Читать книгу Buying & Selling Antiques & Collectibl - Don Bingham - Страница 9

CHAPTER 1

Finding Merchandise:

The Never-Ending Quest

In order to start in the antiques and collectibles business, or to stay in it, you need merchandise to sell. Obtaining that merchandise is a large part of the business. In fact, it usually proves to be the most time-consuming facet. And yet we are not alone in considering it the part of the business that's the most fun. It's a great way to satisfy your desire to shop without depleting your pocketbook, because if you make your choices wisely you're going to turn the items you purchase into a healthy profit.

Many people get started in the business when they decide they have a few things that aren't right for their homes anymore but they don't want to give them away or throw them out. They have a garage sale, count the profits, and decide this is a good way to make some extra money. Then the problem becomes—finding more merchandise.

Some people are collectors and find that they're not as enchanted with their collections as they once were. Or having collected for many years, they discover that their tastes have become more finely honed. What at one time seemed like a valuable addition to their collection is actually an inferior or common piece that would only be valued by a beginner. They pack up the unwanted pieces and send them to auction. Or they advertise them in a collectors publication. Or they decide to rent a booth or space in a market somewhere. They're pleased with the prices they get and enthusiastic about being in the business. The problem is—finding more merchandise.

A few people, some of substantial means, just love to attend auctions. They cant resist a good buy and purchase many lovely items. It doesn't take long before these people have purchased so many articles that their homes begin to overflow. Often, the answer to this overcrowding is to go into the business. These people start with the items with which they've grown tired, the things they wish they'd never purchased, or articles of which they are the least fond. They continue to attend auctions. But since they are now selling to others, as well as purchasing for themselves, the problem is—finding more merchandise.

There are, of course, other reasons why people go into the business. They may need to supplement their incomes, they may think they can live on what they make in the business by working at it full time, or they may just want the sheer fun of it. There are those who inherit an estate that includes a houseful of goods. They decide that rather than selling to a dealer or sending the merchandise to auction, they'll attempt to sell it themselves by temporarily going into the business. Once they have a taste of it, they often continue, and they face the same problem—finding more merchandise.

The Search Begins

GARAGE SALES

Spring is the best season to start your business. Most people feel that new enthusiasm that comes with the first spring buds, but, more important, it's the season when garage sales begin to happen in large numbers. People start cleaning out attics, cellars, and cabinets and begin to get rid of unwanted clutter. There may be wonderful treasures among that clutter. We've found some of our most profitable items at garage sales. There was the Hull tea set Joan purchased for one dollar and sold the very next day for ninety-five dollars to another dealer who obviously planned to mark it up even more. And one dismal Saturday morning we found five old fire company fire extinguishers, made of copper and all polished up, for four dollars a piece. We bought all five. True, they didn't sell as fast as the Hull tea set, but we did sell them—and for thirty-five dollars a piece. It was worth the wait. Don came upon a 16 mm movie camera with a fine leather case, remarkably priced at fifty cents. He put a price of fifty-five dollars on it, and it sold within a month. We could go on and on about garage sale finds, but you get the idea.

However, we don't want to lead you to believe that all your garage sale treks will result in phenomenal buys. There's many a week we come back empty-handed or with pretty average merchandise. Many dealers who've been in the business as long as we have wouldn't be caught at a garage sale. But we've found them among the best places to get items at a price that we can mark up enough to make a sizable profit.

Garage saling is an art form. Most sales take place on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, with the lions share being Saturday-only sales. There are sales on other days, of course, but they're not the norm. The first step is to purchase a paper and turn to the classified section. There, under the heading "Garage Sales," you'll find a varying number of listings, depending on the season and the area of the country in which you live. Friday's sales are usually in Thursdays paper. Saturday and Sunday sales generally appear in Friday's and Saturday's paper. Carefully select the sales you want to attend. To do this, first read through all the listings and cross out any in which you re not interested, such as those that read something like, "lots of modern furniture," or "clothing to fit all sizes," or "an assortment of household goods." Also, be aware that one that lists antiques may only have a couple of old, cracked, or crazed plates with high price tags on them (which you wouldn't want anyway at any price because of the damage), and a lot of junk. Generally the people who list antiques want high prices if they have anything good, and bargains are hard to find. On the other hand, people who don't know anything about antiques or collectibles often put wonderful items out at ridiculously low prices. Other listings won't be specific as to merchandise offered, and you'll have to make a choice on intuition alone.

