Anatomy of an Antique Mall Expedition

Anatomy of an Antique Mall Expedition

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.

 

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1987 Australian Gold Nugget Proof Set

1987 Australian Gold Nugget Proof Set
Photo Credit: APMEX

1987 Australian Gold Nugget Proof Set

Buy It Now Price: $2,731.05 (price as of 2018; item no longer available)

Pros:

-Here is a stately 1987 Australian Gold Nugget proof set containing four coins – 1, 1/2, 1/4 and 1/10 troy ounce sizes – with a total gold content of 1.85 troy ounces.

-This set is a proof version of the immensely popular Australian Gold Nugget/Kangaroo bullion series of coins. Modern proof coins are carefully struck to very exacting standards in order to ensure mirror-like surfaces and maximum detail.

-The obverse of the coins has a bust of Queen Elizabeth II while the reverse has a series of famous Australian gold nuggets. Australia, along with the Alaska-British Columbia complex, is the world’s most prolific producer of natural gold nuggets.

-The 1 troy ounce proof coin features the 953 troy ounce Poseidon nugget, discovered in 1906 in Tarnagulla, Victoria. The 1/2 troy ounce proof coin depicts the Bobby Dazzler nugget, found in 1899 in Sharks Gully, Western Australia. The 1/4 troy ounce proof coin shows the 199 troy ounce Father’s Day nugget, discovered in 1979 in Ophir, New South Wales. The 1/10 troy ounce proof coin portrays the 200 troy ounce Golden Aussie nugget, found in 1980 in Western Australia.

-The mintage for the 1987 Australian Gold Nugget proof set was only 11,002 specimens. This may seem like a lot until you realize that Australian coins for general circulation regularly have mintages in the tens of millions per year. Even non-proof, 1 troy ounce Australian Nugget/Kangaroo gold bullion coins usually have mintages of well over 100,000 per annum.

-This 1987 Australian Gold Nugget proof set comes in its original, solid Jarrah wood box! The Jarrah is a type of Eucalyptus tree (scientific name: Eucalyptus marginata) native to Australia. In addition to having a rich reddish-tone and beautifully figured grain-pattern, Jarrah wood is also remarkably tough and rot resistant. I believe the Jarrah wood case significantly enhances the desirability and value of this set.

-Like all Australian bullion coins, this set was struck at the Perth Mint, which is 100% owned by the Government of Western Australia. Originally established in 1899 as a branch of the London Royal Mint, the Perth Mint was created to refine and strike coins from gold mined in the newly discovered Western Australian goldfields.

-I am a firm believer that vintage gold bullion proof sets from the 1980s and 1990s represent exceptional value for the tangible asset investor. I previously showcased a lovely 1985 British gold sovereign proof set that shares a very similar risk-reward profile to this 1987 Australian Gold Nugget proof set.

-With the spot price of gold trading at $1,316, this 1987 Australian Gold Nugget proof set contains $2,434 worth of gold. At the buy-it-now price of $2,731, this represents a modest premium only 12.2%. Because this set is less than $300 above melt value, you are assuming very little numismatic risk if you opt to purchase it.

 

Cons:

-Ironically, Australian Gold Nugget bullion coins only featured gold nuggets for a short period of time, from 1986 to 1989. After that, the series switched to kangaroos on the reverse of the coin. Because of this, the early gold nugget version is less well recognized than its more modern counterpart with the kangaroo. Although this could conceivably impact future demand (and therefore, price), I see it as being a very minor issue.

 

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Vintage Fountain Pen Sets – A Stealth Investment

Vintage Fountain Pen Sets - A Stealth Investment

I find vintage fountain pens to be one of the most fascinating areas of the antique market. Much like vintage mechanical wristwatches, vintage fountain pens were a relatively obscure collectible niche 25 years ago. There were a few hard-core collectors, but not a whole lot of public interest otherwise.

However, vintage fountain pens have exploded into a very hot market segment today. This shouldn’t be surprising considering the unparalleled beauty and utility of these retro writing instruments. Demand, along with prices, has inevitably skyrocketed.

