New York - ​Mid-century modern décor (MCM), known for its clean lines, simple shapes, and sleek materials, has often been credited with not only reviving the antique and vintage business over the past twenty years, but has also (according to many in the industry), singlehandedly been responsible for driving the direction of today's general decorative arts scene towards a more modern motif. However, recent market shifts suggest that this timeless aesthetic may have begun to lose some of its charm and appeal among those in the market for vintage and antique furnishings. All of which raises the question of why this staple of early 21st century décor suddenly seems to be falling out of favor?

One plausible reason for this shift in consumer preferences is the saturation of the mid-century market, at least according to Trevor Watson, who works for a leading online research firm that studies evolving commercial buying trends amongst consumers. With the increasing prevalence of mid-century-inspired furniture and décor in mainstream commercial outlets, Watson says that the once exclusive and unique items often associated with the mid-century motif have now become more commonplace. "From big-box stores to online retailers, affordable replicas of iconic mid-century pieces have flooded the market, diluting the desirability of the genuine vintage pieces," says Watson, "If it's easily available to everyone, then demand across the board is bound to eventually drop."

The 1950's Returns
While many baby-boomers still have fond memories of Happy Days reruns and Grease flashbacks, it's another generation that seems to be spinning the wheel forward, at least according to David Kirk, who runs a 1950's vintage themed store in Nevada. "It's all about the kids" says Kirk. "I've been doing this for almost forty years, when boomers were my only customers, but today it's like a third-generation removed." Kirk says that many of his 'younger' clients love the vintage leather jackets, sunglasses, retro-converted car seats, and sock-hop poster memorabilia that adorns his store walls. "It's not Mid-Century stuff per se," says Kirk, "but more like the chrome and vinyl soda-shop bar stools - or what I like to call juke-box décor." Kirk, who also runs an online version of his 50s store, says that sales really began to take-off last year. "I have absolutely no idea why," he mused, but thinks that some of the newfound interest in his 50s-themed Americana items may just be part of a younger generations desire to harken back to what was often perceived as a simpler and less strenuous time in life to grow up in. "I've sold more bobby socks and saddle-shoe combos to kids in their 20s over the last ten months, than over the last five years," says Kirk, "There doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason to it, other than perhaps a possible breaking trend."  ​

American Folk Art - Portraits
According to some of the top auction houses, sales of Early American antiques are beginning their rise back to prominence within the decorative arts scene, however, a number of auction researchers are also reporting that one particular genre within this field is showing stronger than expected sales. Included in this group is Christie’s Sallie Glover, a specialist in Early American Folk Art who has been predicting the rise in art portraiture for a number of years now. “American folk portraiture appeals to many different types of collectors,” says Glover. “These works can go just as well with traditional American furniture as they do with a modern interior.” Glover's sentiments seem to match other results for online auction reports that also indicate a noticeable rise in popularity for this type of art form. Doris Henley, an Early American themed online dealer who also aggregates realized auction prices for her business, says that sales of her folk art portraits have ballooned over the past ten months. "I could see it coming," says Henley, "at first it was just a dribble, but then it really opened up about a year ago and the prices started to climb." Henley says she doesn't expect the popularity of folk art to wane anytime soon. "Brown wood and history are just coming back into vogue," she says, "this run has a long way to go yet."

Decorated Chests
Inaya Abbas, who runs a specialty themed bricks-and-clicks business devoted to antique blanket boxes and chests, says that while numbers ramped-up after the pandemic and remained constant for the next year, it wasn't until the start of 2023 that she really began to notice an uptick in requests for items and sales of some of her more ornate inventory. "Shaker stuff was selling," says Abbas, "but the more exotic chests that I'd had shipped back from Asia and the Middle East really started to move," she notes, "It's as if a light went off and everyone suddenly decided they had to have a blanket box - it's been crazy busy," she says. Abbas, who's been selling within the decorative arts scene for almost fifteen-years, believes that we're just beginning to see the tip of the iceberg now as people move further away from today's modern motif as a core decorating principle. "I think it's just time for a change, people seem to want more warmth and color now."

Rotary Phones
While it may be hard for some to fathom, since it might only seem like yesteryear that we were all on landlines (we were), Jin Chang says that sales from his retro collection of last century's rotary phones has been on a skyward trajectory since he opened his private collection website to the public and online sales in 2022. "Most of my buyers are Asian kids who love tech stuff." says Chang, "but it's slowly beginning to change." Chang thinks that most of his clients just want that connection to early past tech, and they're willing to pay for it. When he first started out, Chang claims that finding inventory was easy - it was plentiful and cheap - but no longer. "You can still buy some cool hole-dialers at good prices," he notes, but admits that much has changed over the last year or two. "I now have to compete for inventory in some places," he says, "it's not like the old days where you could literally find examples that had been thrown out with the trash." Chang believes that on average, prices for many of his better quality rotary's have probably doubled in price over ​the last year, and he doesn't see that slowing down anytime soon. "I've got more demand than supply," he says, "so until that changes, I think the market will continue to remain strong."  

Vintage Studio Ceramics
Once lacking in the doldrums, vintage studio ceramics finally look to be making a comeback as well, at least according to many auction-house insiders and industry dealers. Benjamin Walker, Bonham's head of global decorative arts and design department, says that the auction house is seeing a comeback in interest for clay. “The international market for contemporary British ceramics is well established and has been growing in strength,” says Walker, “We’re now seeing a growing trend in American studio ceramics that is following this interest. Over the past five to ten years the category has gained more public interest and climbed in value.” Recent sales would seem to back-up Walker's claim, as examples from auction results showing a 1968 Hans Coper vase (with top) being sold for a record-setting $790,000 last year. Pam Newley, a New York artist who works in clay, and who also runs an established online gallery devoted to early twentieth-century American ceramics, says that she's also seen a marked increase in interest by consumers for quality ceramic pieces as well - and not just those from studios. "Ten years ago there just wasn't that much of a market for clay anymore," she says, "but in the last two or three years it's all started to come back." Newley, who's been in business for almost thirty-years knows it's cyclical, "of course," but that it's just starting up again, so for those looking to get in on the ground-floor as collectors or re-sellers, "now would probably be a good time."

For most though, trying to ascertain the vagaries and movement patterns of in-demand objects within the field of the decorative arts can often make one feel like you've got a better chance of nailing water to the wall, rather than getting a reliable market prognostication of things to come. However, as David Kirk is fond of reminding people who visit his store's 1950s-inspired website, "Figuring out what's going to be hot and collectible is easy; it's all just a matter of heading back to the future... again!"

- A.I.A. Staff Writers
​

New York - It's not everyday that you hear longtime decorative arts dealers exclaiming the virtues of the antique and vintage business, but that's exactly what happened recently at one of the country's largest antique shows in Round Top, Texas, this past April. With over eleven miles of vendors, Round Top has grown to become one of the most important national antique venues for serious collectors and buyers alike - rivaling even the famous thrice-yearly Brimfield shows for marketplace dominance. 

For those who took to the backroads of Texas to visit the festival, business was brisk. Very brisk, according to many of the well-established dealers who participated in the show. Robert Phillips, who's worked as a longtime industry reporter for a number of antique and decorative arts publications, wrote that he intended to spend most of the show interviewing dealers about what was selling best, but instead, came away surprised to find out that it was pretty much everything in their inventory that seemed to be moving. "Most dealers I spoke with were just stunned at the cross-section of buyers," said Phillips. "They were literally snapping up Mid-Century to Victorian and anything else in between." Phillips says that some of the older dealers whom he spoke with at the festival's close, had even begun drawing parallels to the golden-years of the industry back in the 1980s, when prices were at an all-time high. "It wasn't everyone, to be sure," said Philipps, "but you could just tell from many of the old-timers that it was like a cresting point - something they hadn't seen in almost forty years."

However, for those on the 'other side' of the table, like Andy Shelton, an avid collector of vintage and Mid-century lighting, who's been collecting for over three decades, it's become much more of a slog recently to score a deal. "I used to be able pick up good vintage pieces for peanuts," say Shelton, "but it's becoming increasingly difficult with more and more younger collectors entering the market." Shelton remembers a time not too long ago when there was virtually no one under thirty at Round Top, or almost any antique and vintage show for that matter. "Finding quality items at cheap prices was easy-peasy," he says. "Nowadays you're literally jostling with every beanie-capped, bearded hipster for standing-room only at the sales tables." Shelton admits that while it's getting harder to buy at reasonable prices, the flipside is that his own long-term collection has also soared in value. "A lot of the dealers are making good money now," says Shelton, "which is great in one way I suppose, because it'll allow them to sus out and offer up even better finds in the future." It's not that Shelton wants to pay more for his collecting habit he says, "It's just that I have to recognize current market conditions for what they are; not what I want them to be." 

