Treasure Season is Beginning – Daryle Lambert's Antiques and Collectibles Blog - Is it cheap enough?

Is Your Treasure in the Corner? 

Thanks to Frontpage.fok.nl

 

I am feeling those old feelings again and my mind is telling me the Treasure Season is near. What do I mean by that? It is hard to get out of bed and start your day breezing through antique shops or second hand stores in the dead of winter with snow on the ground. But that is the most you have to chose from at that period of the year. However, things are about to change.

Soon garage sale signs will be on every corner and the house sale ads will fill the classifieds. Not to mention the spring antique shows that will be coming out of the woodwork and auctions that are too many each weekend to make it possible to visit them all. Yes, the treasures will be waiting, but are you prepared?

What have you been doing with your time? Have you checked out books from the library on antiques, fine art and collectibles. Has your knowledge increased on how to spot fakes and reproductions? How about your ability to recognize marks? Do you have Kovel's book of marks and price guide? Don’t leave home without them. Remember, when you're at a sale, you might not always have the time to search through your books while a true treasure that you had in your hand passes out the door with someone else. But you can always hold on to the item while you check.

This is an exciting time of year and soon you will be hearing others’ stories about their successes but how about your stories? The only difference between them and you might be knowledge and this is where I want my members to shine. In our members only section of the www.darylelambert.com site, we are beginning to supply you references that will give you the knowledge needed for your success. Ondre is taking it upon herself to search out the most up to date information available and post it in the members only section. I can't tell you what her efforts will mean to each and every member of the Daryle Lambert's Antiques and Collectibles Club, but be assured it is going to mean a lot.

There is one thing, however, that I must warn you about and that is the price of items that you will be finding. I think I would be safe in saying that most prices have dropped at least 50% since last year. That isn't always true of the rare and unusual items but since they only compose about 1% of all items, we need to be aware of the other 99%. I would like to get an example of what I mean.

I received a call from a wonderful lady from New York who had purchased several large John Lotton vases several years ago. She had followed the prices of Lotton Glass and said that she was looking to receive from $10,000 to $15,000 dollars each for her vases because she had seen those prices in the past. I asked her to describe the pieces and she told me that the first one measures about 15”, is a floral and has gold wash inside the vase. It just so happened that I had been looking at what was being offered on eBay for Lotton and guess what? There was an identical piece listed there. Not wanting to say what my opinion was of her vase, but wanting to inform her of its value in today's market, I relayed the eBay price to her of $3650, with no bids. I know it was hard for her to believe it because there is no doubt in my mine that she had paid much more than that for the vase. I told her that she has a wonderful piece of Art Glass but to get the price she wished for may take a few years until the economy recovers.

So again I am going to tell you that today when something seems cheap, ask yourself another time. Is it cheap enough?

My 220 page book about how to make money buying and selling antiques and collectibles is FREE with your membership in the Daryle Lambert's Antique and Collectible Club. Join Us Today http://www.darylelambert.com/