businesses serving these industries have suffered. The loss of Paul’s Rok Shop is just the latest in a long parade of such business closures.

There is one silver lining to this dark cloud, albeit with strings attached. As art, antique and gem dealers liquidate, they often heavily discount their inventory. This is a tremendous opportunity for disciplined connoisseurs and investors to buy quality tangible assets at reduced prices.

But it is important to keep in mind that prices are always lowest right before the lights go out. And it takes much, much higher prices to induce a future entrepreneur to turn the lights back on. In other words, enjoy the bittersweet deals on art, antiques and other tangible investments while you can. Once they’re gone, they will only reappear when there is far greater profit to be had.

Read more thought-provoking Antique Sage gems & jewelry articles here.

-or-

Read in-depth Antique Sage bullion & gemstone investment guides here.

The Antiques in Your Attic (Probably) Aren’t Worth Anything

A lot of people (falsely) believe that the hoard of antiques or vintage items they have stashed in their basement, closet or attic is worth a fortune. They might especially feel that way after coming to the Antique Sage website and reading that I tout antiques as a superior investment vehicle.

But the sad truth is that only a fraction of the antiques out there are investment grade, and they probably aren’t sitting in your attic. There are broad swaths of the antique market that are simply not – and never will be – investments. Even the very finest items in many vintage categories do not meet the strict requirements for investment-oriented pieces.

I examine this topic in greater detail in an article I wrote titled “Your Hopalong Cassidy Collectibles Are a Bad Investment“.

In spite of this, many people see the words “investment” and “antiques” close to each other in a sentence and assume that the antiques piled in their musty attic must be worth a lot of money. Nothing could be further from the truth. Age, by itself, does not confer desirability on an object.

But in order to understand the attributes prized in today’s antique market, it is important to grasp the trends that have shaped it.

The antiques industry has undergone a radical transformation over the last 20 years. From the end of World War II until the year 2000, antiques, collectibles and vintage items of all sorts appreciated in value more or less non-stop. The only exception to this rule was recessions, when the prices of many collecting categories would pause or pull-back slightly. But the overall trend was always up.

This was due to a couple factors.

Post-war America (and Western Europe too) was incredibly prosperous, with average wages rising both predictably and robustly. Increased discretionary spending power inevitably filtered into the antiques trade, lifting the prices for almost all collectibles.

Another contributing cause was that many members of the Greatest Generation, Silent Generation and Boomer Generation were quite materially acquisitive, although they all had different reasons for doing so. The Greatest Generation had lived through the Great Depression – often as children or young adults – and was loath to throw anything out, fearing it might be needed again someday. The Silent and Boomer Generations grew up in an era when physical goods were still somewhat scarce. Consequently, accumulating large amounts of stuff, including antiques and collectibles, was often considered a mark of wealth and social status for these generations.

Then the wheels came off the global economy. First there was the Dot Com crash of 2001, followed all too quickly by the disastrous 2008 Mortgage Meltdown and capped by a tepid, decade-long recovery. These economic catastrophes gutted the middle class, destroying their ability to casually collect antiques or vintage goods. Younger people, like Generation Xers and Millennials, struggled under crushing student loans and stagnant wages. Millennials, in particular, were forced to abandon material desires for cheaper and more attainable spiritual aspirations.

The internet also did its wickedly efficient work by allowing buyers and sellers to aggregate on huge sales platforms like eBay, Etsy and Ruby Lane. Unfortunately, many antiques were far more common than previously believed – a situation that online marketplaces fully revealed for better or for worse.

The effect of these trends on the antique market has been devastating. Collecting categories that had reliably appreciated for decade after decade suddenly collapsed in value, often with little warning. Haviland Porcelain, bisque dolls, Waterford crystal and baseball cards are just a sample of the antiques/collectibles sitting in peoples’ attics that have cratered in price by up to 90% since the mid 2000s.

Even redoubtable antique furniture has been on the losing end of this trend. Old furniture is interesting because so many people (incorrectly) treat it as a proxy for the general antiques market, even though it is really its own category (filled with dozens of sub-categories of course). Everything from 18th century Georgian furniture to early 20th century Golden Oak furniture has plummeted in value over the past 15 years. Only those pieces with clean lines, like Art Deco and Mid-Century Modern styles, have avoided the worst of the damage.

Now I don’t want to be doom and gloom all the time. After all, my website is about investing in antiques. And there are plenty of great antiques out there that possess marvelous investment potential. In fact, this is probably one of the best times in history to shop for high end antiques.