The ad also lists the time a garage sale will begin. In our area, most sales begin at either 8:00 A.M. or 9:00 A.M. There are a few with starting times of 7:00 A.M., and even' fewer that open up at 10:00 A.M. or 11:00 A.M. Circle the sales that sound interesting to you. You must plan to be at these sales at least an hour before they re scheduled to start unless the ad states "no early birds." Usually a sale is picked of all merchandise desirable to a dealer within fifteen minutes. Of course, there are instances where sleepers that are quite valuable are overlooked because they re not common enough to be known by the average dealer. But at garage sales this is the exception rather than the rule.

We always try to select two sales that are close to each other and that begin at the same time. For instance, if there's one listed at 802 Twelfth Street in Emmaus and another at 890 Fourteenth Street in the same town, and both of them are advertised as starting at 8:00 A.M., we'll be at one or the other by 7:00 A.M. If the first one we go to isn't ready for business, we'll quickly go on to the second. Then when that has opened and we've looked over the merchandise to see if we want anything, we return to our first stop.

We also circle two sales for 9:00 A.M. and two for 10:00 A.M., if any seem right for us. And we repeat the procedure we went through for the 8:00 A.M. sales.

Weather is a factor in garage sales. If it's raining, look for sales that advertise "rain or shine" or choose those that take place in church basements or school gyms. Sometimes a sale will be listed as "a whole houseful of goods." If the ad is legitimate, then the sale is an indoor sale. Few people try to put "a whole houseful of goods" on their lawn. And, of course, there are a few sales that live up to their name and are actually held in garages.

We have found that most neighborhood sales are a waste of time. Especially those listed as annual sales. To begin with, they're often in newer communities or developments, inhabited by young people who don't have anything but newer used items, wedding presents that they've never used, and baby and children's clothes outgrown by their offspring. If the development has never had a sale before, you might be lucky enough to find a piece of china or other article that has been handed down. But if the sale is annual, it's almost certain that the one piece of china was sold at the first sale.

Ideally you will find all merchandise at garage sales marked with a price. But if it isn't, this is forgivable. After all, these probably aren't professionals. Most people who have garage sales are savvy enough to realize that everyone is looking for a bargain—a break—and they mark their items accordingly, expecting to haggle a bit. We make it a practice never to ask for anything off of an item if it's priced at three dollars or under. But for items marked above this price, one of us will usually inquire if the owner can do better. Some won't budge an inch, but most will give you a break. No matter how inflated you think a price is or how inferior the merchandise, don't belittle it to its owner. This never results in anything but hurt feelings, and instead of the price break you expected and might have received otherwise, you're going to be met with understandable resentment. If we're interested in a piece and hope for a little lower price, we generally ask, "Is this your best price?" If the answer is yes, we'll say, "It's very nice, but it's a little more than we can pay for it." With this retort and a smile, we've often ended up with the article in question at the savings we'd hoped for.

Beware of the professional garage sale! Some people have garage sales frequently—some every week, others every month. These people are really dealers and some have fine merchandise. They scout the other garage sales, flea markets, and auctions. You learn to spot them after a while. It may be from seeing the same ad run frequently, or it may be from their signs, which are either very well done or look worn and well used. There's nothing wrong with professional garage sale dealers. You may find that over all they have a better grade of merchandise than you encounter at other garage sales. But you'll probably pay more because chances are they have a much greater storehouse of knowledge than the amateur. Can you get bargains from the professional? Yes, often you can, but you're not likely to find something like a Hull tea set for one dollar.

Garage sales are a gamble. You may waste an entire morning and come up empty-handed, having spent time and used up gas for nothing. On the other hand, you may have found treasures that you can mark up a hundredfold. To us, it's worth the risk.

FLEA MARKETS

The next rung up the shopping ladder is the flea market. (Sometimes it's the next step down.) Like garage sales, flea markets come in many guises. There are absolutely huge markets that sell everything from fresh vegetables to new t-shirts and sweat socks to paintings on velvet. Occasionally, you'll find a small stand that features collectibles and antiques. But what you're more likely to find are a few tables with secondhand junk. There's not much chance that you'll spot any treasures here, but if you've already made the effort to go to the market, do take the time to look through these tables, you could turn up a bargain.

