Featured Antique Market: What is hot and what is not?

Thought that this would be an interesting thread.

a). What categories (or specific items) of antiques & collectables are selling really well currently?

b). What categories (or specific items) of antiques & collectables are not selling currently?

For a). I'd say advertising signage and mid-century modern furniture.

For b). I'd say "manufactured" collectables, china, and bulky furniture.

What are your thoughts?

 

According to my experience (I've been selling antiques as a hobby for about six months now)...

a. What is selling? Practical stuff that people can use.

b. What isn't selling? Decorative stuff that people would LIKE to have, but which would otherwise probably not have a practical use.

Case in point - I have about a dozen pieces of antique silver dating back as far as the 1850s, and I haven't sold a single piece of it in about four months. Whereas stuff like books and pens and binoculars etc, are moving...not steadily...but slowly...

 

I think a lot of people are realizing that the practical, everyday china, kitchen, and tableware of the mid 20th century is a much better bargain than contemporary stuff that's made as cheaply as possible. So old Pyrex, Fire King, Corning, and things like that are pretty hot items.

 

My city is so weird ! I live in n. fla ,with a burgeoning " hipster " scene , yet there are MCM treasures going begging . For instance Ive got a perfect murano mushroom glass lamp that Ive put on craigslist a few times with zero bites , yet I see the same lamps selling for quite a bit everywhere else . I did have one guy from Miami that wanted me to ship it to him , but shipping would have cost more than the lamp ! I see a lot of smalls selling ,but not the traditional ones like royal doulton ladies . I think the market here is in flux , the older folks don't buy as much and the younger ones don't have the money . The most successful antique mall here mostly sells in the under $20 range. Stuff like dishes and signs , but furniture of all types just sits .
Of course this is all based on my observations , I could be wrong . I have about a dozen places I frequent , of all levels , and this has been my experience . Had I the money I could make a killing on " brown " furniture , lots of good antiques in the $2-300 range . But Id have to sell elsewhere, it just isn't moving here .

 

In my market, only cheap painted furniture moves steadily. Brown furniture, including MCM, is slow and selling at bargain prices if at all. Industrial items have interest but our market here is off-price compared to national trends. Smalls are mostly dead in the water. If under $30.00 you have a chance of selling smalls but there is no rhyme or reason to what sells. I consistently pull half my inventory on smalls regularly, even after discounting. On ebay, quality sells but at bargain prices. The odd rare/esoteric item will sometimes really take off. Run of the mill stuff better be a bargain.

 

Antique NA items still do well up here, even though prices do seem lower than in the recent past.

 

All I know are antique natural history prints, especially birds.
Larger and/or more valuable prints (Audubons, Lear toucans, nice large eagles and owls) have held their value and even increased, and sell well for the big dealers like Oppenheimer. They sell less well on ebay, and for less money, but they do sell. The reputation, certification, and good shipping of the Oppenheimer-type stores reassure buyers about parting with big dollars.
Smaller and/or less expensive prints are dramatically DOWN over the last ten years, due, I think, to people having seen (for example) the little Naturalist's Library octavos selling for 30-50 dollars @ 2000, and then discovering and dismantling the little books and flooding the market, such that you're lucky today to get 10 dollars for a print now on ebay. I don't know if this is true for brick/mortars, but I bet it is, unless they're offering a fancy framed print aimed at buyers who want decorative accent pieces, not collectors.
Good idea for a thread. Interesting to hear from people about this.

 

What sells for me:
Farmish type items.
I had a 5 gal milk can leave in less than 2 days at $60.
Painted ladder back chairs (really, any painted chair), painted furniture that has a stained top does well for me too, a vintage double sided calk board went really quick, and old galvanized mail box on a post.
When it comes to "brown" furniture, I have found that the warmer browns do better if its mixed with something trendy. The dark browns will sit and sit

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to smalls. I dont like them but they help with staging.
Baseball items seem to do well, BUT we are a big baseball community.
Colored insulators go as well if they are priced at $7, anything above and they sit.

What does not sell well for me:
Side tables. Ugh!
Occupied Japan, MCM smalls (but I dont buy much of it because its not my fav era), vintage photos, well, men sell WAY better than women (but I do keep all the good ones for myself ), small pieces of advertising, knick knack smalls in general, esp glass

 

Weird sh!t sells.

 

I sell from home, through Facebook, and a friend lists some items for me on Ebay, My Ebay sales are down, (mostly coins) and tagged doll clothes,selling for less and less, Local sales, beer sign sells cheaply but they do sell, old lanterns, Western items as long as they are old, I dont even attempt Glass or Pottery any more, Furniture forget it, German steins sell but slowly and for less and less, Books dead in the water, Smalls unless they are Occupied Japan just give to Salvation Army, Art nothing but occasionaly the odd print sells if less than20.00, if I didnt actually enjoy this,and as I am not buying , just clearing out my house I could easily throw up my hands.

 

What does MCM stand for? Mid century modern?

 

Yep!
I learned that a couple months ago, here.

 

Thanks!

 

Stupid stuff sells for stupid money. I set up next to an exit door at a major show in Atlanta, and see what buyers are carrying out. Poorly done reclaimed wood/pallet outlines of US states at $90. Old gas cans with acetylene cutouts of wildlife, $100. Three birch bark logs with a string around them, $45. Assembly line paintings done on site, $450 (back of little girl ballet dancers, an occasional pastel flower, fuzzy trees).

Otherwise... imported Egyptian huge doors, wrought iron, chalk painted picture frames with missing gesso, anything from Hobby Lobby at twice the price, flats the size of Coke boxes with Maine Blueberries stencilled on the sides (hundreds of those last week). Retro barware. Globes.A lot of advertising signs.

 

I think it's because so many can't even tie their shoes and so ANYTHING 'hand' made is the exception.
~
..............I need my own shop again.
....To make nice things but whatever as well.