​For others though, it's not just the 'larger' shows that are witnessing the price increases, but many of the smaller venues as well. Becky Carlin, an east-coast dealer who shows at events from New York to Miami, says that prices for many items she used to discount have risen sharply in the last couple of years. "It's not every single piece," says Carlin, "but it definitely started with the Mid-Century craze and has gradually expanded into other areas." Carlin wasn't around during the heyday of the 1980's, but says she's heard plenty of other antique dealers talk about the "glory days," and thinks there's a pretty good chance we might be headed that direction shortly. "Most of my buyers are now young twenty and thirty-somethings," she says. "They've got the collecting bug and they're just starting to move into their maximum earning potential." Carlin says that five years ago rustic pine washstands and harvest tables wouldn't move for months, but that now she has a wait-list for some of these items. "It's a different buying aesthetic than what it used to be," says Carlin, "today's younger buyers are not just interested in price anymore, but also in the history behind the pieces." ​

Taking that one step further, Don Holtz, a young entrepreneur who sells vintage furniture and retro-style decorative pieces on sites such as OfferUp and LetGo, says that it's no surprise that antique and vintage prices are rising. "The trend of going vintage has stormed onto the scene for a number of reasons," says Holtz. "Firstly, people are becoming more conscious about sustainable living and promoting the value of old items rather than buying new, and secondly, because of the uniqueness and rarity that many of these products afford." Holtz says that most of the queries he gets online related to his listings are from people in their twenties and thirties who want something different to decorate with, other than just the local flat-pack selection at their big-box store. "When I started selling, just before Covid began," says Holtz, "my prices were all negotiable - they had to be - I was selling stuff from the 1970s and 80s." Today, Holtz says he gets multiple bids on most pieces that he lists. "Prices have definitely gone way up," he notes, "especially for some of the older 70s white plastic modular stuff like tables and chairs." Working with a small budget at first, and not wanting to leave anything to chance, Holtz also formed a membership of online sellers into a group that were able to share information amongst themselves about market trends and sales when first starting out. "It's been a real eye-opener for us to see where things have gone," he said, "especially when comparing sales figures - which have jumped dramatically for all of us in the past three years." Holtz doesn't know exactly what to attribute the increase to, but like many others, feels that it's probably a combination of new buyers, who are also likely to have a new (and more sustainable) outlook when it comes to investing in the decorative arts.

There are probably a multitude of yet-to-be discovered reasons for the recent resurgence in popularity (and rise in price) related to today's antique and vintage marketplace. While this increase may not be reflected in absolutely every geographic region or area just yet, there can be absolutely no doubt that just like a rising tide, it will be coming. Or, as Mr. Phillips so succinctly summarized from his visit to the Round Top festival in Texas last month, "The allure of historical pasts is compelling, and antique items possess that aura of elegance that is very seldom found in modern-day products, making them not only extremely desirable, but available... for the right price!" 

- A.I.A. Staff Writers
​​

​NOTE: For readers seeking more information about the Asheford Institute Of Antiques distance-learning program on professional-level appraising, the study of antiques, collectibles, vintage and mid-century modern items, please click here to visit the school's Home Page. 

Should you have additional questions about the Asheford program, you can also write to the school at: asheford@mail.com or call the Registrar's Office toll-free at: 1-877-444-4508.

​New York - Thrift stores, flea markets, second-hand stores, and garage sales have long been known as treasure troves for those seeking valuable and unique items. Despite the perception from many that these places only offer worn-out and past-their-prime goods, they often contain hidden gems that can hold considerable value, especially as baby boomers continue to divest themselves of goods and chattels in larger and larger numbers. For those in the antique and vintage business, many of these locations have long been a staple of supply when it comes to stocking up on their inventory. However, for an increasing number of dealers, 'recent finds' have made the trek to many of these venues all the more worthwhile, with some claiming multiple once-in-a-lifetime scores now happening on a far more frequent basis than in the past.

For Karen Dowd, who works as a realtor in an upmarket rural area just outside of Boston, part of her business involves estate liquidations that can be required in order to finalize sale conditions for a home. Dowd says that over the past few years she's seen an incredible uptick in the number of baby-boomers who want to downsize quickly, with as little 'muss-and-fuss' as possible. "They're often in a rush to get into something smaller," she says, "and that can sometimes lead to them disposing of items en mass without a lot of consideration for what they're letting go of..." Dowd says that she helps as many of her clients as possible to keep family heirlooms from her exit-sales, but laments that many of them just want to be rid of the extraneous baggage, while others are simply 'okay' with whatever she can get for the goods. While Dowd acknowledges that she's no expert in antique and vintage items, and that her sales are just an added feature she offers her clients to help expedite their move, she also knows that plenty of undervalued items have slipped through the cracks. "I've sold numerous jewelry box-lots at sales that I'm sure probably had some legitimate gems in them, but like anything else, it just comes down to time," she says, "especially with so many boomers now listing and selling their homes." Dowd believes that for every sale she conducts today, almost half are probably not vetted as thoroughly as she'd like. "Five years ago we would have labelled and priced every single item, today, I'm lucky to do three-quarters of that - people are getting deals, there's no question about it." 

In order to understand why many in the decorative arts industry are claiming witness to the rising prevalence of undiscovered treasures in second-hand locales, you need look no further than the current data and history behind it, says Terry Wolmack, a leading analyst for online Estate Sale Listing companies. "It's important to understand the demographics behind the boomer phenomenon," he says, "this generation still constitutes a significant portion of the population, and as they enter their retirement years or downsize their homes, many are finding themselves overwhelmed with the task of decluttering and divesting possessions accumulated over their lifetime. This process often leads them to donate or sell items that may hold hidden value." As a result, says Wolmack, second-hand stores, flea markets, thrift stores, and garage sales have once again become prime hunting grounds for dealers not only seeking out more common inventory, but also for those rare and unique items that may have gone unnoticed by those presenting the sale. Wolmack noted that the main complaint he now gets most frequently on his quarterly survey-questionnaire to estate sale liquidators, is that they simply can't cope with the volume of goods they're having to divest, and the sorting process that goes along with it - especially when it's a boomer sale. Wolmack says that a lot of clients who use estate sale service websites as part of their business are acutely aware of the fact that it's also not just a capacity issue when it comes to understanding the fine print, but a knowledge issue as well. "If you don't have a good working background in antique and vintage items, then steals-and-deals are going to happen," says Wolmack, "it's just a function of how the marketplace works."​ 

Carla Neal, a dealer and reseller on Etsy and OfferUp, believes that technological advancements are also playing a crucial role in the increasing prevalence of hitting the jackpot at many of these venues. "The advent of online platforms, such as eBay, Craigslist, and other online marketplaces, has revolutionized the way people buy and sell used goods," says Neal. "Baby-boomers, who are typically less tech-savvy than younger generations, often rely on more traditional methods of selling their belongings. Consequently, valuable items that could find a massive market online may end up at local thrift stores or garage sales instead." Neal says this creates an opportunity for astute buyers to uncover significant treasures that may have gone unnoticed by other sellers or enthusiasts. "I tend to scour the older boomer neighborhoods for garage and estate liquidation sales," she confides, "it's where I've made some truly outstanding finds." Neal says that on one particular outing recently, she came across a mid-century home that was heading to market, with the owners wanting to dispose of the chattels in a rushed curbside sale. "It was all the original furnishings and decorations from the mid-50s," she says, "I literally bought them out of house-and-home." However, Neal also believes that another factor influencing the greater number of 'super-finds' now occurring within the market is simply related to age. "The older people get, the less concerned they seem to be with possessions - it's of less value to them than time - and consequently they're often willing to let things go for far less than market value," she says.

Sometimes it's just first-hand experience that leads to this conclusion, as Darla Hendricks discovered, when visiting her parents while helping them transition into a retirement home across the pond in England. "I'm actually in the antique business," said Hendricks, "so finding out that my parents, who were both prolific collectors of Art Nouveau throughout their lifetimes, were going to just give away most of their collection to charity stores came as a bit of a surprise to me." Hendricks says that she arrived just in time to stop the pick-up, and that while she couldn't afford the cost to ship the entire collection back to the States for herself, she was able to wrangle a deal with a number of local antique dealers for many of the better pieces. "They weren't being taken advantage of," she says, "it's just that they couldn't be bothered at their age with a complicated disposal process." Hendricks also recounted that many of the English antique dealers that she spoke with were also of the mind that a lot of good examples from long-held collections were starting to come onto the market. "I'm not sure if it's just the last generation of baby-boomers relinquishing their collections, or something else," said Hendricks, "but you definitely had the sense that many of these dealers were looking to buy entire collections, and were willing to pay top-dollar (or Pound) for them."

For many in the industry, the baby-boomer generation is often seen as possessing items from periods that are considered retro or vintage by younger individuals. These items not only carry historical value but also represent a cultural and sentimental connection to the past. Younger generations, seeking to decorate their living spaces with unique and distinctive pieces, are drawn to these venues in the hopes of stumbling upon hidden gems that hold not only a personal nostalgia, but that can also lead to a substantial collectors value. Terry Wolmack perhaps best summarizes the theory by noting that, "It's understood that remaining boomer's are likely to have the choicest decorative arts collections in the world, so it's only natural that in those attic spaces and garage-wall storage shelves, you're also likely going to come across some of the best 'finds' in the world as well." 

- A.I.A. Staff Writers
​

New York - It's no secret that over the past decade the antique and vintage industry has experienced a resurgence in popularity, with millennials being a significant factor in driving this trend. While some may argue that younger generations are more interested in digital experiences than actual possessions, numerous studies and sales reports from those in the decorative arts world would seem to contradict this assessment, suggesting instead, that millennials have now become the industry's single biggest purchaser of antique and vintage goods, and are well on their way to becoming the largest attending demographic group at many of today's antique and vintage fairs in both North America and Europe.

With that information in-hand, we decided to reach out to a number of top millennial dealers for some insight on expected antique and vintage trends that might turn hot at sales-booths and display-tables across the nation this summer. 

Jennifer Harper - Dealer, Curator and Online Sales Platforms
"As a millennial, I've always had a deep appreciation for authenticity and a yearning for nostalgia. Growing up in a digital age, where everything was mass-produced and easily accessible, I tended to crave unique and meaningful experiences. Over time, I began to find that antique and vintage items offered a connection to the past, embodying a sense of history and craftsmanship that I found resonated with my generation as we got a little bit older. These past few years, I've noticed that more and more buyers are my age, and they're not just interested in MCM (Mid-Century Modern), but other collectible areas as well"

Harper's choice for this summer's top picks are Art Deco and Costume jewelry.