Flea markets can be indoor or outdoor affairs. A flea market may be a one-time deal held by a church or an organization, or it may be a weekly or monthly sale. Those held by organizations are often peppered with dealers who are members of that organization, and the merchandise they have to offer falls in the range of what you'll find at the average garage sale—with one exception. Since they are setting up with many dealers and some of them may be professionals, anything that's really good will be gone before the sale starts, having been picked up by another dealer with a more practiced eye.

Flea markets start at various times of the morning, some as early as 4:00 A.M. For the early ones, at which there's a real feeling of adventure, you may find yourself stumbling around in a dark field. You need a bright flashlight—one of the little pocket jobs won't do the trick—so that you can carefully inspect what's on each table. Markets that begin this early are often over with by 10:00 A.M. The dealers may even pack up their wares and go on to a later market.

The flea market is a great place to sharpen your bargaining skills. If you're the shy type—afraid to ask for a price break—you're going to have to steel yourself. You can be quite certain that the dealer you're approaching seldom pays the full asking price for anything and won't be surprised or offended if you ask, "What's your best dealer price?" Saying "dealer price" is important. While many people who run garage sales resent dealers and think they have some magical ability to cheat them, those who sell at flea markets are, for the most part, dealers themselves, and they understand the problems of the business. They know that as a dealer you can't pay retail price and turn around and make a profit.

TAG SALES

In most areas of the country, there are what are known as "tag sales." These sales are generally comprised of the entire contents of an apartment, house, or estate. The seller (usually either someone who's inherited the property, or someone who's moving and doesn't want to, or can't take the merchandise with him or her), puts the task of selling the contents into professional hands. The company that's holding the sale sends representatives to the residence. These representatives appraise and tag all of the items to be sold. Remember, these people know what they're doing or they wouldn't be in business long. There are few bargains at tag sales. However, as with any other sale, some unusual treasure may surface at an unusually low price.

As a rule, tag sale customers line up outside the appointed place well in advance of the time the sale is scheduled to begin. Each person is assigned a number, and when sale time arrives, only a few people are allowed in at a time. As someone leaves, someone else enters. At the very end of a tag sale, merchandise is often available for much less than it is tagged, since the object of these sales is to sell everything at once. So you may want to visit one late in the day. Or if you're there when the sale starts and you see something that appeals to you, ask if you can leave an offer in the event the item in question doesn't sell. We usually write the item in which we're interested and the price we're offering on the back of our business card.

SECONDHAND STORES

While it could seem that secondhand stores should have little to offer antiques and collectibles dealers, this isn't always the case. And the beauty of shopping in these emporiums of used merchandise is that while secondhand dealers may know the going price for a used dining room suite, a set of Melmac plates, or a tired-looking sofa, they are seldom conversant in your field—antiques and collectibles. As a result, combing these stores can turn up wonders at give-away prices. Joan once found an old Oriental mud figure with a price tag of two dollars. This wasn't one of the many reproductions but a grand old piece. She could hardly believe her luck and quickly paid for it, feeling almost as if she were stealing. Even a reproduction mud figure is worth far more than two dollars.

Shopping the secondhand stores usually means being willing to get your hands dirty. Much of the merchandise won't be washed, and often it is stacked on shelves or on the floor so that you have to dig for it. Secondhand dealers will usually bargain, but their prices tend to be firmer than those of flea market dealers.

ARTICLES FOR SALE

Most newspapers have an "articles for sale" column in the classified section. We look at it every morning, and if there's something we think might interest us, we call immediately. Good merchandise, priced right, sells fast. Don't assume that the price listed in the paper isn't negotiable. Most people expect to bargain. If an item is really overpriced, we wait a week or more before we call. By then the ad is probably out of the paper, and the owner of the merchandise may be quite discouraged. If we see the item and we want it, we make an offer based on what it's worth to us. Sometimes it's refused, but often it's accepted.

