“Where are the Markets”? - Daryle Lambert's Antique and Collectible Blog – High or Low.

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We are in the strangest time for the Antique and Collectible market that I have ever seen. For almost two years I have shared the virtues of dealing in the rarest and best items that come to the market. This is still my preference, however, the number of these items and the frequency at which they appear make it very difficult to be patient enough to accumulate them at the present time. It isn't like it was five years ago when I could go anywhere in the country and find enough treasure to pay for my trip and then some. I still say that, since our goal is to compound our money at least twice a year, this is the best strategy to use in reaching the goal. Many times by waiting for that special piece, when it does show up, the reward is much greater than if you buy and sell a large number of common items. This weekend Cincinnati Art Galleries had their auction and it was very evident that the large and rare were the items that met or exceeded the estimates while the smaller and more common items were not even reaching their minimum estimates. So what does that tell you?

There is another end of the market that seems to be doing fairly well but I hesitate to even mention it because it will mean that over a period of time, if this is all you're doing, the burn out rate will be 100%. That market is the one where you buy items for partially nothing and just take a chance that there will be someone out there that thinks that they are cute or wants to collect items on a very limited budget. The amount of work involve is tremendous but if you are only doing these types of sales, be sure that you're still around when the antique and collectible markets turn. This is only another alternative. The way I would approach this is by purchasing large groups of items at one time. Also, when I say for very little money, that means to me less that a dollar. I can't imagine doing this myself, however, because it just represents too much work. But, with the many emails that are asking how to make money now, this could be a temporary solution.

The other thing that I must remind you of also is that this time you have for this business can be used to increase your studies and that additional knowledge will serve you well later. I try to be consistent in the advice I share with the members of the club but I am finding these are challenging times, especially for the beginners in these markets. Not in 45 years have I ever thought that I would encourage people to take this approach but after studying “Seeauctions” sales over the last few months I have come to the conclusion that 75 % of their sales are under $10. Also my opinion is that most of the items sold on “Seeauctions” return the seller more than double their investment, which is our goal. So it may not be all bad to try this for a period of time.

Times have changed and temporarily I have to be willing to change with them. When I lay my head down on my pillow each night and start to dream, I still see the treasures that will change my life for a period of time, like a Carl Brenner painting or that special Rookwood vase. This business has been fantastic for me over many years and I have no doubt about what it can mean to you if that is what you wish from it.

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