Antique shows can be indicators of what’s going up or down in value. They can also provide lessons in how to recognize the quality and quirky factors that lead to extra value. I picked up a few ideas at some winter shows.

One trend was clusters of small objects hung on a wall as if each cluster were one large painting: A display of dozens of colorful old crocheted African hats was sold in bunches of six. A set of eight wooden shovels was sold with a Shaker rack, making a wall display about 8 feet long. Wallpaper from 1920s sample books was mounted and hung in groups of four. And although 18th-century figurines have dipped in price since the 1980s and are out of style among decorators, large antique porcelain platters (not plates) are wanted to hang on a wall near a shelf of 12-inch or taller vases. Very large white platters decorated with large blue patterns are best.

Antiques at shows are now younger, less than the traditional 100 years old. The industrial look is “in.” Machine parts, huge hands from church steeple clocks, metal chairs and tables, wooden hat molds, and storage cabinets and shelves sold quickly.
I remember the demand for plastic purses, lunch boxes and cocktail shakers in the 1980s. Collectors displayed shelves of them in their living rooms. All are down in sales and prices.

I predict that Chinese Art Deco rugs and “war rugs” from Afghanistan picturing planes and guns will go up in price and will be used on walls, not floors. Carvings from stone (even soapstone), jade, coral, burls, shells and other natural materials will share space with fossils and rock specimens in modern houses.

Rooms will have more “fussy” Victorian accessories and perhaps fewer pillows. Tramp art, rustic furniture and old hand-colored prints of flowers, birds and maps will go up in price because of today’s “green” lifestyle. Interest in 1960s-1990s pottery made by artists, not factories, will overtake art pottery like Rookwood, Roseville and Weller.

But my best advice for collectors who want their collections to help them financially when they retire is still to buy what you love, buy the best you can afford and be nice to your grandparents. There may be treasures in their attic.