The trade papers are another source of inventory. They publish long lists of collectibles and antiques for sale by individuals. Buying this way can be either a success or a miserable disappointment. Assuming that the owner of an item lives some distance away from you, you're going to be purchasing that item sight unseen. You should ask to see a picture. Of course, the picture may not reveal flaws that would be appare'nt if you were able to carefully inspect the piece, but it will help. After you've received the picture, if you still want to go ahead with the purchase, you should get a guarantee of condition in writing signed by the seller. You will probably receive the article C.O.D., so you won't have a chance to inspect it before you pay for it.

Some things are less chancy to purchase in this manner. For instance, any of the limited edition plates, figurines, etc. are fairly safe. Providing they're in the condition the seller says they are, you'll be in for no surprises. After all, a 1982 Bing and Grondahl plate is a 1982 Bing and Grondahl plate. You've seen one, you've seen them all. There might be a slight color variation, but not enough to make much difference. However, if the merchandise you're interested in is, say, a pair of art deco bookends, you may find they're smaller than they looked in a picture, or that they don't have as much detail as you'd expected, or that they're lighter in weight than you'd hoped.

Before you offer anything for sale, be sure it's clean and in as good condition as you can make it. Chapter 5 deals with cleaning and repairing and will help you to keep your merchandise in tip-top shape.

PICKERS

Pickers are people (usually very knowledgeable in at least some types of antiques and collectibles) who make their living by obtaining merchandise they know they can immediately turn over to dealers. They frequent auctions, flea markets, tag sales, and secondhand shops just as the dealers do, but they know what they're looking for and to whom they can sell it. If you specialize in a certain type of merchandise or you're looking for, say, a pair of old Royal Dux lamps, you may want to ask a picker to look for you. You won't profit as much as you would if you found the lamps yourself, but you also won't spend all that time looking. Pickers have connections—the better the connections, the more likely they are to find what any given dealer wants. Any pickers I've known have been meticulous in examining merchandise before they buy. They go over every inch of a piece several times looking for flaws or repairs. Not much will miss the eye of an experienced picker.

OTHER DEALERS

One good turn deserves another, and if you sell at a coop or are acquainted with many other dealers (which you will almost certainly be as you progress in the business), you may strike a deal with one or several of them. Suppose there's a dealer in your co-op who specializes in Avon collectibles, one who carries McCoy cookie jars, and another who likes to have a large assortment of salt and peppers in her booth. You, on the other hand, really don't care for these things but are wildly enthusiastic about Atkinson Fox prints. When you go to garage sales, flea markets, or auctions you can look for Avon, McCoy cookie jars, and salt and pepper shakers to sell to the other dealers at exactly what you pay for them, and they, in turn, can look for Fox prints to sell to you at cost. Of course, you need to get together to discuss this, exchanging information on what to look for (Avon should be in its original box with product, if possible; McCoy should be marked on the bottom; advertising salt and peppers, nodders, miniatures, turn arounds, and nesters are a few types of salt and peppers that are worth more than just ordinary figurals; Fox prints should be signed, in good condition, and in the original frame). And, of course, everyone needs to know just how much the other dealer is willing to pay for merchandise.

You will find that the kinds of things that sell in one region don't move very well in another area. If you know what's hot in your market, you should be able to purchase merchandise from other dealers in areas where those items may be almost impossible to move. Most dealers will give at least a ten percent discount to other dealers. And since no one in this business knows everything there is to know, you may visit a shop or co-op and find a piece that has much more value than that placed on it by the owner of the merchandise.

DIRECT CONTACTS

One of the best ways to obtain merchandise, and one of the more advanced approaches, is to buy the entire contents of a house. Of course, the house has to have some desirable things in it for it to be worth your while, and this isn't something you're likely to have either the funding or the know-how to do when you're just beginning. It is, however, a lucrative venture when it's approached correctly.

Some people who inherit estates are willing to turn the entire job of getting rid of the contents over to someone else. They don't want to clean. They don't want to sort through things. They don't want to arrange for the appraisal of items. They just want the money and no hassles, thank you. These people will sell you the entire contents with the understanding that you'll get it all out of the house, which they are probably going to sell. Sometimes they want the house cleaned as well.