"The glamour and sophistication of art deco jewelry remains highly sought after," says Harper. "Search out bold geometric designs and the use of precious stones that evoke the opulence of the 1920s and 1930s. Be on the lookout for necklaces, bracelets, and rings featuring stones set in platinum, gold or silver." While Harper acknowledges that not every millennial can afford such pieces, she thinks Costume jewelry can be an attractive alternative for younger buyers. "It's selling hot right now," she says, "especially at shows and fairs."  

Larry Cousins - Etsy, TIAS and Brick & Mortar Dealer
"Even though I grew up in a throwaway culture, concerns about environmental sustainability and ethical production practices were always issues I was interested in, which is probably why I gravitated towards the antiques and vintage business. As someone who is conscious of the impact of my consumption on the planet, opting for a decorative arts business simply aligned with my values of reusing, recycling, and reducing waste. By embracing many of these timeless pieces and putting them back into the marketplace, I think it contributes to a more sustainable and circular economy.​"

Cousin's top picks for summer buys are vintage vinyl records and cameras.

"Vinyl records have experienced a resurgence in recent years," says Cousins, "from classic rock to jazz and blues, original pressings and limited editions from iconic artists like The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Miles Davis are commanding high prices among enthusiasts." Cousins says that millennials also seem to appreciate the charm and craftsmanship of vintage cameras. Classic models from brands like Leica, Nikon, and Hasselblad are highly coveted. Cousins recommends seeking out cameras with iconic designs, quality lenses, and working mechanisms, as these types of cameras offer both functional and aesthetic value to collectors.

Donna Perkins - Dealer Cooperative Manager, Online Sales Platforms and Antique Shows
​"Part of what initially motivated me to get into the decorative arts business was the sense of personal expression. I think as a group, millennials value self-expression and individuality, seeking to differentiate themselves from mass consumerism. Antique and vintage items provide a way for us to express our unique style and personality. Whether it's through clothing, furniture, or accessories, these items allow us to curate our spaces and wardrobes with one-of-a-kind pieces that stand out from mainstream trends."

Prekin's top picks for summer buys are textiles and Victorian oil paintings 

"Vintage textiles, such as quilts, tapestries, and embroidered fabrics, offer a glimpse into the craftsmanship and artistry of past eras," says Perkins, "and have been a hot seller recently." According to Perkins, buyers should be looking for textiles made from luxurious materials like silk or velvet, featuring intricate patterns or representing some form of historical significance. Additionally, Perkins says that while MCM furniture décor may still be popular among many of her cotemporaries, she notes that tastes in wall-art are beginning to change. "Many of our co-operative dealers are selling out of Victorian oils faster than they can replace them," she says, "even portraits and ornately framed examples are moving well." Perkins says that while you typically don't think of Victorian 'anything' as being in the wheelhouse of her generations interests, she's noticed that things are definitely beginning to move in a different direction, as older millennials like herself are reaching further and further back into the past for more interesting and unique pieces. "I think it's a bit of a desire to mix and match some 'contemporary' antique stylings like Art Deco, with slightly older pieces that are perhaps a bit more formal in nature," she says.

David Halston - Dealer, Picker, Estate Sales Agent and Online Sales Platforms
"I grew up hearing wonderful tales from my Grandfather about his past, and I think it was that great storytelling that probably piqued my interest in the decorative arts world. I've always found that antique and vintage items tend to carry stories and evoke a sense of nostalgia that often sparks conversation and connection. As a millennial, I'm drawn to the narratives behind these objects, it's something I can appreciate - especially the historical context and the human stories they represent. Sharing these stories with friends and family becomes a way to forge connections and foster a sense of community."

​Halston's top pick for summer buys are antique maps and globes.

Halston believes that old maps and globes from bygone eras can not only be a captivating addition to someone's collection, but they also tend to be great conversation starters about the past. "Look for antique maps that showcase historical regions, discoveries, or cartographic advancements," he says. "Globes that reflect the geopolitical landscape of the past can be particularly intriguing. These pieces serve as windows into how the world was once perceived." Halston says that while maps and old globes were at one time relatively easy to find, it's become increasingly harder to source decently priced inventory. "Younger folks are into it now," he says, "which has obviously driven up prices." For the best deals, Halston says he frequents garage sales in predominately senior neighborhoods, and then resells online. "Most of my buyers are probably in their early to mid-thirties," says Halston, "but they seem to be interested in almost all eras and genres related to map collecting and globes." 

Suzanne Olsen - Online Sales Platforms, Antique Shows & Fairs
"Part of my introduction into the antique and vintage world came about as a result of my desire for experiences rather than mere transactions. Antique and vintage stores provide an immersive and nostalgic shopping experience that appeals to many from my generation. For millennials, exploring these unique spaces, browsing through curated collections, and interacting with knowledgeable sellers seems to add an extra layer of enjoyment and engagement to the buying process."

Olsen's top picks for summer buys are old movie posters and textured ceramics.

"Our generation loves streaming - whether it's a new series or old films - we're all about the experience," says Olsen. Which is why she thinks millennial film buffs and collectors often seek out classic movie posters as both nostalgic décor and as a valuable investment. Original posters from iconic movies like Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, or Star Wars are all highly sought after. Olsen says to make sure to look for posters in good condition and with desirable artwork or promotional designs. On the more practical side, Olsen says she's also seen a marked uptick in intertest recently related to textured ceramics. "Look for handmade ceramic vases and sculptures with attractive glazes and colors. The natural material and unique shapes and textures can add a warm and personal accent to tables, cabinets, counters, and shelves."

As millennials continue to drive interest in the antique and vintage industry through their desire for unique, authentic, and sustainable products, there's probably never been a better time (nor reason) for keeping tabs on this socially active generation than now. With their emphasis on individuality, environmentalism, and quality, these younger consumers are not only contributing to the rising popularity within today's antique and vintage marketplace, but will also likely have a say in shaping its direction for years to come.

- AIA Staff Writer's
​

New York - For Janie Roan, the 4 a.m. start time was all part of the bargain as she trundled out of her Brooklyn based apartment in the hopes of making it to Maine by opening time for one of the state's annual fall antique and vintage fairs. "There's a beautiful butternut chest of drawers being offered by a dealer up there," said Roan, "that's hopefully still going to be there when I arrive."

Roan certainly isn't unusual in her early morning quest for that perfect piece of furniture, but what is unusual about this particular scenario is her age and previous interests as they relate to the decorative arts. Growing up in Brooklyn, the 28 year old says that in the past her primary source for decorating often involved a trip to Ikea or Crate & Barrel. "Flat-pack furniture was just part of my generation," says Roan, "but somewhere along the way, it just started to shift and align with my ideas about sustainability and creating a living space that felt warm and cozy rather than austere and cold." Prioritizing her belief in a balanced socio-economic future, Roan says that her discovery of buying 'old and used' items came to be somewhat revelatory. "I simply had no idea there were so many unique designs and pieces from the past that were out there and still available for purchase," she says, "it was almost like the lifting of a veil." While Roan's personal collection has grown over the past few years, she also acknowledges that many of the items that are of interest to her today are becoming harder and harder to afford. "Five years ago when I first started searching for antique three-drawer chests, they were cheap, very cheap," she says. "Today, that butternut chest I was chasing would have likely been gone before noon if I hadn't gotten there early." Roan adds that with many of her friends now accompanying her on the early morning upcycling adventures, it's become both a boon and a bane for her collecting passion. "It's great that we can all share a ride together," she says, "but my friends are also the one's helping to drive up the prices."   

​Many dealers in major urban centers are likely to concur with Roan, as prices have been escalating quickly on almost everything from Early American rustic to even semi-ornate Victorian pieces. Jonathon DeVries a long-time dealer from Newport, Rhode Island, who frequents and displays at antique shows up and down the Atlantic coast, says that he's witnessed an explosion in interest and prices over the last three or four years that he attributes directly to a younger generation. "It's even younger than the millennials," he says, "we're getting kids in their early twenties who are becoming primary buyers." DeVries thinks that while millennials may have started the trend, it's definitely Gen-Z's who are moving the ball forward today. "Things like Pyrex and Corning Ware dishes, that we used to give away, have recently jumped up in value so quickly that we're not even sure what to price it at anymore," he says. However, it's not a straight across-the-board value increase for everyone acknowledges DeVries, with some of his dealer friends inventory still languishing at the end of shows. "If you're trying to sell giant over-sized Victorian pieces to the younger generation living in apartments or condos, then you're going to be missing the boat," he says, "but if you stick to the smaller items like washstands and side tables, they'll move quickly." 

Henry McDavid, a young dealer from New Hampshire who now specializes in antique spool furniture, says that he started in business as a 'picker' when just out of college in his early twenties. "Heading out of 2010 probably wasn't the best of decades for antiques, that's for sure," he says, "but one thing that was great about that time was the price." McDavid quipped that he could literally buy out-of-favor items like Victorian and early spool furniture for pennies on the dollar, and in many cases for free as long as he agreed to haul it away. "It's astounding to think," he says, "because today, I can't keep these pieces in stock." McDavid acknowledges that even items like odd sized spindle beds that require specially sized mattresses are usually spoken for long before hitting the showroom floor. "I'm lucky that I had sufficient storage to keep these pieces for a later day," he says, "but in reality, it was also just good timing that a younger generation came along and were interested in this kind of stuff." McDavid says he's long been trumpeting the news that buyers are much younger now than before, and seem to be more aggressive when it comes to getting what they want. "Five years ago people were making lowball offers or asking for a markdown, today it's a bidding war, and they're usually under the age of thirty." While McDavid's listing prices on his spool-themed website have risen sharply in recent months, he's also quick to point out that that it won't take long for source sellers to start raising their 'asking' price. "I was ahead of the curve," he says, "but I doubt those same folks will be letting me haul it away for free again." ​

New York - For years, either fairly or unfairly, Ikea has been the butt of many a jokes from those in the world of the decorative arts - especially from those in the antique and vintage business. Comments ranging from flat-pack junk to disposable-décor have been common motifs promoted by dealers and collectors alike, often in an attempt to differentiate their own seemingly 'professionally-curated' vintage inventory from that of the Swedish conglomerates catalog of mass produced items. However, in some respects the distaste for the highly profitable Nordic retailer has gone beyond just general dislike, and has instead crossed over into a special kind of disdain that other corporate furniture retailers have often been spared from. While many would argue that giants like Ashely Home Store Furniture, Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, and even the faltering Pier 1 Imports have all been subject to some form of ridicule over the years, it hasn't gone unnoticed that there appears to be a particularly strong and directed feeling of condescension from decorative arts enthusiasts when it comes to Ikea's standing in the world of home décor. 

