Kovels.com examined the most searched-for items of 2014 and decided the list is notable for what it DOESN’T include. Collectors don’t seem to be searching Kovels.com these days for furniture, art glass, silver or metal.

Twelve of the top 20 categories are pottery or porcelain, five can be considered advertising and three are (inexpensive) glass. Four categories—stoves, lighters, scales and cash registers—can be considered “tech” (even if from another time or century), but are not decorative. Focus has shifted from big collections from a single collecting category—say, 350 19th-century dolls—to assembling small groups of unique items that are related by style, maker or theme—like ten of the best Roseville vases.

So what are the most popular collectibles? Here’s what antique enthusiasts were researching in 2014:

  1. Fenton
  2. Occupied Japan
  3. Coca-Cola
  4. Stoves
  5. McCoy
  6. Depression glass
  7. Bavaria
  8. Wedgwood
  9. Dinnerware
  10. Capo-Di-Monte
  11. Delft
  12. Hull
  13. Belleek
  14. Satsuma
  15. Bottles
  16. Lighters
  17. Scales
  18. Red Wing
  19. Cash registers
  20. Pepsi-Cola

Buy a new but not yet popular collectible or antique if you want to get a great buy that will likely go up in value.

Collectors who search Kovels.com can learn more about identifying features, marks and prices. Kovels.com and Kovels' Antiques and Collectibles Price Guide list thousands of collectibles in hundreds of categories that are described, edited, priced and pictured.