Does anyone have any tips and tricks for looking for and buying antiques, including furniture?

January 2, 2005 4:11 PM

I'm just starting to get interested in buying antique furniture and other decorative items. Does anyone have any tips and tricks for looking for and buying this kind of stuff?
posted by LittleMissCranky to Work & Money (10 answers total)

What trharlan said. Estate sales and yard sales in small towns are the best place to find bargains. Another good strategy is to go to a large sale where dealers come from all over (like the Brimfield Fair) on the last day, where dealers are often willing to cut prices to the bone rather than schlep stuff hundreds of miles back to their stores.

And learn to haggle.
posted by Sidhedevil at 4:58 PM on January 2, 2005

Go to auctions, not antique shops. Get there in time for the preview, when you can inspect the goods up close. Take notes on which items interest you, and, after you've sat through at least one full auction at that particular house and have a feel for the price range different types of items go for, make some mental limits on how much you're willing to pay. It's easy to get carried away in a bidding war if you haven't set a per-item budget.

Plan to stay until the end, when everybody is tired, the crowd has thinned, and items are going for a song.

And if your first foray yields an auction house where the average starting bid is $500+, keep looking. There's bound to be a mid-range and a low-range auction house in the area, as well.

Also: Yard sales in wealthy suburbs or small cities, in the spring. Morbid as it is, old people tend to hang on through winter then die at first thaw. Rich families will usually take the best of the haul and yard sale the rest.
posted by damn yankee at 5:30 PM on January 2, 2005

What damn yankee said, and morbid as it is, when you are scanning garage sale ads, look for ones that offer wheelchairs , walkers and the like for sale. That is usually when someone of an advanced age passed away, and their family is selling all their stuff.
posted by marxchivist at 5:45 PM on January 2, 2005

Deals can be found in shops, but you have to be vigilant and open to haggling. I prefer the mall-style shops, where several dealers are in one store. The yearly extravaganzas near me are usually a bust (made worse by an admission fee) and the dealers actually jack up their prices, hoping to leech off the tourists.

Beware of dropping the "e" word (eBay) - while many dealers have embraced the net, quite few *really* loathe the site. But for little things, eBay can actually be a good resource, if just to be aware of the rarity and going rates of some items. Take these prices with a grain of salt, though.

If you're going heavy into furniture, it's worth establishing a relationship with a professional restoration person. My guy's prices are excellent and I know I can buy seemingly lower quality antiques for a song, and then get them fixed up beautifully. This is very important if you like stuff that is hard to find intact (leather, fabric, certain woods).

Know your material & get at least a general idea of the rarity of certain pieces. A feel for their value will come later.

Most importantly, if you plan to use your furniture in a practical setting, learn to honestly evaluate a piece for everyday use (knowing a restoration guy helps here again). That means being honest with things like sticky doors, cracked/warped wood, missing keys, etc. Sure, that Victorian hand-carved dresser might look nice, but what use is it if you can't open half the drawers?

My own home furniture is a mix of reproduction (done with traditional materials, ie, real wood) and antiques because, while I like the old styles, I need long-lasting furniture above all else. I'm only a stickler for age/authenticity when it comes to the little decorative items.
posted by Sangre Azul at 6:24 PM on January 2, 2005

Forgot to add my personal golden rule - "an antique is only worth what someone will pay for it." I've seen tons of pieces get blown out of proportion because of fads or some weird appraisal system that has age trump everything else. (To be fair, sheer antiquity is what makes some pieces desirable.) Additionally, I've seen other pieces sit in shops for decades because there is no market.

I buy my antiques strictly for enjoyment & that is what governs my purchases. I turn my back on a lot of stuff when I can't get the price in my range. If you are a collector or looking to extensively furnish you place, rarity, practicality, and/or convenience will be a factor. If you're planning to buy for investment/resale, you have a rather uncertain future ahead of you.
posted by Sangre Azul at 6:37 PM on January 2, 2005

Buy yourself a Warman's price guide. Auctions and estate sales are the way to get the best deals, but don't go solely to those. Often you can find great things at great prices at antique malls. If you live in the East Central Indiana/Western Ohio area I can recommend some good places to start. Mission oak furniture is awesome and lasts forever, in my honest opinion.
posted by sciurus at 6:41 PM on January 2, 2005

You may sometimes get amazing deals at yard sales (you know, antique roadshow style - I paid $1 and its worth how much?!) but auctions are where dealers get their stuff, so you will be getting it at the dealer's cost. If you are on the east coast, make a pilgrimage to Dixon's auction in Crumpton, MD. Dealers from hundreds (even thousands) of miles around show up for the Wednesday auction. There is huge building (the good stuff) and sometimes up to 15 acres of stuff outside. Three or more auctioneers on golf carts simultaneously auctioning, they each have several people roaming the crowd to collect money and make change (cash is due at the end of bidding for each item, so bring a big wad). Tangentially, its also one of the most amazing places for people watching. There are local poor rural blacks who will load heavy items for a fee, New York dealers with cell phone and gold chains, local rednecks, Amish and Mennonites in traditional dress, city folk from Baltimore, DC and Philadelphia...
posted by 445supermag at 7:07 PM on January 2, 2005

Mission oak furniture is awesome and lasts forever.

Word. The stuff makes bricks look like putty.

I'm actually working on an antique online presence, and I strongly suggest you look at places in the mid-west. I bought a 120 year-old mahogany bedroom set (dresser with mirror, tallboy & bed) for $450 a year ago. It would probably run twice that on the Route 1 corridor in New England.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:24 PM on January 2, 2005

Get to know your woods (if that matters to you). Even the best dealers rarely know what it really is (they'll tell you something, but they are 4 out of 5 wrong).
posted by jmgorman at 9:31 PM on January 2, 2005

old people tend to hang on through winter then die at first thaw

when you are scanning garage sale ads, look for ones that offer wheelchairs , walkers and the like for sale

Damn you people are brutal! I am taking notes...
posted by LarryC at 11:59 PM on January 2, 2005