First, you must tour the house, examining the contents of every cupboard, closet, and corner. You must go up in the attic and down in the cellar. And you must, absolutely must, write down what's there. Look on the bottom of each dish and duplicate any marks on your notepad. Inquire of whomever is selling the house about anything you don't recognize or to which you cannot assign a value. Insist that the person who is selling the contents give you the price he or she wants for it. Don't make the first offer. This is good practice for two reasons. First, you may insult someone by offering a price that is far less than he or she thinks the merchandise is worth. This can result in a complete breakdown in negotiations, ending a deal that might otherwise have worked out. Second, you may make an offer that's vastly higher than the seller had anticipated and end up paying more than is necessary.

Whatever the seller has decided the merchandise is worth, tell him or her you'll report back. And before you accept or reject it (unless it's so high you know you're absolutely not going to be able to come to an agreement), find out the value of any items with which you're not familiar. If you go back to the seller with a counter offer, make it for the entire group of items that interests you. Offers on individual pieces almost always result in haggling. If your offer is for the entire contents of the house, you must determine with certainty the amount for which you can sell the items. Is it going to be worth the time and effort you'll expend? Is the merchandise clean and ready for sale or will you have to clean it all? There are bound to be some articles that are throwaways.

If things work out and you and the person who's selling the contents of the house reach an agreement, you'll be the proud owner of a houseful of articles of varying descriptions and values. It can seem overwhelming. Sort things out by category. First, select all the treasures you want for your business. You're still going to be left with a variety of items. You're not going to get anything for opened boxes of laundry detergent and the like, but you've probably signed an agreement to take care of them. Throw them out. Old clothes, unless they're vintage, can go to the rescue mission or some other local charity, as can brooms, mops, pails, etc. Any furniture that you're not going to be handling in your market can be sent to an auction. Find the right auctioneer for each item. Good antique furniture goes to a good auction where the auctioneer can get top dollar. But if the furniture is inferior or modern, it will fare better at the type of auction frequented by secondhand dealers and retail consumers than at the finer auctions where people are looking for period pieces.

A Word to the Wise

KNOW WHAT YOU'RE BUYING

In general, dealers who sell at flea markets aren't as knowledgeable as those who sell at co-ops or have their own antiques shops. So it pays for you as a buyer to use that to your advantage. The best suggestion we can give you is to read, read, read. (You'll find a list of recommended reading at the end of this book.) Learn to identify as many items as possible and learn which are the most valuable. This gives you the upper hand not only at flea markets, but when you're doing business with experienced dealers as well.

Can you learn all there is to know? It's very doubtful. In all our years in the business, we ve never met anyone who knows everything about everything. There are just too many things to learn. How then can you benefit by reading? Start your education with something that interests you. Do Disney items (called Disneyana) intrigue you? Perhaps the sight of Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, and the other wonderful characters bring back fond memories. There are many books on Disney and several of them include price guides.

While we're on the subject, this is as good a place as any to warn you about price guides. While we consider them an important tool of the business (an opinion that is not shared by all dealers), they are only guides. The prices in them are generally taken from auctions and are often greatly inflated. The person who paid $1,000 for a stuffed Mickey Mouse may be the only person in the world who would pay that much for that particular item. The rule of thumb is that you're probably not going to get more than seventy or eighty percent of a list price, so you must buy accordingly.

But where guides can be of particular use is in preventing you from paying too much. If you see that a particular piece of Roseville pottery lists for $85, you know better than to purchase it from the dealer who's trying to convince you that it's a buy at $200. There are exceptions to this. A few specialty books do list low for what the items sell for in a particular region. For instance, salt and pepper shaker collectors who are members of a club tend to be willing to pay more than book value in my area.

Perhaps you're not interested in collectibles but wish to carry only antiques. Start reading about what catches your fancy the most. Maybe it's Nippon china. Find a book. There are many of them. Photocopy the pages with the identifying back marks (a good book will tell you the years during which these marks were used), and when you go to buy merchandise, check the marks on the particular piece in which you're interested against the marks on the photocopied sheet.

BEWARE OF FAKES

You may even find that the piece you're considering is a fraud—a recent, inferior piece made to mimic an older, more valuable one. Entire warehouse-type, dealer-only establishments are packed with an amazing assortment of new merchandise designed to fool the retail customer. A trip to one of these places is a fine idea as it will open your eyes and help you avoid being a victim. We visit the warehouse in our vicinity about twice a year—not to buy, but to study. On one occasion we found a vase that was identical in all respects—markings and all—to one for which we'd eagerly paid three times the price at an auction. But we were lucky. After seeing that we'd been duped, we marked the vase a reproduction and repriced it at a few dollars more than we'd paid for it. It quickly sold, but it sold for what it was—a reproduction.