Charles Hanley, who works as a decorative arts aggregator for completed auction sales, says that what's funny about the whole 'upturned-nose' towards Ikea pieces from the late twentieth century, is that most people don't realize just how big of an effect the company had on some of the major design trends from that time. While humble in origin, Hanley says products like the Billy & Tema Bookshelves from the 1950s, designed by Ikea company-man Gillis Lundgren, were standout items that had a lasting effect years later on pieces created in the 1970s. In addition to this, Hanley says that Ikea was also responsible for hiring some of the top designers towards the end of the century, including the famous Danish artist and designer Verner Panton, whose iconic Vilbert chairs that sold poorly in the 90's for less than a hundred dollars a piece, but which are now considered collectors items, easily bringing in over $3,000 a pair at auction. Going to sites such as Barnebys.com shows just how much prices have climbed recently says Hanley. "There are 70s-era Amiralen armchairs selling for well over a $1,000 each," he notes, "and some early examples of the Billy & Tema Bookshelves hammering-out for upwards of four-grand - that's starting to rival some Mid-Century prices," he says. Beyond that, Hanley thinks that the junky flat-pack moniker is simply undeserved. "Ikea created well designed furniture at an affordable price," he says, "it's just that you had to put the pieces together yourself."

​While design choices are obviously subjective, it would appear that Hardy isn't alone in her 'like of Ikea,' at least according to the editorial director of 1stDibs marketplace, Anthony Barzilay Freund, who was quoted as saying in an interview with the Financial Times that, "Over the last three years prices for Ikea collectibles had increased by more than fifty-percent." Brazilay went on to add that the average listing price of vintage Ikea seating models is now above $3,000. 

While it's clear that Ikea, and its clearly Scandinavian design may not be fan favorites with absolutely everyone, there can also be no denying its long-term appeal to a broad range of people. Aside from it's purely aesthetic qualities, there's also a certain degree of nostalgia involved when considering it's recent rise in popularity amongst those of a particular age and collecting group. People who grew up in the 1980s have now reached that disposable income stage, and can decorate their homes with items that remind them of their youth. In fact, the growing nostalgia and popularity for all things Ikea has also not gone unnoticed by the company itself. In recent years, they have reintroduced a few classic pieces from the 70s, such as the Gratulera collection (items from the 50s and 60s), as a celebration of the company's heritage. This move has further fueled interest in vintage Ikea pieces, with many looking to add some of the 'reissued' retro flair to their collections.

However, it's not just the designs themselves that make Ikea pieces collectible, but also the stories behind them. The fact that Ikea pioneered a new approach to furniture production makes the company and its furniture designs historically significant and relevant. Marketplace enthusiasts appreciate this kind of context - especially when these pieces can tell a story to not only collectors and dealers, but to their customers as well.

​- AIA Staff Writers 
​​

New York - Ushering in the new year for many in the antique and vintage business often brings thoughts of “what’s going to be hot,” and “what’s not,” for the upcoming selling season. Contemplating adding newfound pizzazz to your concern with a host of overflowing boho-themed inventory should probably be tempered before stacking one’s store to the rafters with the latest perceived trends. But how exactly does one draw the line between what’s actually hot, and what’s merely pretending to be? How do dealers and collectors suss out what’s truly in demand, versus what’s simply demanding attention. With these thoughts in mind, school staff and writers went back to some of the designers and industry professionals we spoke to last year to see how their prognostications for future trends held up, and where they think the decorative arts are heading for the rest of 2023.
 
While we probably shouldn’t over indulge in boho, there’s no question this style has some serious traction, says Tracy Shea, who we spoke to last year about sourcing out what the younger generation wants when it comes to decorating. Shea who operates a number of vintage themed booths along the west coast, and a storefront operation in San Francisco, says that more than ever, young people are making environmentally based decorating decisions, and that it's changing the nature of her business. "It’s not just that they want something sustainable," says Shea, "but also things that have a sense of history and quality to them which are going to last.” Buying up early stock of boho themed items like 1960s and 70s rattan, carved wood dressers, hanging chairs, and upholstered furniture with flowered motifs have all been big sellers she says. “Younger buyers are continuing the re-use and up-cycle trend, so for the time being, I don’t really see any end in sight to warmer tones, natural wood, and a lot of the colorful floral-print type fabrics,” she says.

For international fine arts dealer and interior designer, Tamara Holt, many of her predictions from last year have also borne fruit. Holt, who credits much of her buying success to keeping a careful eye on what the younger generation is purchasing, says that over the last twelve months she’s seen a reinforcement of trend movements from the same group of buyers. "Young people are definitely where it’s at," she noted, "and are continuing to buy heavily influenced Victorian style upholstered chairs and sofas, French country tables, lamps, and even a few ornate pieces." Holt acknowledges that while most of her first-hand experience is based on attending antique and vintage fairs in Europe, where half of her business is conducted, she still feels that it's translatable to east coast trends in the US. Holt says that while the majority of her design clients frequenting her New York studio were requesting the farm-house gray look just a few years ago, that’s changed. “Even the older generation of buyers I’m getting now seem to be returning to more earth friendly tones, and natural woods as a choice for furniture decoration,” she says. ”It may not be a bona-fida trend everywhere just yet, but I think we’ve just about rounded the modernist corner.”

​While almost all industry insiders are likely to agree that vintage furniture and going-green will continue to be one of the most popular decorative arts trends for the foreseeable future, it’s not just going to be about full-on boho, or floral-prints and the cluttered style, says Tom Rogers, whose Portland based Scandinavian retro-store lies in stark contrast to those proponing the return to a Neo-Victorian (slash) Boho-Revival look. When contacted last year, Rogers recounted how sales of his Mid-century modern (MCM) inventory had plateaued for the first time in almost twenty years. “It was a bit of an eye-opener,” says Rogers, “but we managed to counter with the other half of our inventory, which was based on simple Scandinavian themed pieces from the seventies and eighties.” Rogers feels that some styles and trends are still geographically based. “Winters in Portland can be a bit drab and gray,” he says, “but much of the Nordic design motif is meant to counteract this with light woods, such as spruce and pine, and splashes of bright color.” When the MCM revival first came along, Rogers says they tipped their inventory in favor of the mid-century trend, but that recently they’ve swung back to what’s always worked in the past. “I think there will always be a modernist design element that remains popular with collectors and buyers,” he claims, “but especially so for clean lines that aren’t necessarily overly futuristic, but that are simple and practical enough to convey a slightly modern message, while still emanating a warm and cozy feel. Rogers says items like slatted pine eighties-style futon sofas, three-legged coffee tables, stools, and wood wrapped low-slung beds are all moving extremely well across virtually every age group and demographic. “It’s hard to believe,” says Rogers, “but some of our best selling items of the past year have been vintage Ikea pieces.”

When we last spoke to Tom Wheeler, who specializes in outdoor wrought iron and vintage garden furniture from his shop on a coastal tourist route in Prince Edward County, Ontario, he'd noticed a small drop in interest related to modern-metal themed pieces, and an uptick in requests for rattan, wicker, and old wrought iron items. Eighteen months on, and Wheeler says that there's been a dramatic shift away from the vintage style metal chairs of the fifties and early sixties, to a more traditional look of the heavy wrought iron and wicker again. "People are still buying outside plastic rattan and wicker sofa sets from Home Depot and Lowes," he says, "but the shift away from the MCM feel has been even more palatable." Wheeler says that the faux wicker craze currently in vogue, has also fueled interest again in other retro wicker pieces from the 1970s and 80s. "Last year, I started to pull some of my old wicker out to get a feeling for how it might sell," he says, "and before the end of summer I was cleaned out." Wheeler thinks that it's likely the rage for fifties style metal tulip garden chairs has probably run it's course. "Two years ago I couldn't keep tulips in stock - now they're probably half the value of an authentic wicker example."

Janet Headley, who runs an antique and vintage jewelry store in Los Angeles, says that even she's begun to notice a strong shift away from the purely MCM aesthetic, which she feels has been so dominant over the last decade. "Five years ago, that's pretty much all I was hunting down at estate and garage sales," she notes, "but over the last little while, vintage-ey, and what my younger clients call the Y2K style, have popped." Headley says that late 90s, to the early ought's style of gold Omega and Herringbone chains are all the rage again, as are 80s and 90s Italian influenced Bulgari-like pieces that she simply can't get enough of... "I used to find box-lots of this stuff just a couple years ago, but today, it's being scooped up by kids thrifting garage and estate sales faster than I can attend them." Headley says that 'recent' vintage is definitely the craze right now.

New York - It's probably not that much of a surprise to many of the industry's heavy-hitters, but for those working in the day-to-day milieu of the more pedestrian aspect of the decorative arts world (the rest of us), the news of just how far and high some of last year's auction sales figures have risen, is likely to be nothing short of stunning - especially when one considers the overall state of the antique and decorative arts market just a few short years ago. 

