Thrifting & Antiquing

The world of antiques can be divided into two time periods: the pre-internet age – anytime before about 1996 – and our current internet age. At first glance, it might not be apparent exactly why this event would dramatically impact the notoriously traditional antiques trade. After all, antiques are an entire industry built around buying, selling, collecting and investing in items from the past – oftentimes the distant past. Antiques couldn’t be more antithetical to high tech innovations like the internet.

But that didn’t stop the internet age from absolutely eviscerating large swaths of the antiques industry. How did it do this? Quite simply, the internet revealed that many, many types of collectibles that were previously believed to be scarce were actually rather common.

In the pre-internet age, if you wanted a specific kind of antique, you had to go on a physical expedition to find it. This meant jumping in your car or taking public transportation to a physical antique store, an antiques mall or maybe a flea market. But this was always a very limited method that relied heavily on random luck to discover the antique you wanted.

There are a finite number of physical antique dealers within any geographical area. In addition, even an ambitious shopper will find there is a hard limit on the number of antique stores that can reasonably be explored in a day – probably on the order of 4 to 6 locations.

Of course, an antique collector operating in the pre-internet age was also constrained by the inventory the dealers near him chose to carry. This might be influenced by industry trends and regional tastes. In short, in the pre-internet age there was a lot less antique inventory to choose from and luck-of-the-draw was either your best friend or your worst enemy.

The dawning of the internet age changed all of that. The rise of platforms like eBay and Ruby Lane suddenly made massive numbers of antiques available to collectors, connoisseurs and decorators. This was a major step forward for the antiques industry.

However, the advent of the internet age also had a dark side. It revealed that dozens of different categories of antiques and collectibles previously believed to be scarce were, in reality, common – sometimes very common! Vintage toys, glassware, memorabilia and china are just a few of the antique categories that were revealed to be far more prevalent than previously thought.

Some specific sub-categories, such as Roseville Pottery, carnival glass and Hummel figurines, had their market prices absolutely decimated by this revelation. This antiques message board with a thread titled “What has happened to the pottery market?” paints a sobering picture of the current marketplace for pottery, but the concepts are equally applicable to many other collectible categories. It is hard to get excited about a collectible when it is possible to surf over to eBay and bring up 10,000 similar results with just a simple search.

Not everything is doom and gloom in the world of antiques, though. The rise of the internet age has created a little-appreciated silver lining for antique aficionados. If you search the major online platforms – the eBays, Ruby Lanes and Etsys of the world – for an antique and can only come up with a few dozen examples, then that is a good indicator that the piece in question is fairly scarce.

This might seem like a self-evident observation, but I can assure you that the antiques market hasn’t quite caught up with the philosophical implications of this epiphany yet. You can think of the major online antique platforms as a giant international flea market. Absolutely every antique imaginable is represented on these websites.

They are effectively the aggregated antique inventory of the entire world. Yes, there are undoubtedly additional specimens hiding in attics and basements across the globe, but the antiques currently available online still number in the millions, if not tens of millions!

This means that the term “rare” before the late 1990s referred to a piece that might or might not have actually been rare, depending on local collector or dealer preferences and regional availability. In contrast, in our current internet age rare means that an antique is really, truly, exceptional rare. Seriously, if you have trouble finding more than a handful of examples of an item today with the considerable power of Google at your fingertips, it is highly unlikely the situation will dramatically change in the future.

This phenomenon isn’t strictly limited to antiques either. We live in an age of mass production, but if you’re willing to look for them, there are some beautifully handmade items out there that I refer to as “future antiques“. These are objects that were made recently, but have been made to the highest standards by skilled craftsmen using the best quality materials available.

These future antiques will assuredly age into incredibly fine and desirable antiques after a few decades have passed. In addition, they are often unique specimens – an element of supreme importance when you consider that we live in a world overrun by mass produced, made in China junk. For example, I recently featured an artisan carved contemporary nephrite jade pendant in the Spotlight section of my website. Another great future antique I highlighted was a contemporary drypoint print by the artist Mariko Kuzumi.

But the best part about the fact that the antiques community hasn’t figured out how rarity works in the internet age is the prices! You can currently snatch up really great items for unbelievably low prices – oftentimes just a few hundred dollars or even less. But one day the antiques market will figure out the way the new scarcity game works, so don’t wait to make your move!

Read more thought-provoking Antique Sage investing articles here.

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It has long been my contention that investment grade antiques are extremely rare – much rarer than their current price tags would indicate anyway. My rule of thumb is that, in the average antique store, perhaps 1 in 1000 pieces (or fewer) qualifies as investment worthy. So I decided to put my theory to the test. I made an expedition to an antique mall that I had never visited before in order to see how many items would make the cut.

But first a caveat is in order. Every antique mall has a different character that will substantially impact your chances of finding valuable pieces. For example, those that carry more jewelry, sterling silver and art will generally have higher hit rates than those that specialize in crafts, glassware and other collectibles.

