Antiquing For Dummies

Ron Zoglin, Deborah Shouse

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780764551086
• eBook ISBN: 9781118069110
• Edition: 1

"This is a fun and painless way to give yourself a firm grounding in the wide wonderful world of antiques and collectibles."
Kyle Husfloen, Managing Editor, Antique Trader Weekly and Antique Trader's Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide

Do you love to poke around estate sales and antique shops, but can't tell the difference between Queen Anne and Queen Victoria furniture? Do you dream of owning that old Oriental rug or Meissen figurine — but worry that the dealer might gouge you on the price? Do you own pieces you think might be valuable — but don't know where to go for a reliable appraisal? Relax. Antiquing For Dummies answers all your antiquing questions—and more.

Whether you're a beginner or you've already gotten your feet wet, this fun, friendly guide will give you the savvy you need to cruise, schmooze, bargain for, and care for antiques with confidence. In no time you'll be able to:

• Tell the difference between real antiques and stuff that's just old
• Develop an antique hunt plan of attack
• Select antiques based on the 5 key points of the "RADAR Test"
• Discover hidden treasures at garages, estate sales, auctions, and shops
• Get the best deals when buying and selling antiques
• Decorate with antique glass and porcelain from around the world
• Clean and care for your precious finds
• Work an auction—real-time and online

Writing with humor and common sense, Ron Zoglin and Deborah Shouse demystify the highfaluting terminology of the antique world. And step-by-step they walk you through all the antiquing essential, including:

• Different furniture styles and periods of furniture and how to distinguish them
• Dovetails, nails, and other construction elements that offer clues to a piece's age
• Where to go for the best antique bargains — includes tips on how to bid at auctions in person or online
• All about antique glass, ceramics and silver
• Integrating antiques into your life at home and at the office

Antiquing For Dummies gets you up and running with what you need to know to find, research, and negotiate prices like a pro.

Part I

The Antiquing Primer

In this part . . .

“I couldn’t help myself. It was love at first sight.”

Of course, you’re already experienced in the ways of romance. You know how love can sneak up behind you, flash you a brilliant smile, and suddenly, you are smitten. Antiques are that way, too: One look at them, and you can be head over heels, before you’ve even been introduced.

In this section, we introduce you to the world of antiques. We give you several definitions, a few admonitions, and a little exposition. We give you a RADAR lesson in ways to evaluate an antique. Then we invite you into our parlor for a stirring story of immigrants and kings and carpenters and queens — the evolution of furniture.

Chapter 1

Stalking the Wild Antique

In This Chapter

Stalking the wild antique (and recognizing it when you find it)

Tracking the untamed collectible

Deciding whether old or new is best for you by looking at antiques, meeting dealers, and reading price guides

T he antique supply fluctuates constantly. Every day, fewer older antiques are available, and a few new “just turned 100” antiques become available. Before you buy, look at a lot of antiques, talk to dealers and other experts, and read a few price guides, auction catalogues, and books. Dealers, curators, and collectors all gave us this same advice: Buying antiques is like searching for buried treasure — if you don’t know what 16th century doubloons really look like, you may not see the treasure even if you stumble over it.

So how can you stop and smell the doubloons? Finding dealers and other specialists you can trust is one key to successful antique buying. This chapter gives you tips for finding competent dealers and suggests other ways to quickly scope out the antique scene.

Question: What kind of car do you drive to look for antiques?

Answer: An Oldsmobile.

Antiques, Collectibles, and Other Aging Items

Before you buy, you have to get enough experience to figure out the difference between old stuff that isn’t worth the lace on your tennis shoes and an antique that you should mortgage your stationary bike over. You need to know the difference between an antique, an antique-in-waiting, a collectible, and an antiquity.

You did say you were going abroad, didn’t you?

To satisfy customs, you need proof that the object is 100 years old or more. Ask the dealer to give you a receipt that describes and dates the piece. Certain valuable art and antiques from Europe and the Middle East are not allowed out of their own country. Ask the dealer to make sure that you have any information you need so you can get through customs smoothly.

If the item you buy in Europe is less than 100 years old and made in America, you can mark the piece “American Goods Returning” and bring the piece home tax-free.

A is for Antique

A “legal” antique is something that is 100 years old. This definition was created so that the customs people would know how to tax things.

Antiques come into the country duty free. You pay duty on pieces that are 99-years-old or less. Besides being 100 years or more, antiques carry with them certain presumptions — presumptions of value, good craftsmanship, and rarity.

Beginning in 1891, the McKinley Tariff Act required that foreign-made imports be stamped or labeled in English words with their country of origin. Ideally, this means that foreign-made antiques created before 1891 will not be labeled and those created after will.

Some items had paper labels and other markings, which may have disappeared by now. Foreign-made pieces that were not made for export to the United States did not have to be marked or labeled.

