Anyone buying antiques?
Millennial tastes causing shift in antiques market
There’s a cultural shift happening in the antiques and collectibles market.
The sizable generation of baby boomers is retiring and handing off extra furniture and other family heirlooms.
Who wants them? Generally speaking, not millennials.
They know exactly what they want, and it’s not ornate family heirloom antiques.
Gary Piattoni, best known for his hosting role on “Antiques Roadshow” on PBS, visited the Buckingham senior living community in Houston recently and met with residents to assess their valuables.
He noted that the collectibles and antiques markets have changed drastically — and it’s all about supply and demand.
Traditional things, like more decorative furniture, china and glassware, aren’t as valuable as they once were, not in dollars anyway. Millennials’ interests are more current. Hence the proliferation of shops carrying midcentury modern furniture.
“You still see young collectors in scattered categories,” he said. “They’re interested in toys, comic books, sports cards, contemporary art — a lot of young professionals are collecting contemporary art.”
Or they’re buying groups of things that aren’t necessarily collections. One example, he said, is people filling a shelf in their bathroom or kitchen with colored glassware. When the shelf is filled,
their glassware shopping is done.
Soon, Piattoni will head to Indianapolis for a three-show taping of “Antiques Roadshow.” They’ve already been to Orlando and Virginia Beach, Va. Later this year he’ll be in Fort Worth and Salt Lake City, Utah. For each city’s tapings, tickets are given to 7,000 people who bring in collectibles they’d like to have evaluated.
The various hosts meet with people from 7:30 a.m. until the crowd is gone, sometimes as late as 9 p.m. As they meet people with interesting stories and possessions, the hosts competitively pitch producers to try to get their people on tape.
It’s about education, discovery and good TV, so when they get unusual items with a good backstory — and the owners don’t know a lot about the piece — it all gets more interesting. Those are the people more likely to get on air.
So when Piattoni goes to an “Antiques Roadshow” taping, he pays his own way and collects no income. It’s a roll of the dice how many of his people and their items will make it onto TV. He does it for educational reasons, but also for networking and for his résumé.
The crowd at the Buckingham had brought 25 or so items for Piattoni to give the “Roadshow” treatment. Here’s a sample:
Limoges bowl: This sugar-bowl-size dish came with a lid crafted with a small hole in it. What was it used for? “Cotton balls,” said its owner. Wrong. It was used to collect hair that Victorian-era women would have woven into jewelry. This particular piece, Piattoni said, was “American Limoges,” meaning the porcelain had been painted in America. The give-away was its inconsistently applied gold trim. Value: $175
Japanese sword: One woman found an unusual, old-looking sword in a home she was cleaning out. Piattoni said that in World War II, Japanese soldiers carried swords into battle. Some were family pieces. This one had a bronze and sharkskin handle, but the value is in the handforged blade. To get a true estimate on its value, the handle would have to be removed from the sword to check for a signature. Value: $300-$500
Crystal goblet: A single goblet represented one woman’s collection of nearly three dozen. They were tall, slender and lovely. “Fragile” was Piattoni’s word. The goblet’s acid etching meant it was early 20th century, when folks did a lot of formal entertaining. “It falls into the category that kids don’t care about,” Piattoni said. “They use IKEA glasses.” Value: $15-$25 per stem
Inuit seal sculpture: Grayish-green, this stone carving was so sleek you could imagine the seal gliding through the water. Piattoni said he sees a lot of these, many of which are signed by the artist. He declared this one “elegant and better than most I’ve seen.” Value: $1,500-$2,000
Fabergé clock and small box: An older couple explained that they’d purchased the items for an undisclosed amount of money, directly from a Russian antiquities dealer in New York. They wondered if they were real and what they’re worth. The gem-encrusted clock sparkled like a disco ball on a Saturday night. Authenticating Fabergé is complicated and left to those who do it best, he advised. He told the couple to plan a weekend in New York and make appointments with the Russian art department at Christie’s and/or Sotheby’s. “If this is a fake, it’s a fabulous fake.” Value: likely tens of thousands of dollars.
Cameo glass vase: Just 4 or so inches tall, the reddish-orange vase captivated Piattoni. The owner’s mother had purchased it in Venezuela in the 1940s, a detail key to his assessment. He noted that a lot of fake cameo glass came out of South America later; if this was from the ’40s, he was 95 percent certain it was real. Value: $1,500-$2,000
Victorian hall chair: Full disclosure, this is my chair. A friend was cleaning out a storage unit and wanted to get rid of family antiques she didn’t like, want or need. She gave me two identical chairs. They’re ornately curved and have lots of details in their structure, but no markings to indicate who made it or when it was made. Piattoni said it was a classically Victorian chair from the 1880s to 1890s. “It’s a Victorian interpretation of a lot of different forms. They looked back at Renaissance, Rococo and Neoclassical and this is what they came up with,” he said. “This chair is cool, but it would be too funky for a lot of folks.” Value $75-$125