But I feel it is imperative that you stick to items that are small and precious.

I favor compact antiques made from gold, silver, gemstones and exotic woods. Things like vintage fine jewelry, antique silver, ancient coins, classic mechanical watches and old fountain pens are at the top of my wish list.

Sure, I believe some items not made with precious materials can make the grade too. Vintage Japanese prints are a favorite of mine. I also just featured a wonderful Mid-Century Modern enameled panel that is almost preternaturally alluring.

In any case, you should stick to the Antique Sage’s 5 rules of investment grade antiques for the best results. An item must be portable, durable, scarce and of high quality. In addition, it should reflect the zeitgeist or dominant style of the era in which it was made.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t be surprised when you don’t find any investment grade antiques when cleaning out your great aunt Emma’s estate. The good stuff is pretty rare. And while it is natural for everyone to believe that their stuff is special, in all likelihood, the random accumulation of old junk that your relatives have stashed in their attics and basements almost certainly isn’t.

Read more thought-provoking Antique Sage editorial articles here.

-or-

Read in-depth Antique Sage investment guides here.

Are Antiques Dead to Millennials?

Are antiques dead to Millennials? Do they prize the ephemera of yesterday or are they too busy chasing today’s once-in-a-lifetime adventures to care?

The common wisdom is that Millennials (loosely defined as the generation born between 1980 and 2000) do not value physical objects the same way older generations do. Instead, the common wisdom is that Millennials pursue satisfaction through experiences – fine dining, exotic vacations and unique entertainment.

This bent towards a more spiritual and less material existence leads to real questions about the future viability of the antiques industry. After all, if an entire generation has opted out of buying vintage items, it does not bode well for the average antique shop.

And yet everything is not as it might first appear in this story. In order to truly figure out if antiques are dead, we must first understand one simple truth.

Millennials are broke.

Not just sort of broke. Not just kind of broke. Millennials as a generation are totally and completely flat broke, at least statistically speaking.

In 2016 (the most recent year that I could find data), the median net worth (including primary residence) of 30 to 34 year old households in the U.S. was a piddling $29,125. Fully 66% of younger Millennials have absolutely no retirement savings whatsoever. And like most Americans, Millennials’ wages have stayed stubbornly low for decades.

The big culprit here is student loans, with over $1.5 trillion worth outstanding at the end of 2018. A massive chunk of this crushing debt is owed by Millennials. Student loans act as an economic millstone, dragging the young into financial misery while denying them the ability to buy a house, start a family or effectively save money.

Unsurprisingly, Millennials’ lack of discretionary funds has naturally impacted the way they view physical stuff, including antiques. If you can’t afford a house, a car or to save for retirement, then a Victorian mahogany secretary will not be high on your list of items to purchase.

Having been largely priced out of the American Dream, Millennials have been forced to sublimate their material desires into spiritual desires. In other words, Millennials have made a virtue of necessity, substituting relatively cheap experiences in place of relatively expensive physical goods.

So are antiques dead? In my opinion, the answer is no. But they have been caught in the crossfire of a brutal economic war that has been waged against younger generations.

Allow me to explain.

Because the incomes of younger workers have been suppressed, they are often living in smaller spaces than they would otherwise. For example, Millennials will often have roommates to save on costs, or they will sometimes move back in with their parents after college. Even when they do get their own place, it is often a small apartment or condo.

None of these living arrangements is conducive to collecting antiques (or most other things, for that matter). This is particularly the case with antique furniture, which is hopelessly oversized for most Millennial dwellings. And when the time comes to move, no one wants to have to drag around hundreds of pounds of delicate antique furniture or vintage kitsch.

Another issue that handicaps Millennials’ relationship to antiques is the fact that so many young people are overworked these days. It is common for fresh-faced college graduates to practically indenture themselves to large corporations for a modest salary of $30k, $40k or $50k a year. This is usually enough to put food on the table and a roof other their heads, but rarely enough for much more.

More importantly, antiques require knowledge to be properly appreciated. Sure, anyone can walk into an antique store and pick out a few things that they instinctively like. But this does a great disservice to vintage items, which are far more valued and loved when their stories and history are known.

Unfortunately, learning about antiques takes time. It is not a topic that can be mastered in an hour or two. And this is time that the average Millennial simply does not have. They are too busy working 10 to 12 hours a day, running somewhere to grab dinner, rushing to get chores done and then crashing exhausted into their bed in the hopes of squeezing out 6 or 7 hours of sleep.

Antiques, regardless of how intriguing they might be, simply do not factor into a work-life schedule as unbalanced as this.