For top auction house players like Sotheby's and Christie's, the numbers were impressive. Christie's tallied up $7.2 billion in auctions, and recorded another $1.2 billion in private sales, easily outperforming its sales figures of $7.1 billion it made in 2021. Of that total, just under a billion was derived from the sale of antiques and collectibles. "In 2022, despite a challenging macro-environment, Christie's has achieved our highest ever global sales," chief executive officer Guillaume Cerutti said, referring to post-pandemic economic challenges brought about by inflation and the global strife in eastern Europe. According to Christie's, buyers from North and South America accounted for the lion's share of total sales, with Asian buyers on the decline. However, what was most startling to some was the fact that the auction house said its banner year was fueled not by its trusted client-based list, but by a "new generation of collectors" - thirty-five percent who were first-time clients, and who also happened to qualify as millennials. 

Pete Benning, an auction-watch analyst, who tracks more mainstream sales results for some of the larger auction houses, says that it's not just the big-players who are witnessing the entry into today's market by millennials. "It's everywhere," says Benning. "Younger collectors are really starting to take over the mantle left by boomers and are driving up prices across the board." According to Benning, aggregated sales results from almost all the major online auction sites (and smaller ones too), have shown steep increases in overall sales figures over the past year. "It's been a banner year for just about everyone," he said. Benning's research also indicated that while major art sales led the way to soaring profits, sales of high-end antiques and collectibles weren't far behind.

Not to be outdone, Sotheby's also posted some chart-topping numbers with an estimated haul of just over $8 billion in combined art, land, and decorative art sales, with a substantial increase in tallies related to the sale of rare antique and vintage collector cars. While some of Sotheby's numbers were down in a few sectors, others rose, especially it's online auction sales of antiques and collectibles, which continued to post double-digit market gains. As with Christie's, the new younger collector has now also become a staple at Sotheby's, with most of its expanding client base over the last year coming from younger buyers in Asia.

Bonham's auction house, though not as large as either Christie's or Sotheby's, took several steps this year towards changing that scenario through its acquisition of both New England-based Skinner and Copenhagen’s Bruun Rasmussen within a two-week period. The auction house buyouts are part of Bonham's broader strategy to expand its online presence and to re-connect to European markets after Brexit. Many who work within the company say the auction house has also seen strong sales results over the past twelve-months, especially in areas related to Chinese antiques, which is helping to propel its international growth strategy forward. 

However, it's not just larger global auction properties that are experiencing the jump in sales numbers, even smaller niche auction houses seem to be getting in on the record setting prices. Richmond Auctions out of Greenville, South Carolina, recently set a new world record this past September for the most expensive antique advertising sign sold at auction - a forty-eight inch double-sided porcelain Musgo Gasoline sign. The selling price of $1.5 million (including buyer's premium) shattered the previous record of $400,000, and proved to be the most profitable sale ever for the fledging auction house that had its first sale in 2020. Heritage Auctions out of Dallas, Texas, also hit new highs with its sale celebrating Abraham Lincoln’s 213th birthday. The two-day event drew a large crowd and brought in $4.3 million while setting a new world record for Americana sales at the auction house.

For Pete Benning, results like this are simply further proof of just how far the antique and decorative arts markets have come over the past few years. Benning says that while online auction sales steadily up-ticked throughout Covids heyday, it wasn't until after the pandemic "officially" ended that the numbers for realized auction prices really started to escalate. "People were buying at online auctions during Covid, no question," says Benning, "but once everything dropped and we went back to normal, they exploded - not just at the larger auction houses - but on the smaller selling platforms too." Benning says he doesn't see much changing in the near future despite inflationary pressures and interest rate hikes, and says that if anything can curb the prodigious spending currently occurring at these auctions, he hasn't seen it yet. 

​- AIA Staff Writers  
​

New York - As today's digital warriors of the decorative arts update their monikers from being influential, to the more current influencer, it would seem that no descriptor with this amount of clout has undergone a more profound change in context and application over the last few years. Online platforms brim with those claiming to be 'influencers of style,' or having the capacity to effect 'the character, development, or behavior of specific trends.' But do they? Is this new generation of tech-savvy influencers actually transforming the antique and vintage market in a way that hasn't been seen before, or is this just the rehashing of an old familiar story?

For many, the answer may simply lie in the uptick of numbers. As the recent worldwide pandemic revealed, people headed indoors for two years and started looking for something to do - including, creating new online profiles - with some estimating a thousand-fold increase in accounts related to the resale trade alone. For Instagram, this amounted to a whole new development of community based platforms predicated on interests like antiques and vintage goods. Major auction houses began to utilize Instagram 'stories' as a means of promotion through the creation of digital galleries. For other relative new-comers like TIk-Tok, the effects were even more pronounced, as hashtags like #antiques and #antiqustorefinds drew in over a hundred million views with dealers and collectors sharing video expertise of how to buy and sell. The Art Basel survey of "Global Collecting For 2022," also estimated that purchases of antiques and collectibles online accounted for over twenty-percent of total decorative arts sales - an increase of almost double since 2019. As online platforms grew, they also become more targeted in their approach with directed social media content and online viewing rooms becoming common selling tools that not only increased sales, but also brought in a new generation of young collectors to the market.

Former marketing analyst at Meta (Facebook/Instagram), John Chapman, who now runs his own decorative arts consulting and ad-placement firm for online entrepreneurs, says there's been a massive change in how people are conducting business today. Chapman says that during the pandemic he noticed younger profiles and accounts coming online that were specifically geared towards the antique and vintage industry. "It was something to do," he says, "they were locked in, but could buy and sell vintage and second-hand items while sitting behind their desk from home." This became transformational says Chapman, because as time progressed, these accounts became larger and more sophisticated in their appearance and in their approach to selling. Chapman says that before he left Meta for his own start-up, some of the biggest account growth he witnessed came from within the decorative arts community. "Some of these young vintage sellers really started to attract a following," he says, "I was literally stunned at how they had morphed from selling items on the kitchen counter, to complete professional grade photographic set-ups with tens-of-thousands of followers." In his current role, Chapman says he sees antique and vintage Insta-accounts all the time that have massive followings. "It's not just a few big names," says Chapman, "it's across-the-board interest by a huge number of people." 

Bridget Van Wart is a perfect example of what Chapman is talking about. In less than three years, her Halifax based vintage-themed Instagram account has gone from zero to over fifteen-thousand followers. "It's just blossomed into this community," says Van Wart. Using her own apartment as a backdrop, Van Wart has managed to refine the process of selling her vintage housewares by concentrating on presentation, and using her own décor to tastefully accentuate the items she's marketing. While she acknowledges that it's still "selling," Van Wart says that venues like Instagram provide her with the ability to be creative about the process. "The visual aspect of it is huge," says Van Wart. Other popular antique influencers such as the UK's, Jack Laver Brister (@tradchap), have also figured out that creative designs and helping people to envision those items within a home atmosphere are not just good for sales, but for brand exposure too. With over sixty-two thousand followers, Brister has become a prime influencer in one of the most competitive antique and decorative arts markets in the world.

For many who do attain influencer status within the industry, it usually never comes about as a stand-alone effort. At least according to Tina Humphries, who's company specifically promotes growth-and-development strategies for accounts on sites like Instagram, Etsy and Tik-Tok. Humphries believes that popular success comes down to a lot of networking which helps spread the word. In her considerable experience, many of the younger players she's seen come to her with dreams of expanding their reach have already done a lot of the important work - namely - they've managed to get others to promote them by sharing. Humphries remembers one dealer in particular who came to her with a list of interior design influencers that supported her client by sharing the purchases they made with their followers. "Her growth was literally exponential," says Humphries, "in the end, there wasn't much for me to do since she'd already figured out that one of the biggest secrets to sustained online growth and influence was simply to get everyone else to act as an influencer for you." Humphries, who's company straddles the world of online promotion and the decorative arts, believes it's not really a question of whether or not these young upstarts are having any influence in the antique and vintage world, but more so a question of how much influence. "All I can do is look back at my own generation," she says with a smile, "when I was young, Martha Stewart was everywhere."
​
- A.I.A. Staff Writers

​New York - For industry insiders, the wait is finally over. Now in its fourteenth year, the Asheford Institute's annual survey of top decorative arts buying trends from the past twelve months has just made its way onto both digital and paper newsstands across the country.

The international survey/poll of past students and graduates from the Institute has become a staple to many in the antique and vintage industry for its unique ability to look into the current state of today's decorative arts marketplace, as it relates to overall sales trends for dealers working within the collecting community.

Anthony Harper, the school's lead researcher, says the key to getting meaningful survey results that businesses and people can actually use to help plan their inventory buying strategies for the upcoming year is based on receiving actual sales data, alongside item-specific requests from buyers, which can then be used to indicate interest within a particular collecting genre.

(*Note: The link to the "complete survey listings" can be found at the end of this article)

As with virtually all business this past year, Harper says ongoing supply-chain issues continued to have an effect on almost every segment of the economy - including certain genres within the decorative arts field. "In 2021 we were all still recovering from Covid, but this past year, buyers, dealers, and collectors were out en masse, in-person, and  were literally snapping up everything in sight." Harper says that by the end of summer many dealers were complaining about a lack of available and affordable inventory. "It wasn't just one category of collectible," says Harper, "it was virtually anything, from folk art to baseball cards." Similar tales have surfaced in previous years, but Harper says those scenarios were not even close to the severe shortage of available stock that many antique and vintage dealers faced in 2022. Harper believes that some collecting categories in this years poll may have risen or fallen not necessarily because of a lack of popularity, but because of a lack of stable inventory. However, he does acknowledge one upside to all the market uncertainty - for most dealers, sale prices rose sharply.

New York - A number of years ago, a somewhat famous antique dealer in New England once remarked that he had a much better chance of selling his high-end Georgian furniture at flea markets than he did online. While this may have been an exaggeration to some degree, and times have certainly changed since then, it still makes the point that what sells in the decorative arts market can often be determined not only by what's currently trending as popular, but also by the location or venue from where it's being sold.

