Dear Lee,

Celebrities have always attracted publicity. In the 19th century, before photographs or television, Staffordshire potters made figurines of famous boxers, lion tamers, entertainers and politicians. But who could have imagined that 21st-century celebrities would include designers and decorators? Today’s auction catalogs include good, concise biographies of the designers of glass, pottery, furniture, metalwork or jewelry. We copy the catalog pages about emerging artists because they help us spot future “stars.” The Internet is another place to learn about collectibles and artists not yet well known. That is how we checked facts about many of the makers listed in our new book, Kovels’ American Collectibles. We found lots of information we couldn’t find in books.

Another thing we have learned is that top-of-the-market collecting is changing. No longer do well-heeled collectors focus on either fine arts or decorative arts. Today, collectors of paintings and drawings, people we have always referred to as “2-D collectors,” are also buying furniture, weathervanes or art pottery like those of us who have always been “3-D collectors.” It is a major change. Twenty years ago, almost all the collectors we knew specialized-they filled their walls with 2-D or filled their rooms with 3-D. We were in that second group. It was as if we didn’t see the bad wall-hangings in the room where we displayed our great art pottery.

There is another change in collecting-money. Everything seems so expensive to a long-time collector. But remember-the value of a dollar has changed. In 1957 a gallon of gas cost 23 cents, and what you could buy for $6.58 back then costs you $50 today. But at least the money you put into antiques and collectibles is likely to keep its value.