Stepping up to the collectible plate

A collectible is just about anything people want to collect that is younger than 100 years. Collectibles include items such as Hummel figurines, collector’s plates, Depression glass (you know, that thing you drink from when you need to get out of the dumps), various toys, and baseball cards. Really, just about anything is fair game.

antiques-in-waiting

Just to keep things from being too cut and dried, a certain 20th century crowd exists that is simply too magnificent to accept the word collectible. These “antiques-in-waiting” are truly masterpieces and are valued more highly than many antiques. This beauty-before-age syndrome applies primarily to work from the Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Art Moderne periods in the early 1900s. A Tiffany lamp that goes at auction for a quarter of a million dollars — well, it’s definitely an honorary antique.

Digging into antiquities

Finally, there’s the stuff that is unearthed. These include work from ancient cultures such as the Roman, Greek, and Egyptian and are called antiquities. You might come across these ancient articles: ancient Egyptian/Syrian glass, little pottery jars, bowls and vases from Greece and the Middle East, ancient bronze coins and miniature bronze figures from old Persia, the Middle East, and Italy (not in the excellent quality/condition that the museum pieces are, but collectible and great conversation pieces).

At an antique center, Michael spotted some beautiful opalescent bottles and was told they were genuine antiquities. Later that day, Michael saw more “ancient” bottles displayed at a fancy decorator’s shop. He was surprised by their reasonable prices. Still later, one antiquities expert told him that buying ancient bottles was very tricky and that repros were rampant.

Sears or Sotheby’s: Deciding Between Something Old and Something New

Contrary to popular mythology, antiques are not necessarily more expensive than newer items. You can find wonderful antique furniture and accessories comparably priced to newer items. Here are a few questions to ask yourself when you’re choosing between old and new items.

Will this antique get along with you and your house? Many people proudly describe their decorating style as eclectic. They mix antiques with modern pieces and have a charming and comfortable look. Have you ever tried to introduce a turn-of-the-century wicker rocker to a St. Bernard? Make sure that your antiques can get along with your lifestyle as well as your decor.

Is it functional or usable? Unlike most people, most antiques come from “functional families.” You can find plenty of antiques that are as functional as their modern counterparts.

Just because an antique is old doesn’t mean that you have to shut it up in a cloistered cabinet. Think of ways you can use your antique. Think of places where you will see it every day. Many antiques were functional parts of everyday life: Don’t put them out to pasture just because they’re old enough to get a letter from the president.

Can you adapt your antique so that it will be usable? Armoires are a great example of an antique cross-trained to a new function. Once they were simply closet cases, an elegant way to store clothes. Now we put entertainment centers in these elegant shelvings. The purist won’t want to drill a crass hole in a lovely old armoire: Here’s where natural shrinkage and old knotty wood come in handy. Sometimes you can “get wired” by squeezing the plug through those slightly loose boards or poking out a knothole. (But save that old knotty wood, in case you ever want to sell the piece.)

Chinese altar tables are another great example. They were once used for strictly spiritual purposes. Now the spirit moves them to...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I : The Antiquing Primer
• Chapter 1: Stalking the Wild Antique
• Chapter 2: Preparing for the Hunt: An Antiquing Plan of Action
• Chapter 3: God Save the Queen Anne: Basic Furniture Styles
• Chapter 4: Dovetails and Nails: How to Spot the Real Thing from the Fake
• Part II : Who’s Got the Goods? Shopping for Antiques
• Chapter 5: Bargaining Basics: The Price Can Be Right
• Chapter 6: Meet the Dealers: Antique Shops and Shows
• Chapter 7: Sold on Auctions: Going Once, Going Twice
• Chapter 8: Cruising for Fabulous Finds: Antique Malls and Flea Markets
• Chapter 9: Doing a Little Legwork: Estate and Garage Sales, Classifieds and Cyber-Buys
• Part III : Material Possessions
• Chapter 10: Glass Conscious: Glassware and Crystal
• Chapter 11: Dishing It Out: Porcelain, Pottery, and China
• Chapter 12: The Metal Winner: Silver
• Part IV : Integrating Antiques into Your Home
• Chapter 13: Basic Decorating: Bringing the Past into Your Present
• Chapter 14: Remembrances of Repasts Past: The Kitchen and Dining Room
• Chapter 15: Parlor Pieces: Living Room Antiques
• Chapter 16: Welcome to My Boudoir: Bed and Bath Antiques
• Chapter 17: Antiques from the East: Orientalia
• Chapter 18: Antiques by the Yard: Outdoor Items
• Part V : The Care, Feeding, and Deleting of Antiques
• Chapter 19: Scratches, Spills, and Restoration Thrills
• Chapter 20: Getting Your Antiques Appraised
• Chapter 21: Selling Your Antiques
• Part VI : The Part of Tens
• Chapter 22: Ten Great Periodicals
• Chapter 23: Ten Essential Price Guides for Antiques