Antique & Vintage Furniture Values

August 19th, 2008

I have to admit it to you it took me awhile to even think about the value of antique and vintage furniture again. Those of you who know me know I usually stay away from furniture because of its size, transportation and storage issues, but when I started seeing high quality furniture selling at local auctions for very low prices, I started doing some research, and after yesterday’s blog on furniture, I continued my research.

Even though I think the price guide may be a little high for today’s market I began my research by turning to Kovel’s Price Guide. Boy, did I get some surprises when I opened the price guide. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

I don’t know why, but I was drawn to chairs, perhaps because they still might not test my strength in moving them.

In Kovel’s guide, almost all the illustrated pictures of chairs were listed in the thousands. It was hard for me to find items for less than $300. This got my attention, especially when I am seeing wonderful antique chairs selling for $50. I believe the back of my truck will be holding a few of these chairs in the near future. I’ve stated before that having a copy of Kovel’s Price Guide is often a starting point with any research you do. If you don’t yet have a copy I suggest one today.

Here’s a sample of what is illustrated in the guide: Airline Chair by Kem Weber cantilevered from the 30’s with arms $8960. No bad for a start, but we’re just beginning. Next, a Chippendale corner chair made with Mahogany c.1890, 31”, $1350.

When I turned the page, I couldn’t believe it! A chair I had just seen at an estate sale this past month that had been priced at $2500. The guide states its worth $38,500. What kind of chair is worth this much? It was an Eames chair, called a “pony chair”. The picture is in the guide. It’s covered in a cowhide bought back and seat. This is a modern chair, and we’ve discussed modern furniture in other blogs. We have discussed Arts and Crafts in other blogs as well, so it should be no surprise to you that a Stickley chair is listed at $4400. I’ve linked these previous blogs below.

There is an endless variety of chairs to choose from. I haven’t even mentioned all the chairs like Empire, Federal, French, Hepplewhite, Queen Anne and so many others. Keep your eyes open for the opportunity to purchase the highest quality chairs and those in demand. Some real good money can be made buying these items right.

Way back when I first stated buying antiques, I purchased a set of 12 wonderful bow back chairs with leather seats and a matching table. When my living arrangements changed, these were sold. If I remember correctly, I paid $150 per chair and $500 for the table. They were later sold for $350 a chair and $1500 for the table. The sad part about this is that today, I believe the chairs would bring $1000 each and the table, $15,000 - $20,000. But, the money has got to keep moving.

Put a Turbo Charge on your Antique & Collectible Treasure Hunting Skills.

Get FREE MENTORING.

Learn the Fine Art and Antique Industry Insider Secrets that can help you make money trading in these treasures. Then Learn to Grow Your Money Exponentially Buying and Selling only Antiques, Fine Art, and Collectibles with Daryle’s Strategic Business Plan.

Our Members are Newbies to Seasoned Dealers, making more money than they thought possible. Join Daryle Lambert’s 31 Club, today.

My 220 page book, 31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles is FREE with your membership. Join Today!

Check out the new Paintings and new items in our Gallery and Marketplace here.

TODAY’S PHOTO is a Charles Eames (1907-1978) 1946 side chair

LINKS TO SOME OF MY FURNITURE BLOGS:

Modern Design Furniture

Furniture

It’s a Buy for High Quality Antique Furniture

August 18th, 2008

The prices of high quality paintings, pottery and art glass are on a tear. So I got to thinking, if this is so, there’s probably something out there dragging its feet in these markets. Turns out, it’s good antique furniture.

I thought the days of me hauling around chests, tables and chairs where over at my age, but the high quality pieces are a real bargain right now, I may have to reconsider. In fact, I have told you before that if an item was larger than a bread box, I wasn’t very interested, but I may have to eat my words today.

The more auctions and estate sales I attend the more I am sure that there is big money to be made in antique and collectible furniture today. I’ve seen high quality furniture selling cheaper than I can believe. At an auction I attended last week, I saw a beautiful empire chest made of tiger maple sell for a mere $200.

