Dear Lee,

The holidays are coming, and collectors should be thinking about what is new that will someday be a wanted collectible. Over the past 25 years, we have seen ups and downs that offered hints about what is ahead. One caveat – condition and the presence of an original box or dust jacket have influenced prices the most. It used to be rarity and fame of the maker or owner.

1. Space-related items and robots. Robots were new toys in the 1950s. Today the earliest robot toys sell for thousands of dollars. Look for new toys, pictures or anything based on space exploration, including imagined futuristic items. (I have a framed book illustration from a 1960s book picturing a realistic-looking rocket that had “landed” on the moon.)

2. Technology from 1900 to 1950. Electric fans, early computers and accessories, TV sets, “old -fashioned” drip coffee pots, old landline phones, telephone insulators, wooden washing machines, and even old light bulbs will soon be seen only in collections.

3. Accessories. Designer purses hit the top auction houses in 2010 and are now top sellers. Athletic shoes from the 1980s and newer are already being bought and sold as collectibles. Hats should be the next item of clothing for collectors.

4. Period furniture. Dealers know that authentic 18th-century furniture by known makers was the “can’t lose” furniture for a home. But architecture changed and new homeowners switched to later styles made in the 1950s. A $2,000 medium-quality Chippendale desk was the wrong shape for a computer and accessories, and the desks slipped to $800 or less. But a simple plywood desk by a name designer from the ’50s can sell in the thousands. Antique furniture is so low-priced now, it might be a good time to collect and use. Computers are small enough now they fit perfectly on the Chippendale desk.

5. Women’s changed roles. Women artists have been ignored for centuries, but the winds of awareness are encouraging museums and critics to re-examine prior judgments. Look for work by Picasso’s girlfriend, Dora Maar; Margaret Keane, painter of the big-eyed waifs that were attributed to her husband; Frieda Kahlo, wife of Diego Rivera; Leza McVey, married to sculptor William McVey; and the “Tiffany Girls,” talented women who designed and made the Tiffany lamps with glass shades.

6. Materials, Mother Nature and old favorites. Watch for things made of plastic or as yet undiscovered materials. Interest in nature will lead to more collections of fossils, rocks and rare wood. Innovative toys, dolls and sports items remain favored collectibles.

Best advice: Buy what you like even if it’s not “in style,” and make it the best you can afford. Norman Rockwell paintings were considered “kitsch” 10 years ago and now they are worth thousands of dollars, while Thomas Kincaid’s pictures were thousands of dollars a few years ago and are now considered “kitsch.”

 

P.S. Our FREE annual index to Kovels on Antiques & Collectibles Vol. 44, September 2017-August 2018 is on our website, Kovels.com. To download the index, go to the “Newsletter” tab on the menu bar, then “Annual Index,” then “Volume 44”. Any subscriber can mail a long self-addressed stamped envelope to: Kovels Index, PO Box 22192, Beachwood, OH 44122; and we’ll mail you the printed index.