While it used to be possible to cherry pick marvelous vintage pen specimens for $5, $10, or $15 at garage sales, flea markets and rummage sales, now these venues are largely picked clean of desirable examples. Today, a variety of investment quality, antique fountain pens can be found in good condition for prices ranging from $50 to $500.

However, as desirable as older fountain pens are, there is an often overlooked off-shoot of this venerable collecting category that offers even better value for your money. I’m speaking about vintage fountain pen sets. It was fairly common in the mid to late 20th century for pen manufacturers to package a fountain pen together with another, different type of writing instrument, usually a ballpoint pen or mechanical pencil.

Vintage fountain pen sets were often marketed as upscale gifts. They were promoted as the perfect luxury present for holidays, graduations, birthdays, etc. As a result, these sets were usually populated by more desirable, higher end models – with price tags to match!

Vintage fountain pen sets were also intended to appeal to people who wanted variety in their writing implements. Some customers might prefer the convenience of a ballpoint pen for travel and on-the-go usage, while a fountain pen might make sense for writing longer personal letters or business correspondence. A mechanical pencil might be favored by certain professionals who produced a lot of calculations and scratch work, like engineers, architects, and scientists.

In any case, vintage fountain pen sets are largely neglected in today’s marketplace. Few antique fountain pen collectors understand the charms of old mechanical pencils. And even fewer pen collectors are interested in vintage ballpoint pens. As a result, high quality vintage fountain pen sets can still be purchased for shockingly low prices.

There are a lot of reasons to consider investing in a vintage fountain pen set. But one of the most compelling is that they perfectly capture the zeitgeist of the mid to late 20th century. Stately fountain and ballpoint pens were omnipresent in the most pivotal events of the age, from the signing of the momentous treaty that ended World War II to the endorsement of groundbreaking legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And no successful businessman from the 1960s Mad Men era would have been caught dead without his prized pen at his side, always ready to sign a deal.

As mentioned above, vintage fountain pen sets were generally mid-range or high-end offerings. As a result, they were often constructed using the very finest materials available to manufacturers at the time. This included corrosion-resistant metals, such as stainless steel, gold-filled, sterling silver or even solid karat gold. Hard rubber, resin or dense, high quality plastic were also sometimes employed in pen sets, either in conjunction with metals or by themselves.

A factor that goes hand in hand with high quality materials is high quality construction. And quality was universally high in the mid 20th century. Vintage fountain pen sets, particularly the higher priced models, were produced to very exacting standards in the most technologically-advanced nations on earth at the time – the U.S., U.K., Germany, France and Japan. This is a far cry from the made in China syndrome that we wrestle with today in consumer products.

It is also common to find sets that are for sale with their original cases. An original case is not only a convenient storage container for a vintage pen set, but also adds to the period styling of the set. As a result, an original case significantly boosts a set’s investment desirability.

Another advantage of vintage fountain pen sets is the number of pristine, never-inked or new-old-stock examples available. These are eminently collectible pieces that are often 40, 50 or even 60 years old, and yet can sometimes still be found encased in cellophane with their original price tags attached!

But I think that the ultimate reason to invest in vintage fountain pen sets is price; they are often barely more expensive than a single vintage fountain pen by itself. And there is simply no conventional asset where a couple hundred dollars will get you so much value for your money. I’ve showcased several different vintage fountain pen sets on the Antique Sage website, including a 1960s Parker 75 flat top set, a 1950s Sheaffer Snorkel Statesman set and a mid 1950s Eversharp Ventura set.

None of these vintage fountain pen sets was more than $300. One was less than $100. Where else can you hope to buy a complete set of vintage luxury goods in its original packaging for a couple hundred dollars? It is one of those situations that you simply know cannot persist for very long. And I suspect it will not.

One day soon the supply of Mid-Century, new-old-stock vintage fountain pen sets will run out and their prices will skyrocket. Those who already purchased theirs will be sitting pretty. Everyone else will curse their bad timing. Don’t say you were never warned.