Why this sudden reversal? In my opinion, we live in a disposable society. The days of the ancestral home are disappearing for many people. Families move around from home to home every few years, and family members divide up moving to other states and even other countries, disposing of furniture along the way and buying new “disposable furniture” to fit their new home. But, there will always be those who will be seeking high quality antique furniture.

In the markets I’m attending, I see early chests selling for $100 to $200 when a few years ago they would have brought $1000 or more. The same with antique tables I would have loved to have purchase ten years ago for $500, now are bringing in only $150 at auction.

Over twenty years ago, I bought a wonderful Armoire for $750 and sold it almost before I got it home for $3500. It was heavily carved with burl walnut panels. I’ve purchased a lot of furniture over the years, but I mention this one today because last week when I was in Owensboro Kentucky, I saw a pieced that was almost identical to this one, priced at $650. That’s just the asking price, and I’m certain I could’ve bought it for $500. It’s still beautiful, and I know even in this disposable society, there’s still someone today who would pay $3000 or more to own a high quality piece like this.

If the market for general mid to lower end antiques and furniture isn’t moving, this trend doesn’t necessarily hold true in the high end markets. For the highest quality antiques and art, including furniture, there’s always a market.

At the 31 Club, we keep our sights on high quality and rare items. And, our job is to buy right.

Well, furniture can be bought right today. Maybe we shouldn’t wait any longer to take advantage of this under priced market. I know the rest of the market will be trailing us as we look into this dramatic change. By the time they realize what we are doing, it will be too late for them to catch up.

Yes, there are disadvantages to dealing in furniture, but like any other market, if the price gets low enough, it’s time for us to step in. We need to re-inform the public that today’s furniture is still mostly plastic or made of composition materials. Most of these pieces will last about two years or three years while hand made antiques have lasted over 100 years. If you’re up to the task of handling furniture, now is the time to make some serious money with the truly high quality pieces.

If I do decide to take the plunge and tip my toe back into the pool of the furniture market, I’ll have to figure out how to transport the items and where to store these fine pieces. I can tell you this — the storage companies are begging for tenants, so a ten foot space will cost you about $100 a month, and the first month is usually free. That gives you time to make a profit to offset the expense.

I will be more than glad to answer any questions that you may have on
furniture, and soon we will have an expert on our “31 Club Panel of Experts”
for you to call.

Today’s Photo: This French period antique double “Chapeau de Gendarme” armoire made of walnut and secondary woods sold on eBay for $15,000. It had hand carved decorative motifs-signed by cabinet maker on center front: 1786 Joseph Bertin.

Put a Turbo Charge on your Antique & Collectible Treasure Hunting Skills.

Get FREE MENTORING.

Learn the Fine Art and Antique Industry Insider Secrets that can help you make money trading in these treasures. Then Learn to Grow Your Money Exponentially Buying and Selling only Antiques, Fine Art, and Collectibles with Daryle’s Strategic Business Plan.

Our Members are Newbies to Seasoned Dealers, making more money than they thought possible. Join Daryle Lambert’s 31 Club, today.

My 220 page book, 31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles is FREE with your membership. Join Today!

Check out the new Paintings and new items in our Gallery and Marketplace here.

Where’s the Shine Now on Silver and Gold? Sell Yours Now.

August 17th, 2008

Be cautious of those who tell you where to put your money unless you know where they have theirs.

Many months ago, I wrote a blog and news article stating it was time to sell silver and gold you might have in your possession, not knowing the danger this would place me in. At the time, silver was selling at about $16.00 an oz and the forecast from the silver bugs touted silver would go to $100 an ounce, while the gold bugs were looking for $5,000 an ounce.

Shortly after that, I started getting emails, from “reputable people” in the metals industry, nasty enough to make your hair stand on end and sinking so low as to request the news organizations that ran my articles rescind them. Of course, none of them did. These supposedly reputable people questioned my intellect and even my heritage. “Don’t you know the fundamentals of these markets,” several of them asked? I think they had forgotten the Hunt brothers, or wished to forget them, and I’m sure many weren’t even old enough to remember them.

