Posted on 10/25/2005 6:37:45 PM PDT by SJackson
Before I could write my column this week, I had to take an hour off to watch "Antiques Roadshow" on PBS, locally WHA. It feeds my fantasy of finding or buying an item and have it turn out to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The show always has a few people who either bought an item at a yard sale for a dollar or two or found it. For example, Monday's show featured a man who went dumpster diving and found a rare print by John Turnbull of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was worth $700 to $800. That's not a bad find.
A woman on the show had something even more valuable: a Cartier cigarette case worth thousands. It had been given to her mother, who owned a restaurant. The mother took it from a hungry man in exchange for three breakfasts. The woman had kept it in a box under her bed along with other items her mother had taken in exchange for food when people couldn't pay for meals. When she got home, she planned to check through the box to see what else she could find. I certainly would and would seek a good appraiser too.
My favorite antiques story comes from the British edition of "Antiques Roadshow." A woman who was the supervisor for a dumpsite in Britain collected jewelry she found over the years in the garbage. Her collection was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it had come from garbage.
I'm left with the question of how it got in the garbage. Did someone cleaning house mistake real gems for fake ones and because she didn't like the style throw it in the garbage? Alternatively, did the piece fall into the garbage by mistake and was not missed for so long no one had any idea to where it disappeared? Or, maybe someone with a lot of money got mad at whomever gave her the jewelry and threw it away to flout him.
I think the show has spurred me to haunting thrift stores, flea markets and yard sales. I keep hoping that an item that catches my eye and is cheap will really be worth a fortune or at least much more than I paid. I don't know if this has ever happened, although I have bought plenty from such places. I never take any of my finds to antiques dealers or appraisers. I guess I am not optimistic enough that I will be that fortunate.
If I really wanted antiques, I should go to antique stores and shows. However, they scare me. I'm afraid my knowledge of antiques is too limited, and I would end up either paying more than something is worth, or I would buy a reproduction rather than a real antique.
I should go to some of the reputable dealers in the area, but I really don't have the money to buy antiques. My pocketbook squeezes me into the used market.
Anything we buy for our homes may someday become an antique -- provided not many people keep that particular style. For example, our parents and grandparents bought dinnerware in a style now known as Depression glass. It was cheap and colorful with many intricate patterns. You could buy it at the dime store in the 20s, 30s and 40s for next to nothing.
Many people probably donated it to thrift stores or sold it at yard sales when they got tired of it or their children didn't want it. Perhaps it even went out with the garbage, because nobody thought it was worth much.
Today, Depression glass is highly valued and collected by many people who will pay a hundred times what a piece sold for originally.
My plan is to find nice pieces of anything that might become an antique and hold on to them for years until they become valuable. Of course, I'm still limited by money and by space -- no house is ever big enough if you become a collector and you never have enough money.
If I could just find one item and take it to "Antiques Roadshow" maybe, I'd make some money. I believe my chances are probably as good as buying a lottery ticket and a lot more fun.
Thank you for the ping. I enjoyed reading your post...it was very pleasant and informative.
There was a time when Goodwill was a good shopping spot, not today, I can't even afford paperbacks in them in Arizona.
Yes, the ARC store in Kingman has good and new clothing.
In 1970, at the Goodwill in Portland, Oregon, I was buying ladies wool skirts for 10 cents each, used them for making wool quilts and the left overs in weaving rugs.
Glad you found it interesting, laughing as I say:
"It is all part of survival"......
Granted the frame is still worth $5.00, the glass and matting cost me $75.00, but I cannot, for the life of me, find out who this artist is and what it's worth.
Regardless, it's the prize of my collection and I would never part with it. Unless, of course, it's worth six figures.
Nope, not even then.
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