In theory, the Internet should have leveled this playing field long ago, but ask virtually any antique dealer with a couple of decades under their belt, and they'll tell you that by evening-up the playing process, the Internet also ironed-out some of the competitive wrinkles and strategies often only found in real-world markets. Sure, one can have a better website, a larger digital marketing budget, and perhaps greater online technical proficiency as to how things work, but in the end, online sales and corresponding e-storefronts on behemoth websites like Etsy, 1stdibs, and Ruby Lane, all tend to have a sameness about them that can make it hard for dealers and vendors to truly establish and differentiate themselves competitively from one another. This isn't to say that online retail outlets don't work, or don't provide their clients with options for distinguishing their businesses from each other, but only that in the past few years many antique and vintage dealers appear to be returning to a tried-and-true method for successful entrepreneurship that allows them a greater degree of competitive experimentation, and which is based on an in-person experience.

New York - As was noted earlier this year in the most recent Global Home Furnishings report, produced by ResearchandMarkets.com, antique and vintage furniture has officially become the hottest selling trend in today's decorative arts marketplace. While the ride to the summit's top has been great for most of those in the industry, it's also raised a rather important follow-up question related to its current popularity. Namely, has the industry's newfound fame been a result of the public's seemingly sudden interest in second-hand and vintage items, or has a younger generation of style mavens and vintage curators been responsible for putting the antique and vintage scene back on top of the decorative arts podium? 

For some, it's likely to have been a natural convergence of events, or perhaps even a timely combination of both. However, what many in the antique and vintage community really want to know - beyond just the who or why behind the industry's recent upswing in popularity - is the what. Or more precisely; the type of items dealers and sellers are now looking to purchase when it comes to stocking their businesses with today's latest home décor trends.

New York - While supply-chain snarls, Amazon delivery delays, and partially empty shelves at big box stores may be today's norm, this certainly isn't the case when it comes to the availability of antique and vintage items. After two years of being inside, along with a restrained pandemic fueled economy that encouraged purchases online rather than face-to-face, the doors have finally opened wide and people are once again outside this summer scouring their local decorative arts markets, antique shops, and vintage fairs in search of their favorite items.

Whether you're a collector, a dealer, or just a buyer hoping to score that perfect house-find, hunting through the countryside and nether-regions of the antique and vintage world can sometimes seem like a daunting endeavor - especially when it comes to discerning the true from the fake, the great from the pretenders, and the popular from the passé. As antique and vintage themed décor has soared in popularity recently, finding those top-tier treasures has become more difficult than ever. 

Cast Iron Doorstops
Cast from pig and scarp iron poured into a sand mold, authentic doorstops from the turn of the twentieth century have become extremely popular recently - especially those with their original paint. Perhaps the most famous of makers, Hubley Manufacturing Company out of Lancaster, LA are considered by many to be the best of the best. Known for initially making piggy banks and door knockers, the company added hand-painted doorstops to its repertoire in 1909. The doorstops were offered in a wide range of subjects that included flower baskets, depictions of homes, dogs, fictional characters, and exotic animals such as giraffes (one of which sold for almost $11,000). Even modest examples of more common themes with their original paint can still generate substantial sums. Asking prices of $500 to $800 would not be out of the question. Just be sure to look for the three-digit number or the word HUBLEY on the back to ensure authenticity. Other makers include, Bradley & Hubbard, Albany Foundry, and Wilton Products. Reproductions do exist, but the casting process is often more basic, leaving surfaces with more of a sandpaper feel than a smooth surface.

​D. Harman (AIA), is a former Asheford Institute honors graduate and a freelance writer who has a knack for picking trends when it comes to the decorative arts world. When away from his keyboard, Mr. Harman is also a top "picker" for some of New York's finest antique & art establishments.

​

New York - There's no question that there's been some rumblings for years from antique and vintage dealers about the quiet rise of the new-bohemian influence within the current decorative arts marketplace. However, for many in the industry this apparent subtle changing of the guard from one style period to another not only makes sense, but in some ways should have been expected. Especially when one considers that the movement from minimalist design to maximalist décor is also representative of the chronological progression from Mid-Century modern to Bohemian chic as it actually occurred during the late 1950's into the swinging 60's.

For the uninitiated, the Bohemian design aesthetic (Boho), represents the virtual polar opposite of the Mid-Century movement. It's all about earthy colors and fabrics, wood tones, old rugs, along with mix-and-match patterns. "It's what I like to call warm and inviting, rather than cold and austere," says dealer Sheila Durst from her downtown New York showroom, which features exclusively handcrafted items from the 1960's and early seventies. Durst says she dabbled in the Mid-century movement when it was hot a few years ago, but always felt more comfortable with warmer tones and hues from the design period that came after it. "I think the world had been on a modernist trend since the early 1930's," says Durst. "First it was Art Deco, which kind of seamlessly transitioned into the Mid-century movement, until the chain was finally broken by the arrival of the back-to-earth and natural feel of the 1960's." Durst claims that sales of her authentic quality rattan and macramé pieces have really taken off in the last year or so, and thinks this movement to a more natural decorative arts feel is just the beginning of a much bigger trend. 

Many industry experts agree that there's certainly been a perceptible shift away from the modern motif in recent years, but that doesn't preclude it from still being popular in a number of design circles. In fact, according to Dorren Sorell's New York interior design firm, modernism has simply adapted its focus to embrace new style elements that are currently moving up the popularity pole. "The industrial design style may bring to mind cold concrete and metal, but it also consists of natural looks of brick, wood, and other earth elements, says Sorell." So, while the streamlined look of Mid-Century modern may be fading, Sorell thinks that its modernist offshoot - the industrial look - will continue to be popular and will likely blend well with the new Boho aesthetic. Some of the more common design cues to watch for include, unfinished furniture, functional metal-and-wood chairs, along with metallic accent pieces in silver and bronze.

For design consultant Tom Hanson, detecting major seismic shifts in decorative arts trends can be difficult to predict. "They usually come on slowly," says Hanson, "and sometimes end up morphing into one another until there's enough steam to really push one particular style to the top." Hansson says he thinks the Boho style has all the markings of a trend that's likely here to stay. "A few years ago Cottagecore became a thing," says Hanson, "It was very closely associated with the rise of Boho at the time, but quickly became consumed by it." Hanson believes that while Cottagecore embraces many of the ideas of Boho with items such as original antique and vintage pottery, rustic furniture and cast iron decorative pieces, he says it simply wasn't a strong enough trend on its own to sustain itself - despite plugs from celebs like Taylor Swift. In the end says Hanson, it got absorbed by the larger Boho movement, which he feels now dominates the softer side of the decorative arts spectrum.​

Hector Ramirez, who co-manages one of southern California's largest antique and vintage malls says it's like déjà vu... all over again. "When the Mid-century craze really started rolling back in the early 2000's, you could still find the odd 50's credenza as a sidewalk-giveaway in some of the older suburban areas around here, but within five years that supply was locked up tight." Ramirez says that the same sort of conditions are now starting to apply to certain Boho pieces. "A year ago I could count on one hand how many of our vendors had patterned foot-stools and ottomans, or big floral print couches," he says, "but today it seems like they're arriving off the delivery trucks on an hourly basis." 

Despite the recent uptick in popularity, most antique and vintage dealers should still be able to find plenty of opportunities for sourcing out some great Boho-buys at garage and estate sales across the country. And, while it's certainly possible that the left-and-right hand coasts may have already begun to tweak to the Boho movement, it will likely be a considerable amount of time before this type of inventory becomes scarce in any meaningful way. Most dealers are only currently beginning to take notice of the trend, and consumers who are still disposing of such items at Goodwill, thrift stores, and yard sales, are likely to continue doing so until the rising price-point becomes all too obvious (even to those who are not in the know). However, until that time comes, it would appear that the field is now wide open for those willing to put 'bank' on a rising trend.

- Senior A.I.A. Staff
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New York - Over the last ten years the options for antique dealers and vintage enthusiasts on where best to sell their wares online has become an increasingly refined process that has resulted in not only more precise and exact decorative arts listings, but has also created a wealth of new topic-specific industry websites specifically geared to such sales. Gone are the days when dealers were stuck with a broad spectrum two-choice listing on either eBay or Craigslist, or the sometimes unreliable and confusing categories of Facebook's Marketplace. Today, antique and vintage dealers can choose from a myriad of site-specific options when it comes to marketing their inventory online.

To find out what sites worked best, staff writers at the school spoke to a number of industry insiders to get their take on how some online sales platforms have created or developed new approaches related to the marketing of decorative arts items, in order to offer dealers more choice and options when it comes to promoting their goods. Below, we've tabled some of those results.

Offerup is one of Janet Cowers favorite selling sites. Cowers, who operates her own antique and vintage business in Portland, Oregon, says one of the sites best features is the integrated ability for buyers and sellers to negotiate out a price (hence the name). She's also fond of the regional approach whereby sellers and buyers can meetup to avoid any shipping fees. While some service fees can apply, they're not huge she says. As with many of today's best sites, you’ll need to download the app, provide some good quality photos, a well-written description, and a listing of your general geographic location. Cowers says she takes inventory that hasn't moved in a month and places it on Offerup at a discount. "So far the results have been outstanding," says Cowers, "I've really been able to save on the shipping of big items by loading-up multiple orders and delivering them in a single day to different local customers at one prearranged location." According to Cowers, she uses a large parking lot at a nearby conservancy hiking trial as a drop-spot, since it's highly visible, free, and offers lots of room for unpacking and packing-up for her clients.