Again, today, I am recommending you sell all the silver you have in your possession at the price of $12.00 or more. As I write this, the present price is about $12.50. My projections see silver retracing its charts back to $6.00. Oil is retreating like it is being chased by a band of hungry wolves, and while the dollar is gaining its strength, silver and gold are in a free fall.

Like I warned in my blog and articles earlier this year, the people touting these industrial metals, and that is all these metals are today, have been the ones selling them and have the most to gain by their sale. I wrote previously that they would never tell you to sell silver or gold no matter how high their prices went and this has proven to be true.

Today there are companies still touting the purchase of gold, even though the price is plummeting and people are losing their shirts. These metals are no longer a hedges against inflation because they have been replace by currencies that are much easier and quicker to trade. There’s no storage, interest, or shipping to be paid on currencies, either.

If you want to see other investments that have proven themselves over time and whose numbers are continuing to go up, go to www.31corp.com. — Daryle Lambert

Don’t Let What you Don’t Know or Fear Stop You

August 16th, 2008

How do you know you haven’t already passed on that special piece? Every time someone finds a treasure, you can be sure that many people have passed on it because they didn’t know what it was or because they were afraid to take a chance. Our goal is not to let either of these excuses stop us from reaching our financial goals in the Antique and Fine Art Busness.

This week, a gentleman called me about a pair of Oriental vases he thought might be a great buy if he could acquire them. His potential customer had e-mailed him about the pair.

I asked him what the customer was asking for them.

“Nothing yet,” he said. “They want to know what they’re worth.”

“Are you going to be paid to do the appraisal,” I asked him?

“I don’t think so.”

“Why don’t you respond to the email saying you’d be interested in the vases, if they’d give you a price. You could also state the vases could possibly be worth $500 up to many thousands depending on their history.”

With his knowledge in this area, it might be well worth the risk of investing $1000 to $1500 in this pair. If he is wrong, the chances are he will still make a profit. But what if he’s right? Then the rewards could be a profit of $20,000 or more. No, he isn’t sure which of these scenarios will play out, but he can’t be hurt very much by either of them. I am hoping he gets that call and the price they ask for the vases is reasonable.

Some of you will remember when I entered an antique shop close to my home and was told they had nothing for me that day. Still, I asked, “Are you sure?”
” I do have a painting here, but it’s sold,” the shop owner told me. This gave me an opening.

“May I see it,” I asked?

He took me to the back of the shop where I laid eyes on a wonderful early painting of two little girls skipping rope.

“What did you get for this wonderful painting,” I asked?

“Twenty-five thousand dollars,” he proudly stated.

I asked if he’d been paid for it, and he told me the painting was on hold and he hadn’t been paid yet. Now the door was wide open for me, so I ask him if he’d call me in a couple of weeks if he hadn’t been paid. Sure enough, two weeks later I got that call. I purchased this painting for $16,000. I didn’t really know what it was worth because I wasn’t familiar with the artist, Frederick Morgan, but I was willing to gamble that its value was at least $16,000.

The advantage that you have over me in these situations is that the 31 Club is there to help determine values. Did I know that this would turn out to be a great find for me? Absolutely not. But, it was. This painting later sold at Christie’s for $115,000. What would the results have been if I had said I wasn’t interested because I didn’t know what its worth was or I didn’t know the artist.

I could tell you many more stories like these, but the important thing to remember is that if the price seems right on a piece your looking at, take the chance. You won’t always make a fortune on every piece, but I’ll bet your decisions will be correct most of the time, so little mistakes are just learning experiences. This is why 31 Club Members just learning the business start with a trading account of only $100. That’s so their mistakes won’t cost them big while they’re learning.

When you buy something, sell it as quickly as possible. This should not take longer than 3-6 months. This way, you will have your money back in circulation to move on to your next purchase, win, lose or draw. Don’t hold on to marginal items trying to get more for them than the market will bear. Turn, Turn and Turn your money over and over until one day you wake up and the world is yours.