 

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Functional Luxury Is the Future of the Antiques Industry

Functional Luxury Is the Future of the Antiques Industry

The antiques industry has traditionally been driven by demographics. As people reach middle age and older they often became interested in purchasing items they fondly remembered from their youth. This is a way for them to recapture special moments or warm feelings from their childhood. In short, nostalgia has always been a major factor determining demand and price trends in the antiques market.

The only problem is that this long-standing antique market rule-of-thumb is beginning to erode. While there are still quite a few Generation-X collectors out there chasing vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Michael Jackson paraphernalia, their numbers and impact on the antiques industry are far smaller than that of their predecessors.

This has been bad news for many antiques dealers, who have been slow to adapt to this transition. As one would expect, many professionals in the antique industry are notoriously reluctant to embrace change. Instead, most antique dealers have hunkered down and continued to do things the way they always have.

This mostly means buying collectibles from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s and then patiently waiting for hoards of middle-aged nostalgia seekers to mob their shops with fist-fulls of money. Unfortunately, this expected outcome has failed to materialize. The situation has deteriorated so badly that many old-fashioned antique dealers have simply given up and gone out of business, leading to the widespread decline of the physical antique store.

Despite the challenges that the antiques industry has faced over the last decade, I don’t believe it is in terminal decline. To the contrary, I believe that certain segments of the antiques market will boom. However, in order for antique dealers and collectors to properly position themselves, they will need to understand why and what kind of antiques people will desire in the future.

In my opinion, the future of the antiques industry lies in the concept of functional luxury. Functional luxury is the idea that high quality antiques can be used as chic, cost-effective substitutes for modern luxury goods. For example, rather than spending $10,000 to $12,000 on a new Rolex wristwatch, a person might be delighted to find that he can acquire a beautiful vintage Omega, IWC or Patek Philippe wristwatch for a fraction of the cost.

Functional luxury can apply across a wide swath of the antiques industry. For instance, vintage clothing, handbags, jewelry, shoes and other accessories easily provide great value for your money and look great doing it. Antique walnut or mahogany furniture is immeasurably better in both looks and durability than the junk in an IKEA flat-pack, but hardly costs any more.

In decades past, people demanded quality goods. As a result, antiques were often crafted to a very high standard. Even though these vintage items may have been made 50 or even 100 years ago, many of them are still perfectly usable today, provided they have been reasonably well-cared for. Functional luxury exploits this attribute, allowing you and I to own items built to a standard that would be cost-prohibitive today – a situation only possible because of the exceedingly high quality of many antiques.

Another aspect of functional luxury that is vitally important is the notion of authenticity. In the modern age, we are constantly bombarded by advertising trying to convince us that this brand or that brand is “authentic” in some way. Yet, most of these brands are owned by faceless mega corporations that farm out production to overseas sweat shops with poorly paid workers. This is the antithesis of authenticity, and a growing number of people are becoming aware of that fact.

I also believe that there is a burgeoning disgust with the idea of collecting stuff just for the sake of having it. Many Millennials grew up in households with Boomer parents who were borderline hoarders. These Boomer households were filled with an abundance of junk, much of which was made in China. It is my belief that Millennials have had their fill of this quantity over quality lifestyle. They will undoubtedly gravitate towards luxury minimalism and its philosophical twin, functional luxury.

Even investing can benefit from the trend toward functional luxury. How many people dutifully (and mindlessly) dump 5% of their paycheck into boring equity index funds twice a month? This is all well and good until the next stock market crash decimates retirement accounts all over the world.

These unfortunate, naïve investors will belatedly discover that they could have been putting their hard-earned money to work in gorgeous investment grade antiques instead, like this vintage British gold sovereign proof set from 1985. Money invested in tangible assets such as high quality antiques and fine art is money that will not vanish in a market panic or corporate bankruptcy.

There is even a green angle to functional luxury. The motto “reduce, reuse, recycle” is a rallying cry of the modern environmental movement. And antiques are perfectly positioned for reuse, regardless of whether they are employed for their originally intended purpose or adapted through upcycling.

Functional luxury lets us pursue quality and authenticity at prices that won’t break the bank. Functional luxury allows average people – people just like you and me – to live better lives through antiques. And, honestly, that is a pretty good future.

 

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