Going one step further on the regional purchasing and selling scale is Bookoo - a site that claims its legacy comes as a result of yard sale fans who decided to create a site for other yard sale fans (minus the actual going to yard sales part). Wendy Dalton who runs two vintage Etsy shops from New Jersey, says she's a believer. "I buy almost as much stock as I sell," she notes. "However, the great thing about Bookoo is how local it is - sometimes I'm literally only a block away from picking-up or selling some of my inventory." Dalton says she's used Offerup as well, but thinks prices are better on Bookoo. "They want everyone to know their site is garage sale sourced," she says, "which means you have to buy right in order to sell here and still make a profit." The registration process is straightforward though, and according to Dalton, once you're account has been setup, Bookoo lets you list an unlimited number of items. "I really like it because it has more of a community feel than some of the other sites," says Dalton, "It's almost like a chat-group!" 

Thomas Dryer is also a fan of regional buying and selling. Hailing from San Francisco with both an online presence and bricks & mortar shop, Dryer says he previously used eBay for his online sales but became tired of the escalating prices. Today, he says he's switched to eBid for listing and selling some of his finer vintage stereos from the 1970s and 80s using a local pick-up option. Aside from their very low commission rate of 3%, Dryer feels that eBid is a great alternative for those wanting to avoid rising fees associated with conducting business on eBay. "They have literally all the same features as eBay," says Dryer, "including the ability to import any of my items on eBay, directly over to my eBid account, which means I can get a lot more exposure for some of my items." Dryer says that his sales have been just as good on eBid, and that he's currently considering a lifetime membership for $50 that would drop his already low fees even more. "It's a win-win," says Dryer, "I'm saving money and selling more."

New York - Oh, what a difference a few years can make, especially when it comes to the world of the decorative arts. From proclamations of "It's over," to "people just don't want that old stuff anymore," the claims relating to the demise of the antique and vintage industry over the last twenty years have been about as plentiful and exaggerated as those levelled against the famed American satirist, Mark Twain. In fact, not only has the antique and vintage industry been thriving recently, but since the onset of the pandemic, the public's demand for decorative arts items from the past has literally exploded across every major sales platform to be had - from bricks and mortar shops, to pop-ups, and every conceivable type of online concern in between - the antique and vintage industry is now experiencing a wave of popularity and profitability that up until now, has never been seen before.

Another piece of the puzzle, at least according to Christina Williams, who runs a number of high-end consignment shops in and around Atlanta and Savannah, thinks the explosive growth of interest in antique and vintage furnishings is also likely a direct result of price. Why? Because, for the most part, consignment pricing for quality items is almost always going to be cheaper than purchasing comparably newer items, which makes the consignment option an attractive proposition for savvy buyers, especially during uncertain economic times. Williams says her numbers over the last twelve months have been so strong that she now has a 'buy team' that scours high-end Atlanta neighborhoods with homes for sale in an attempt to beat out Estate Sale companies for the rights to sell the clients goods and chattels. "Demand is so strong," says Williams, "that if I didn't get to some of these houses first, and come out with a signed contract, I probably wouldn't have enough inventory at months end to stock my stores."

Statista, an international company that specializes in market and consumer data for businesses, says that conservatively they expect the antique, vintage, and consignment furniture resale market to increase by over seventy-percent in the next few years. So what's fueling this current market growth? Well, for starters, many analysts point to the changing buying tastes of young Millennials and Gen Z consumers who started the "used" trend with vintage clothing, while seamlessly transitioning that into used furniture. Originally part of the Ikea mindset, many began to finally balk at the uniformity of design, and instead sought out uniqueness in not only their clothes but home furnishings as well. Now, with some discretionary income finally arriving, Millennials and Gen Z'ers are pursuing even more one-of-a-kind purchases that are in keeping with their collecting preferences, and which often come with a more expensive price tag. In fact, in a recent survey conducted by Chairish, over thirty-one percent of Millennial and Gen Z respondents said that they had become much more interested in buying used, vintage, and antique furniture online over the last two years, than in the two years prior.

New York - Deborah Torres had always dreamed of operating her own antiques and vintage business. As an avid garage sale attendee while in her teens, Torres would scour the east coast of Florida from Jacksonville to St. Augustine in search of anything that caught her eye and collecting interest. "I didn't really have a ton of money to start out with" says Torres, "but I had an old mini-van that was gifted to me by my father, so I had some cheap transportation and room for a good sized haul."

By the time Torres hit her mid-twenties, she'd run out of storage space for her collectibles at the family house, and her father was pushing her to either move, or move her "stuff" out. With her van and a trailer loaded up, Torres decided to take the plunge and rented a small booth at an antique mall down the road from her home. Fast-forward twenty years later, and Deborah Torres is still in business, and says she looks back fondly on those early years when she was just starting out, but wishes she'd known a little more about the antiques and vintage trade before fully committing to it as a lifelong career. "I love it, but having some training or guidance would've really helped me grow my business at the beginning," she says.

New York - For Amy Hacker, starting her own antiques and vintage business prior to the great pandemic, seemed like a no-brainer, at least that's how Hacker describes her decision to leap first, and think later. Hacker, who grew up on Long Island in an artsy family - with a dad who played in an orchestra, and a mother who worked at the Met - had always been surrounded by people who appreciated things that were old, rare, and intrinsically beautiful. "My mother would come home with tales from the museum, and on the weekend, we'd try to recreate the experience with trips to antique stores and estate sales," she says. Hacker believes that by the time she was in her early twenties the dye had already been cast and starting her new decorative arts business became a matter of when, not if. "I think I simply lucked out," she says matter-of-factly. "I opened during the pandemic and my sales literally took off on day one." Hacker said she fully expected things to calm down once people returned to work and Covid hit the rearview mirror, but they didn't. "As soon as the first supply-chain issues started cropping up, I began to notice an almost immediate bump in furniture sales," says Hacker, "and since then, it's just been a steady stream of inventory flying out the door - I simply can't keep up."

New York - For many antique and vintage dealers it can be easy to lose sight of the proverbial what's-popular "ball" sometimes, especially when it's tossed across the field so frequently with little advance notice. While online behemoths like Etsy, eBay, and Wayfair are often considered the barometer for what's trending and popular in the marketplace at any given time, there are many industry insiders who actually take a contrarian view, believing that the Internet giants are more of a market laggard than they are a predictor when it comes to deciphering the current direction of decorative arts trends. 

New York - Now in its thirteenth year, the Asheford Institute's annual survey of top decorative arts buying trends from the past twelve months has just made its way onto both digital and paper newsstands across the country.

The survey and poll of past students and graduates has become a staple to many in the antique industry for its unique ability to look into the current state of today's decorative arts marketplace as it relates to overall sales trends for dealers within the collecting community as whole.

Lead researcher for the school, Anthony Harper, says the key to getting print-worthy survey results that people can actually use to help plan their own buying strategies for the upcoming year is based on receiving actual sales data, alongside item-specific requests from buyers, which can then be used to indicate interest within a particular collecting genre.

As with virtually everything this past year, Harper says the ongoing pandemic continued to have an effect on not only large scale supply-chain issues for new and freshly minted items, but also for older collectibles with a few more miles on them. "Last year categories like costume and period jewelry boomed," he said, "but this year, it was all about finding inventory." Harper believes that some categories in the poll rose or fell not necessarily because of a lack of popularity, but because of a lack of stable inventory. "When everyone is online doing stay-at-home on their computers it's going to have a net effect on available stock out there for dealers."

New York - For those in the antique and vintage business, hitting thrift stores to stock up on inventory can often feel like a bit of a treasure hunt. The lure of the hidden find is always there in the back of one's mind, but in reality, how practical is it to expect a walk-in win at many of these second-hand venues, especially considering the public's current interest and craze for scouring out anything old, vintage, and retro themselves? Well, according to some dealers in-the-know, the chances of scoring are still pretty good - providing you're aware of what's selling in today's decorative arts marketplace.

Christa Blanchard, a longtime textile seller in upstate New York, says location can mean everything when it comes to the art of buying at thrift stores (aka, thrifting). "For me, the wealthy neighborhoods definitely have a lot more inventory to offer, but it usually comes with a higher price," says Blanchard. “Stores in these areas tend to have employees who know what's valuable and what's not." Blanchard feels that while she may pay more for certain items such as name brands like Armani denim, or middling couture items from Michael Kors, the final return on investment is usually always going to be better. "I'm buying from rich neighborhoods, but selling in middleclass ones," says Blanchard, "It's a good way to turnover inventory from one geographic location to another, while making some money in the process." Although there's now more competition from everyday buyers, Blanchard believes that many of the best deals can still go unclaimed. "I once forgot a vintage Chanel scarf that I'd seen in a bin at one of my favorite thrifts," says Blanchard, "but when I came back two weeks later, it was still there." While noting that not all of her outings are outright wins, Blanchard attributes the majority of her thrifting success to simply being prepared. "It really helps to know what you're looking for if you want to profit from it," she says. ​

However, not all dealers believe you have to move upmarket to find the best deals. Donny Walsh, a purveyor of fine Pyrex products, and other collectibles, says that his inventory comes almost exclusively from thrifting in lower-rent neighborhoods in Los Angeles and outlying suburban areas. "I've always had good luck finding stock in rundown areas of big cities rather than the affluent parts of town," says Walsh, who chalks up the diversity of his finds to the multicultural aspect of the neighborhoods he visits. "Some of the thrifts I attend are in predominantly Latino communities, so many of the items being sold tend to reflect this heritage." Walsh says aside from his Pyrex collecting he's purchased a number of Barro Negro ceramic pieces over the years, as well as other pottery originally sourced from Mexico. "There aren't a tremendous amount of dealers scouring these neighborhoods, because most of these thrift stores are providing essential goods to people rather than merely decorative arts items for one to look at," says Walsh. But that doesn't mean deals can't be found. According to Walsh some of the best pieces he's picked up, including some Atzompa green-glazed ceramics, were literally in plain sight, while a patterned Pyrex bowl, which he later sold for just under a thousand dollars, was laying in a box next to the door with some pastry tins and mismatched cutlery. "I know my market," says Walsh, "so it's not a total surprise when some of these things just happen to pop up." ​

