Dear Lee,

The public is becoming more and more interested in antiques, collectibles and art as investments. Perhaps it’s the economy spurring their interest, or maybe the many TV shows about great finds. It might also be because it has become easier to check on values, making buying or selling antiques more and more like buying or selling a car. Just go to the right book (Kovels, of course) or the right website (like Kovels.com) and you can make an educated guess at the price. We buy what we like and don’t think of buying antiques in terms of investing. But if you want to, here are some tips:

  • Do you have a good source—somewhere you can buy antiques at low prices?
  • Can you learn to buy what sells, not just what you like?
  • Avoid items issued as limited editions. That’s a selling gimmick from the 1970s. Prices for Christmas plates, Hummel figurines and Thomas Kincaid prints have plummeted.
  • See if there’s an active club for collectors of what you are buying. It can be a good source of information and of possible buyers or traders.
  • Watch for items sold in groups or as box lots at auctions. That seems to be the fate of coin silver spoons, which may be worth more as silver today than as antiques.
  • Don’t buy yesterday’s favorites. Styles influence demand. Right now, small English 18th-century porcelains are “out,” while very large colorful majolica pieces are “in.” In the 1950s, it was the other way around. Majolica was considered “low class,” and English porcelains were the favored gift for socialites.
  • Think like a decorator. Decorators today want large, colorful, unusual items to give a room “personality.”
  • Or think like a serious collector who wants “the best” to add to a collection. That means you must recognize rarity, unusual features and, most of all, condition. Pristine paint, an original box, a letter of provenance (history) or any relation to a celebrity adds value.
  • Decide how you plan to sell, how much work you are willing to do and what it will cost. Don’t forget shipping, storing, breakage, theft, fees for shows or listings, letters, phone calls, etc.

You will want whatever you get for something to cover what you paid for it, plus your added costs of selling, plus some profit. The price you actually get will be the item’s value at the time you sell it, but it may not be the price you hoped for. You will lose money on some things. That’s because while you may call what you’re doing “investing,” you are really acting as a part-time dealer. And as any dealer will tell you, it’s a complicated job.