Location is another important factor. An antique mall located in a wealthy neighborhood or a neighborhood that had money in the past will often carry higher quality antiques that more easily qualify for investment status. Conversely, an antique mall located in a rural or middle class area will generally carry fewer high end items.

The antique mall I visited was in a very rural area, so I had fairly low expectations going into the expedition. But, on the other hand, you never know exactly what you’re going to find or where you’re going to find it. That is part of what makes antiquing so much fun.

The antique mall I visited had three floors chocked full of almost every kind of vintage, collectible and old item you could imagine. I always enjoy scouting for antiques in person because it is a very different experience from searching for antiques online. An in-person antiquing expedition gives you the chance to physically handle pieces, which is critical for developing your eye or keeping your skills sharp.

In any case, out of this massive antique mall containing thousands and thousands of items I only found a handful that interested me from an investment perspective. About one-third of the items in the shop should have simply been thrown into the nearest dumpster. Humanity certainly wouldn’t have lost anything worth mentioning.

But let’s talk about the antiques I discovered that I found intriguing. Now, keep in mind that when I talk about these items I am not wholesale endorsing them as investments. There are a lot of vintage and antique items out there that fall into a gray area. They have some investable attributes, but fall short in other critical areas. Anyway, I just want to make it clear that the items I’m listing are not generally on par with the superlative investment grade antiques that I regularly feature in the Antique Sage Spotlight section of my website.

The first item I found was a carved ebony or blackwood tobacco jar. I am not certain of the exact tropical hardwood used for this piece, but it was a very dense and naturally dark colored. I am fairly certain that it was a native African species.

The carved jar features scenes of native Africans harvesting grain, similar to this example from Pinterest. The piece was obviously hand-carved in a rather naïve or “native” style. In spite of this, the jar still retains an attractive look and is a fair example of ethnographic art.

The jar was almost certainly sub-Saraha African in origin, probably from sometimes during the 20th century. It is possible that it was carved as a tourist souvenir. With a price of $60, I found this hand-carved ebony tobacco jar to be interesting, but probably not investment grade due to the crudeness of the carving. Personally, I would pass on this item.

Moving on, the next unusual piece I found was a rustic oil painting of a quaint Mexican town. The painting was small, measuring around 8 inches (20 cm) wide by 10 inches (25 cm) tall. In spite of its diminutive size, the artist successfully combined heavily textured brushwork and good composition with a deft treatment of light and shadow to create a compelling work of art.

The work is not superlative. The perspective is just a bit off and the painting is slightly worn on the upper left hand side. But as a signed work (the artist was Alicia de Salas) with a price of only $20, I think this Mexican painting was the sleeper hit of the expedition. Even though paintings aren’t my main area of focus, I might very well buy it next time I visit that antique mall.

The next item was a piece of Bruce Fox wall art. This Mid Century embossed bronze sheet depicts a gazelle among tropical plants, and the entire work surrounded by a rich walnut frame. The work is well executed and quite good looking. It would really make a stellar wall hanging, especially for anyone who wants that Mad Men look for not a lot of money.

Bruce Fox was an artist and metalworker who founded his eponymously named company in 1938. Bruce Fox, Inc. specialized in aluminum, copper and bronze art and decorative items. The company gradually moved away from consumer decor into industrial segments in the late 1960s.

This Bruce fox bronze wall art is labeled “Bruce Fox Hand Worked” on the back along with a handwritten “2150”, probably denoting the serial number of this work. I’m guessing several thousand were originally produced. The price was only $35; unfortunately, the walnut frame was not in great condition, reducing the desirability of the work.

The final good item I found on my antique mall expedition was a hand-hammered Arts & Crafts sterling silver bowl by the firm of Lebolt & Co. Lebolt & Co. was a Chicago-based jeweler and silversmith that operated from 1908.

This fairly heavy, good quality sterling silver bowl was very simple except for the hand-hammered decoration and some subtle fluting around the bowl edge. This is absolutely typical of Arts and Crafts silver, which eschewed gaudy design.

The price was $320, which is more or less in line with current market value. If I had been looking for early 20th century American silver or Arts & Crafts movement pieces, I would have not hesitated to buy this sterling silver bowl.

So there it is. A large antique mall with thousands and thousands of items in it and I found four that could potentially have been considered investment grade. And, quite honestly, I’m guessing that only the silver bowl and the Mexican oil painting really make the grade (although the other two items would be wonderful decorative pieces).

There is a lesson to be learned here. High quality, investment grade antiques are really, really rare. There are far fewer of them out there than people realize, but their rarity is currently obfuscated by their low prices. I don’t expect this situation to last forever, though. Invest accordingly.

Read more thought-provoking Antique Sage thrifting and antiquing articles here.

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Read in-depth Antique Sage investment guides here.