While most dealers agree that location can play a major factor in helping to determine what constitutes a top-notch thrift store find, for others it's often more about the history of the neighborhood, rather than its exact location on a map. For Jessica Reynolds, who's been dealing in early Americana and primitives since her father first introduced her to the antiques trade as a teenager, the Great Lakes region of Pennsylvania and New York have always been verdant picking grounds for thrift stores that were ripe with goods and chattels from local area farms. "I can remember a time when the entire contents of an old farmhouse that was being sold-off or liquidated would end up in the back-half of the town's local Salvation Army building," says Reynolds. "You could literally have your pick of untouched pieces in their original state - worn paint and all." Most of what Reynolds encounters today is still the same, but just on a different scale. "I recently came across an original pine dry sink - from the 1870s or 80s - that was lumped in with a few old bed-springs which had been hauled into our local thrift store from a residence just outside of town." While Reynolds acknowledges that the chances of finding high-demand pieces like this are now more rare, they do still exist she says. "We live in a region inundated with farms and early Americana furniture" says Reynolds, "in some ways, it's exactly what you'd expect to find." Other items that Reynolds says are still relatively common in her area thrift stores include, old blanket boxes, washstands and even the occasional 'authentic' harvest table. "Most of my thrifting comes from the stores in the smaller towns," says Reynolds, "because that's where I can usually find the best examples of old country furniture." 

For Susan Haskin, and a number of other online dealers, it's often more about the type of store you're attempting to scout, and the relative timing of your purchases, that will determine whether or not your thrifting venture proves successful or not. Haskin, who's been running an Etsy business devoted to mid-century kitchenware and decorative objects from the same era, says that her favorite thrifts are often those managed by smaller religious ministries. "Goodwill and the Sally Anne are usually picked-over in my area of Seattle," says Haskin, "but the smaller one's, often formed by local churches, can be a great source for smalls, especially old kitchen items." Haskin acknowledges that living in an area with so many mid-century homes and apartment buildings is probably beneficial to her business, but also thinks that differentiating the types of thrift stores out there can help dealers make wiser choices. "I especially like to hit the little thrifters in spring, when everyone is doing their clean-outs," says Haskin. "I'll purposefully steer away from the big [corporate] players, because I know they'll either be busy, or over-priced." Haskin says she's witnessed a huge discrepancy in what thrifts charge over the last ten years as some of the more well known charitable organizations have raised their in-store prices considerably. "I understand their reasoning," says Haskin, "but I'm also running a business, so I have to go where I can get the best deal on buying stock." Haskin revealed that on average, she's still been able to get about 50% of her yearly inventory from thrift stores alone. "I'm still able to buy things like Anchor Hocking's, Fire King dishes for pennies on the dollar," she says, "but now it's mostly sourced from the smaller hole-in-the-wall thrifts rather than the corporate juggernauts."  

As with anything, there are of course going to be exceptions to any rule - including the value/time proposition one needs to consider when buying from thrifts. However, according to most dealers, the pitfalls of plying through old baby clothes and boxes of unwanted junk, are generally far outweighed by the potential opportunity to score a bountiful selection of reasonably priced inventory that can yield a handsome pay-off in the future. Providing of course you have some prior knowledge on the subject at hand - and can tell your Picasso from your Pollack.


- A.I.A. Staff Writers
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New York - For many in the business this day has always been a little bit like smoke on the water - something that often appears - but with no guarantee of arrival. However, in this particular instance there's no question that the recent  prevailing winds of the decorative arts have quite literally blown in a generational change that's shaken up the antique and vintage industry's genetic make-up on a global scale.

Even as Gen-X'ers gave way to Millennial's, and then to Gen-Z, it has always been apparent that Baby-boomers were the one's wielding the lion's share of power in the decorative arts world, while simultaneously controlling the markets forward direction, at least until now. Whether due to natural attrition, a renewed interest in our shared past, or perhaps a simple break from flat-pack and Ikea inspired furniture, it now appears that the industry's latest up-and-comers have finally wrestled the antique mantle away from not only the older boomer-generation, but also from a business model rooted in another century.

With many of these new-age dealers reporting in well under the age of forty, and sporting such professional and diverse training resumes from the tech, media, restaurant and fashion fields, it's no surprise that their methods for achieving success would also be entirely different than that of their predecessors.

On the other side of the pond, a fresh batch of diverse and under-forty dealers has also begun to take hold of the industry. However, what's remarkable about these young guns is that not only have they been able to bring along the antique traditionalists, but they've also been able to inspire a new generation of collectors and buyers to follow them through the use of detailed and age-pertinent item descriptions on social media.

For British dealer Adam Calvert Bentley, his start came as a result of a single stint at an antiques show, and a helping-hand from a friend who encouraged the launch of an Instagram account for his wares. "My first post was a photo of me setting up," said Bentley. After some initial online success, he continued to develop and work the branding of his IG presence, which eventually led him to become a full-time dealer. Today, Bentley is recognized as one of the top up-and-comers in London when it comes to items from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. His inventory is eclectic, with items ranging from Louis XVI lanterns, to Chinese export pieces, and oversized eighteenth-century armchairs.

While much of the Next-gens use of growth tactics within the decorative arts industry may appear somewhat benign at first glance, the devil is in the details. From encouraging quick sales by reducing mark-ups to both the public and dealers alike, to focusing on limited but popular 'types' of inventory that results in high turnover ratios and a more fluid cashflow for businesses. For other young upstarts, it's been the very selective and targeted use of social media. Crafting followers from different veins of the Internet ether that aren't just click-and-forget friends, but individuals that are actively engaged in one's brand on an almost daily basis.  

For those who've patiently waited for the new millennium to break out with fresh-faced collectors and buyers, it's been a generational revolution that's been a long time coming. And, while some boomers in the industry may be sad to see the days of 'cash-registers' and 'sales-tickets' depart the standard business-coil, most of today's antique dealers would likely agree that it's more than a fair trade if we can finally entice an entirely new generation of collectors and buyers into the world of the decorative arts, for the price of doing business on the "Gram."

- A.I.A. Staff Writers 
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New York - In a recent article by Megan Slack, found in the prestigious Homes & Gardens Magazine, the claim is made that, "Interest in antique shops has recently risen by approximately 50 per cent, antique auctions have increased by 80 per cent, and antique markets have jumped by 129 per cent." While we're certainly not going to disagree with these figures, as our own in-house numbers have also shown a dramatic industry-wide bump in antique and vintage sales over the last year, the question many dealers and buyers seem most interested in, is exactly what type of antique and vintage items are spurring these impressive sales figures.

To get a better grasp of what's been selling so far in 2021, we decided to speak to a number of experts, industry-insiders, and decorative arts dealers from around the globe in order to get a more complete understanding of what's been pushing the antique and vintage markets to such highs over the past nine months. Below, is the list complied by our experts with their take on this seasons hottest selling items so far. ​

While noted earlier last year in Asia, the rise in the popularly of antique jewelry has apparently also made itself known to dealers on North American shores as well, with prices rising uniformly across the board throughout the year. Nigel Hill, a gems specialist from New York, who often represents major auction houses both here and abroad, says that while the buying frenzy for period correct antique jewelry probably started in the high-end Hong Kong auction houses a couple of years ago, the trend has now trickled down to everyday dealers. "We're getting far more collections from people wanting to sell, because they've suddenly become aware of the price increases due to the realized auction results," he says. Sandra Cooke, who owns an Etsy store and walk-in business in downtown Toronto, concurs with Hill's assessment. "Two years ago it was all about costume jewelry," she says, "Today, I'm only sourcing mid to late Victorian pieces like broaches, pendants and necklaces." Cooke says sales began to rise last year online, and by the end of summer, once Covid restrictions had eased, her store literally became full of urban hipsters on the search for older authentic pieces. "I'm as shocked as anybody," says Cooke, "but it's certainly nice to see some of these lovely antique pieces return to prominence."   

Electronics from the 70's and 80's are continuing to surprise collectors and dealers alike. Paul Talbot, who's been specializing in old Apple computers and vintage video games for more than twenty-five years, says that there's a strong market for full computer systems to vintage console games and even some magazines. Talbot says that it's not just the products themselves, but sometimes the components too. "I bought an auction-lot of semiconductor chips years ago that turned out to be the same ones used on the Apollo missions," says Talbot. "Today, those chips are selling for thousands of dollars." While Talbot is quick to point out that most stuff that was mass-produced during the latter half of the twentieth century is not collectible, items from the 1970s and 80s are. "Apple ll and Commodore computers are increasing in value rapidly," says Talbot, "Even the ones with later serial numbers are now fetching five-figures at auction." Talbot, who markets his wares online only, says that sales have been brisk since the pandemic, with prices rising commensurately throughout the year. "It's the best fall I've ever had, "said Talbot, "I'm just hoping it keeps up through the winter... and beyond."

- A.I.A. Staff Writer's
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New York - Buying a new home, especially an older one, can come with a variety of pitfalls. However, for one lucky New Yorker it also came with a surprise win - behind ceiling-panel number three - which led straight to the attic.

For David Whitcomb, who bought the old century-home in Geneva, New York, last year with plans to convert the dilapidated building into a law firm and upper floor rental unit, the find came as nothing short of a huge surprise. 

Whitcomb related that while he was giving a friend a tour of his new purchase, he noticed a drop-down ceiling had deteriorated and was showing floorboards and rafters above it. He said he had no idea that there was a room above it, "It wasn’t in the paperwork," he said, "and we didn’t do an inspection because we knew the building needed to be renovated."