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2005 Best Of Winners

Discover Mid-America — April 2005

It pays to vet your merchandise

In recent years, the boundary between collectors/consumers and dealers/traders has become pretty smudgy, as more and more of the former style themselves the latter. This trend has been accelerated by the popularity of eBay and the ease with which it can make any bidder into a seller.

One outgrowth of that trend has been a volume influx of "junque" into the trade, much of it hauled in by new dealers who haven't spent the time to learn the business nor to develop a "good eye" for a decent inventory. I'm talking about those piles of artless and materially indestructible resin figures, no-name/no-quality ceramic do-dads from discount department stores, and generic glassware only yesterday sold at the local "dollar franchise." The "high end" of this growing trade segment consists of certain cheap but ubiquitous brand names we all know too wearily and too well.

The question, of course, is not how obsessively we can describe the problem, but how creatively we can deal with it. Two primary fronts of industry responsibility in that regard are individual dealers/shopkeepers and group shop owners.

Dealing with the problem at the individual dealer/shop level

Many individual shops and dealer spaces look like the room(s) of a cluttered but abandoned building where people had to leave in a hell of a hurry. If that sounds too much like your shop or space, you can start the improvement by cleaning it out — and I mean that quite literally. Only the most inveterate shopper will bother to paw through a layer of dust and grit to get to what's underneath it.

Having hoed out the dirt and the desiccated insects, sort your stuff into three piles: the good, the bad and the indifferent. (This advice assumes you know the difference. If you don't, talk to dealers with respected reputations and ask for tips on how to develop a better eye for the business. It shouldn't be hard, as most dealers like to talk about the trade.) Keep the good pile in the booth, give the indifferent away to any church rummage sale that will have it, and haul the bad to the dump.

Your booth will probably look mighty sparse when you're done.

A few months ago, I found this genuine, 19th century Satsuma vase at a group shop and priced at $10 by a dealer who didn't know the difference between it and the much larger and crudely moriaged late 20th century "Satsuma" sitting right next to it Ñ and priced, as I recall, slightly higher. (I'm no Satsuma expert, either, but I have a good eye and can tell a fabulous paint job when I see one, and that's what attracted me to the genuine article) The booth was typical of the exhibits in many group shops: a treasure or two nearly hidden amid the junk. A dealer's failure to develop a discerning eye or to do adequate research on individual items can be costly; based on a verbal appraisal from a competent source, this vase has a value of several hundred dollars. (photo by the author from her own collection.)

But now you'll have room for upgraded inventory, which you'll get by buying more selectively for resale. Instead of buying box-lots at auction and trying to sell everything in the box, why not buy a few good, quality mid-level antiques at shops, shows and auctions, and at prices that will allow you to make a reasonable profit on resale? If you can't resist box lots, be prepared to sort them as above, and only take the "good" pile to your venue of choice.

Even though you're buying less at higher prices, your "new" booth will be a place that invites sales instead of ridicule. Perhaps you can't afford to improve your exhibit space overnight. But over time, you should be able to convert most of your inventory from the shabby to the classy.

Dealing with the problem
at group shops

Inventory at many group shops is so debased that "Under New Management" has become the latest come-on to customers hoping for improvement. The task of cleaning up the mess can seem daunting, but even if they can't do it all at once, group shop owners can make visible and steady improvements in two ways: by vetting current exhibits and by exhibitor attrition.

Develop a set of rules and guidelines for appropriate inventory and communicate those expectations to exhibiting dealers in writing. This can be as simple as two lists. On the "Unacceptable" list — put everything that you don't want to see: chipped china, married furniture, moth-eaten linens, K-mart cast-offs, Roseville repros — whatever your pet peeves in bad merchandise. On the "Acceptable" list, put the things you want to see: antique furniture in respectable original condition, art pottery and fine porcelain with reputable marks, silver by known silversmiths, and so on.

Then, every time a dealer brings in an unacceptable item be prepared to say, "I'm sorry, but I don't want that in the shop." Will you lose dealers over this? Sure, you'll lose the one or two you could do without. But unless your approach is completely flat-footed, you'll alienate fewer than you fear. Those who remain will appreciate the changes, and you'll give other quality dealers a reason to exhibit in your shop.

As for attrition, it won't be enough to sit around and hope the good dealers come to you, especially if your shop has a former reputation you're trying to shake. Go to auctions; notice who's bidding on what. At an opportune moment, approach bidders who seem to have a "good eye" for merchandise and engage them in conversation. Ask them if they're dealers and whether they're interested in exhibiting at your shop.

Visit other shops in and around your area. Look for the booths that have the kind of inventory you'd like to see in your shop then look for identifying information about the dealer such as might be displayed in the booth — a small sign or even a business card. While some group shops discourage this kind of dealer self-marketing, the fact is that many serious dealers find it necessary to exhibit in multiple venues, so a bit of discreet nosing around should suggest ways you might approach quality dealers without getting a bad rep among other shopkeepers.

A good word about
20th century merchandise

Among purists, twentieth century collectibles have moved into the niche of disparagement so recently vacated when Victoriana moved into the ranks of the legitimately antique. Ultra-purists still won't deal in anything older than 18th century. But before you make that decision, you may want to consider the following categories whose production periods span the late 19th and well into the 20th century:

• Much of the fine porcelain market (including Royal Copenhagen, Rosenthal, Royal Doulton and others)
• Art pottery (including Rookwood, Van Briggle, Moorcroft, Buffalo, Hampshire, Dedham, et. al.)
• Furniture, silver, and other metalwork from the Arts & Crafts Movement
• Art Glass (Loetz, Lalique, Tiffany)
• Anything at all from the Art Nouveau or Art Deco periods
• Etc., etc., etc.

Interesting when you look at it that way, isn't it? Few who proudly claim to exclude 20th century collectibles from their shops can resist if someone brings them a spectacular Tiffany glass bowl made in 1917 or an eye-popping Rookwood vase from 1930. And you can bet they won't be consigning it to the least desirable display space in the shop, either.

A second reason not to exclude quality 20th century items from your inventory is that few good older antiques are within either the monetary or aesthetic reach of younger collectors. This also happens to be true of 20th century Tiffany or Rookwood, but younger collectors and others of modest means will still have a good chance of finding something that fits their purse and their tastes from among other respectable 20th century items.

If you want the antiquers of tomorrow, you have to give them a reason to shop today. And it bears remembering that to a 25-year-old, something made in 1950 is really old!

Peggy Whiteneck is a writer and collector living in East Randolph, VT. If you would like to suggest a topic she can address in her column, email her at allwrite@sover.net.

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