Now this might sound like a pretty bleak scenario for the antiques trade, but there are a few mitigating factors.

As regular readers of the Antique Sage website already know, I concentrate exclusively on small antiques. I advocate the purchase of high quality vintage wristwatches, rare coins, old jewelry and other compact antiques. These investment grade antiques are not only valuable and desirable, but also exceedingly portable, an attribute that can’t be overlooked in our space-constrained modern world.

More importantly, our financial system is hurtling towards a very ugly date with destiny. We are in the early stages of a global monetary reset – a terrifyingly obvious fact when one examines the inexorable tide of historical U.S. dollar debasement. Traditional financial assets like stocks, bonds and cash will perform very poorly in this scenario. In contrast, fine art, antiques and bullion will be some of the only effective ways to preserve your wealth.

Finally, I don’t actually believe that Millennials collectively hate antiques or view them as anachronisms. I simply think they are making do with what they were given by their elders, which wasn’t much. Some Millennials really are interested in vintage things of all kinds, albeit different antiques than their grandparents liked.

Many young people frequent thrift shops, garage sales and secondhand stores in the hopes of finding a vintage bargain to brighten up their apartment, condo or townhouse. Get some money into their hands and their love of sleek Art Deco lines, avant-garde Mid-Century Modern themes and elegant Edwardian whimsy will quickly bloom.

Now, this is where I’ve got some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that I think the U.S. Government/Federal Reserve will be forced to print money and hand it out to ordinary people during the next recession. Think of this as a bail-out for the common people, unlike the bailout for the too-big-to-fail banks that we got last time around in 2008-2009.

If this comes to pass, even the hard-up Millennial Generation will get a sizable check from Uncle Sam.

The bad news is that everyone else will simultaneously get a government check too. This means that the prices for most consumer goods (including antiques) will skyrocket in short order. Given this probability, I contend that everyone – especially Millennials – should invest in some high quality antiques now, before prices spiral upwards.

Antiques aren’t dead; they’re just sleeping, waiting for the right moment to come back to life.

Read more thought-provoking Antique Sage trend articles here.

-or-

Read in-depth Antique Sage investment guides here.

Let’s Explore my Latest Antique Silver Investment

I love antique silver. It combines beauty, utility and intrinsic value in a way that almost no other antique can. So it shouldn’t be surprising that I occasionally browse eBay, Etsy and other online platforms looking for the perfect antique silver investment.

What I intend to do in this article is walk you through my thought process as I hunt, research and purchase my latest fine antique silver investment. In some ways, this article will be similar to my spotlight posts, where I examine the investment pros and cons of a specific antique or vintage item.

My process starts with looking through hundreds of antique listings online. Of course I narrow down the search to a specific category beforehand. In this instance, I was interested in vintage silver cigarette cases.

Cigarette cases were popular from the late 19th century through the 1960s. Smoking exploded in popularity during the 20th century and cigarette cases quickly became a de rigueur personal luxury accessory – much like today’s smartphone. As a result, a lot of high-end, solid-silver cigarette cases have survived. Better yet, the nicest ones were decorated with chased or engraved designs and occasionally accented with applied gold monograms or bejeweled thumb-catches.

High-end cigarette cases are premier investment-grade antiques. But the market for them is in the dumps right now for a few reasons. First, there is more supply than demand because a smaller percentage of the population smokes these days.

In addition, relatively few people have figured out that vintage cigarette cases are an easy and stylish way to store business cards, credit cards, money, pills, or any other small items you might have. This keeps demand down and prices low.

Finally, the poor economy has crippled discretionary spending in the antique market. There is far less casual and impulse purchasing in the industry than before the 2008-2009 recession, which suppresses the prices of many antiques.

In other words, these are ideal conditions for me (or you) to make an antique silver investment. You always want to buy when prices are low and an asset class is hated; not when it is popular and expensive.

So I visited eBay and began looking through their listings. First, I narrowed my price range to between $50 and $200 and excluded keywords like “silver plate” and “silver plated”. This helped to eliminate the riff-raff cigarette cases that aren’t solid silver. It also excluded pieces where the seller was asking for an unrealistically high wishing price.

What my search did show was the meaty middle, where there were dozens of high quality silver cigarette cases at reasonable prices. A good rule of thumb is that decent specimens start at around $60, although these low prices can usually only be found in an auction format sale. A good selection of really nice cases is available (in both auction and buy-it-now formats) between $100 and $200. Of course, the best of the best can be more expensive than $200.