Perhaps this is the place to touch on the ethics of selling a reproduction as authentic. We know that some dealers think "all is fair in love and antiques." We don't share that opinion for two reasons. One, it's dishonest. And two, it's a business practice that will repay you with a perfidious reputation.

SELECTING A SPECIALTY

Wouldn't it be nice to be the only antiques and/or collectibles dealer in your area? There's a lot to be said in favor of having a monopoly—ask the old-timers at Xerox, AT&T, and IBM. They'll tell you, you have to pull out all the stops when competition enters the arena. You can bet your boots that the operating costs for running power companies would be drastically reduced in order to lower utility rates if consumers could go elsewhere. In our business, consumers can, and do, go elsewhere, and you can only lower prices so far. So in order to entice more customers to cross your threshold and spend their money with you, you need an edge, a plus, something special. And that's what we advise, give the customers something special—your specialty!

We don't mean that you should carry only one type of merchandise. That can and does work for some dealers, but it is usually a lonely life waiting for those few, select customers. What we're advocating is that you find a speciality to sell along with your general merchandise.

If you're already a collector of something beyond family mementos, that collectible could be your speciality. If not, look around at what collectibles and special lines other dealers in your market carry and find something different. It should be something you are interested in and can talk about with enthusiasm. There should be a demand for it. (Sundials are a fascinating collectible, but how many people collect them?) Learn all you can about your specialty. Buy books on the subject, or borrow them from the public library. Get a current price guide. Then purchase examples of your speciality whenever possible, even if you have to spend a little more money at the beginning. That is, be willing to make less profit at first in order to start the ball rolling.

BE ALERT TO CHANGE

Change is certain. Be aware that the antiques and collectibles market is always evolving. For a year or two, Victorian wares are in, then maybe it's post-WW II modern, followed next by Arts and Crafts, and so on. Interest in the various collectibles also waxes and wanes. As of this writing, Avon and Jim Beam bottles are no longer the rage they were a few years ago, while dolls and toy trucks continue to climb in popularity. An increase in the number of buyers for a given item creates higher prices, which in turn decreases the available supply. If the number of buyers declines, or the supply is inflated above the demand, prices will fall.

In 1985 we met a couple whose speciality was depression and carnival glass. In fact, they had very little else in their booth. Their selection was extraordinary and sales were brisk. However, by early 1988 sales had decreased so badly that the couple was not making the rent. They pulled out of the mall in the fall of 1988 and sent their merchandise to auction.

Two related factors had developed between 1985 and the demise of the couple's business. First, reproductions of depression and carnival glass were flooding the market. Collectors and dealers alike couldn't always tell if the items were originals or reproductions. Second, because of the reproductions (and possibly also because depression and carnival glass had peaked as collectibles in the couples area), interest in those items declined. The result was that while prices for original pieces remained stable, overall demand dwindled.

Had this couple been set up in another market or area, perhaps their sales would have continued at a high volume. But they weren't, and they illustrate what can happen when you put all your eggs in one basket.

Early on in the business, Joan was drawn to Limoges. She bought a book about it and spent hours studying it. She looked for Limoges at garage sales, auctions, flea markets, and other antiques outlets. At first she bought anything marked Limoges. Then with familiarity came selectivity. She bypassed the transfer designs and zeroed in on hand-painted pieces. Then she discovered that all hand-painted pieces weren't created equal. She also learned that all Limoges isn't marked Limoges, Many of the early pieces just have a factory mark. She also found that all Limoges wasn't made in France. It wasn't too long before our booth became the first place people headed when they wanted a good piece of Limoges. We don't carry much Limoges anymore. It's become extremely difficult to find quality Limoges at affordable prices. We've become interested in handling well-executed oil paintings. They don't have to be by listed artists (although that's certainly a plus), but they must have eye-appeal.

We advise you to find that special something for which you feel an affinity. Learn about it, buy it, sell it, but don't overstock and don't make it your only, or even your primary, type of merchandise.