Month: February 2021

The General Trends in Pandemic Times

2020 has been a harrowing year for Aussies and the rest of the Global Village population with Covid-19 and quarantine devastating everything including the antique business. Yet there is hope, and life still goes on. The relevance of art objects remains. To own a collectable item means that you feel good about that piece of private property. Paintings and jewellery remain popular on the hot list of antiques. Many people have taken to cooking and baking in these days of the pandemic, and so kitchen goods remain a high-priority genre. Then there are good books to read all curled up by the fireplace in a log cabin. Old books have value and are being sold on sites and auctions, with these come pens, which are the literati trade tools. Since working from home is what most of people do, furniture is another popular antique item at the present moment. According to Sydney plaster, art is a category where the whole world of adults is reverting to being a kid again. Happiness is indeed nothing but a box of crayons as the old sayings go. Besides surges in colouring books and canvas and paints not to mention clay modelling sets, people are buying old paintings by the dozens. They serve as inspiration for artworks created in the present times. 

Other Items of Interest

Furthermore, there are other things that people want to buy and keep as souvenirs from a bygone era. They include in their purview:

• The 70s, 80s and 90s Retro Fashionable Stuff: While not precisely antiques in their own right (since an antique has to be at least a hundred years old), these objects of desire are up for grabs among the Millennials. Let’s not forget that the Millennials are the Internet Generation and they show genuine curiosity for the fashionable that Generation X thrived on. 
• Toys: Kids can get a bad case of cabin fever from being confined to the four walls of their rooms. Parents are giving them some loving attention and buying them colourful toys and lending them space to enjoy them at leisure. These include Lego construction blocks and Barbie Dolls. 
• Wedding Rings: Many financially stable young adults are looking forward to getting hitched with the man or woman of their dreams. Some brides would die to get an antique wedding ring. This symbol of two ones becoming an inseparable two holds infinite meaning for intuitive females. 
• All Things Victorian: Queen Victoria’s era in history may have been known for its conservatism and strict moral rules, yet it was also a time of stable traditional life with more clarity than the present-day chaos. Everything from Victorian Chairs to fancy decoration pieces is being bought today in Australia and the rest of the world. 
• Sinophilia: Chinese vases and pottery not to mention statues are artistic objects which the sophisticated and civilized history-loving people love to own. They are preferred by the mature amongst us. 
• Dinner Plates and Tea Cups: Because home cooking has recently seen a spike, bone china sets have become a demanded item. 
• Lamps & Lighting: Stylized lamps and lighting fixtures with incandescent light bulbs inside them have undergone an increase in sales. Their warm glow is a better choice health-wise than the glare of tube lights and lightsabers. 

Christmas Goodies: The Yuletide that just passed us by less than a month ago had enthusiasts buying vintage stuff related to the time of celebration marked by snowball throwing and gift-giving.

Value is Everything

Some antiques sell for hefty sums of money while others fizzle out on the auctioneer’s block. The proper valuation of an antique is big business. Yet there have been specific trends that show which items are the most lucrative in their unique selling point. Below you will find a list of antiques which fit the bill when it comes to making the most money for the owner:

• Practical Artworks: A series of useful items made to look beautiful and in a novel manner is way up there when it comes to value. 
• Dummy Ducks: The decoys hunters use on their forays into the wild jungles are precious antiques which sell well. 
• Glassware: Nice glass items in various shapes and designs are the best. 
• Vintage Paintings: A work of art by an artist with a reputation may make big bucks at the auction. 
• Holiday Postcards: If you have a stash of these lying around in your storage space at home cash them in for what they’re worth. 
• Cuckoo Clocks: These old clocks with their Roman numerals and pendulums could be replaced with a digital clock more suited to today’s times. 
• Old Tomes: Even if they are battered, and in tatters, these dog-eared bookworm-eaten paperbacks are valuable in themselves as antique literature. 
• Wedgewood Crockery: The intricate details on the crockery makes it vintage with a vengeance. 
• Toolkits: That screwdriver or set of hammer and nails your late grandpa used to own may come in handy today. 
• Gold & Silver Coins: Unless the exterior has been corroded by acid, coins make excellent things to sell provided they are old and rare to boot. 
• Typewriters: Nowadays, we have the word processor and Microsoft Word instead of these machines that require much effort and are rickety. 
• Violins, Drums & Pianos: Musical instruments are an all-time favourite and serve as rare mementos. 
• Eau de Toilette Bottles: While the ordinary scent bottle will sell for a hundred bucks, those from Queen Victoria’s times may fetch as much as a grand and a half which is not bad at all. 
• Sheaffer & Parker Fountain Pens: They are unique and singular collectables that hold a lot of interest for writers and poets. 
• Wooden Furniture: This is the real deal that will allow you to earn as much as two grand in the marketplace. 
• Fancy Gemstone Jewelry: Whether a woman’s best friend happens to be studded with pearls, diamonds or rubies, the older it gets, the more it counts as a precious item. 
• Postage Stamps: Such rare stamps as the Penny Black will make you a small fortune. 
• Music Records: Salvage some of these Elvis memories from that cobweb-lined room and sell them online for fast bucks. 
•  Children’s Toys: Such playable things as Lego construction blocks and Golliwog dolls are something the average man or woman has outgrown since becoming an adult. 
• High Tea and Fine Dining Porcelain: These bone china sets are useful Victorian artefacts that have outlived their use-value. It is high time that they were sold for a quick profit.
• Kids Comic Books: Whether it is Superman or Batman or for that matter Ironman, you can bet your bottom dollar that they will earn you a swell sum of cash. 
• Electronica: The technology of the 70s, 80s and 90s replaced by better and more efficient stuff can now be gotten rid of at an auction house. 
• Persian Rugs: These beautiful woven tapestries of Islamic Art fetch a reasonable price at online sites. So if you have one that is getting old and want a new one, sell the former.