Once I had narrowed my search results, I started looking at listings. And I looked…And I looked…And I looked some more.

I typically search through about a thousand listings to find 10 that I like. Out of those 10, I might seriously consider purchasing 1 or 2. That is an ultimate hit rate of 0.1% to 0.2%. In other words, 1 out of 1,000 antiques qualifies as both investable and attractively priced.

In this instance, I saved a few that I liked to my eBay watch list. But I was still on the fence about making a purchase. A couple days later I woke up to a 15% eBay flash sale and decided it was time to make a move on my antique silver investment.

I eventually zeroed in one vintage silver cigarette case in particular: an elegant Mid-Century Modern Danish case by the firm of P. Hertz with a buy-it-now price of $135.

The eponymous company was founded in Copenhagen in 1834 by the Danish silversmith Peter Hertz. After winning a series of international jewelry/silverware exhibitions (Malmo in 1881, Liverpool in 1886, Paris in 1889 and Chicago in 1895), P. Hertz went on to become the official jeweler to the Danish Royal Family in 1906. P. Hertz is still around today and continues to be the Royal Danish court jeweler. However, the company ceased producing silver items in its factories in 1960.

This vintage Danish piece was not only stunning, but also in a near-perfect state of preservation – a true antique silver investment. The condition was superb, with no noticeable dents, a close, tight fitting lid and a completely intact hinge. These are all common problem areas for vintage cigarette cases, but were problem-free on this example. Even the original elastic band that held the cigarettes in place was still in good shape.

The case featured a linear design motif consisting of parallel horizontal lines across the middle of the case flanked by shorter vertical lines towards the top and bottom. The overall effect was quite appealing, while also being absolutely typical of the 1930s and 1940s.

The hallmarks were also appropriate for the period and country of origin. The case had the “P.HERTZ” mark, along with the company’s logo (a crown). The piece also had the assay master’s initials “JS” (Johannes Siggaard), which should appear on every hallmarked piece of Danish silver made between 1932 and 1960. And finally, the case had the Danish “Three Tower Mark”, which guaranteed a minimum purity of .826 fine silver (although higher purity silver sometimes bore the mark, especially in the mid 20th century). Both the Three Tower Mark and the assay master’s initials were double-stamped (once on each half of the case), indicating that the two parts were independently tested for their purity.

However, the most impressive attribute of this Danish antique silver investment was the build quality. The case was very solid, weighing in at a hefty 206 grams – more than 6.6 troy ounces. This gave it a melt value of around $80, which means I would only be paying $55 for the artistic premium of the piece.

And it had a lot of artistic premium.

It was obvious that an incredible amount of care had gone into the creation of this handheld masterpiece. The case’s linear design was chased in high relief and perfectly executed – a sure sign of quality.

In addition, the interior rim had its own engine-turned diamond pattern (visible in the photo below). This was interesting because the decoration wasn’t visible unless the case was open. The average silversmith will cut corners on the underside or non-visible parts of an item. Only a truly dedicated silversmith working on a premium piece will bother to add decorative highlights to a hidden area like the inside rim of a case.

When P. Hertz says they are the official jeweler to Danish royalty, they aren’t kidding. These guys made a stunningly good silver cigarette case – one that would definitely qualify as an antique silver investment.

The buy-it-now price for the piece was $135, but after deducting the 15% eBay promo code, I was down to $114.75. I felt that this was a steal.

The only potential issue was that the seller was an antique dealer located in Moscow’s Tagansky District. As a result, the shipping was a prodigious $22. The high shipping cost did give me pause, but then I asked myself, what would a reasonable shipping cost have been for something located halfway around the world? $10? $12?

Would I really bust the deal over a shipping fee that I felt was $10 too high?

The answer to that was no. I chose to swallow the uncomfortably high shipping charges because the extra cost was trivial compared to the future return potential of this gorgeous antique silver investment. At a grand total of just $136.75 delivered, I felt it was still worth every penny.

We live in a very unusual time where it is possible to buy rare and valuable tangible objects for stupidly low prices – sometimes as little as $100 or $200. This can make it easy to become complacent, leading us to mistakenly believe that the good deals will always be available.

I assure you however, that they will not. Someday, prices will skyrocket and the ridiculously low prices for fine, investment-grade antiques will disappear. When that day finally comes (probably in the not too distant future), we will all wish we had bought more when we had the chance.

Read more thought-provoking Antique Sage editorial articles here.

-or-

Read in-depth Antique Sage investment guides here.

Older Posts

Newer Posts