Put a Turbo Charge on your Antique & Collectible Treasure Hunting Skills.

Get FREE MENTORING.

Learn the Fine Art and Antique Industry Insider Secrets that can help you make money trading in these treasures. Then Learn to Grow Your Money Exponentially Buying and Selling only Antiques, Fine Art, and Collectibles with Daryle’s Strategic Business Plan.

Our Members are Newbies to Seasoned Dealers, making more money than they thought possible. Join Daryle Lambert’s 31 Club, today.

My 220 page book, 31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles is FREE with your membership. Join Today!

Check out the new Paintings and new items in our Gallery and Marketplace here.

LINK: 31 Club Article July, 2007

Secrets to Identifying Value in Art Pottery

August 15th, 2008


Louise E. Edwards Decorated Doulton Lambeth Vase offered at 31 Gallery & Marketplace

Many people mistakenly believe that an item’s size contributes greatly to its value, but this isn’t necessarily the case. Often times, size is only one contributing factor, and we’ll take a look at others here.

Many companies, in addition to their more commercial lines, had talented artists decorating their items in their “artist lines.”

Regardless of which company’s pottery you come across, there will always be certain artists’ work that stands out, and their wares are the most sought after and will bring in top dollar. For example, Doulton had Noke, Barlow, Tinsworth, and Marshall as their premiere artists. In America’s Newcomb pottery, Bailey and Simpson lead their group of artists. Daley, Sax, Shirayamadani and Nourse are the leading names in Rookwood and are quite valuable.

Being able to recognize specific artists’ work for a particular company will set you ahead considerably, among other things.

The 31 Gallery & Marketplace has a Doulton Lambeth-Louise E. Edwards decorated vase. While Edwards wasn’t in Doulton’s top tier of artists like Hannah Barlow was, Edward’s works are more rare than Barlow’s and also quite desirable.

Any piece produced by top artists will bring big money, but this is, again, just one factor in evaluating a piece for price.

Next to which artist decorated the piece, I believe the most important factor in price evaluation is its GLAZE.

Many Doulton pieces will bring very little in this market regardless of their size, but if you add one of the top artist names to the piece, bingo! Now, to get the piece to the stratosphere in value, just add a very rare glaze to it. Double bingo!
Familiarize yourself with Doulton’s Chang, Chinese Jade, Sung, and Titaniam glazes so you’ll be able to spot these when you come across them.

Most dealers are familiar with Rookwood, but few can distinguish their different glazes. Knowledge of their glazes will give you a great advantage because this is where there can be huge price differentials. Rookwood glazes commanding top prices are Coromandel, Dip/Drip, Goldstone, Tiger Eye, Oxblood, and Rust. If you are fortune enough to find pieces of Rookwood in these glazes, you’ve found a true treasure.

Now, here comes the story: I walked into a high end antique store in Chicago and couldn’t believe the prices they were asking for what I thought were quite common pieces. Still, I couldn’t leave until I had looked at every item they had for sale. In the back of the store, I spotted a very small vase looking rather lonely, about 4” in height. I picked it up to examine who the artist was, but as I looked at it, I realized it was a very rare glaze by a very early artist.

The store was having a sale that day and priced the vase at $400. I quickly offered $200 and it became mine quite quickly. As I left the store, I’m sure the sales lady was shaking her head saying, “There goes a fool without his money.”

Little did she know that I consigned the vase to the Cincinnati Art Galleries and it brought in (drum roll) $2000 at auction.

My friend Cecil did the same thing recently. He bought a piece of Owens pottery for less than $100. But, because it had a special glaze he recognized it and knew it was a great buy. That piece was hammered at over $2400 at auction.

Put a Turbo Charge on your Antique & Collectible Treasure Hunting Skills.

Get FREE MENTORING.

Learn the Fine Art and Antique Industry Insider Secrets that can help you make money trading in these treasures. Then Learn to Grow Your Money Exponentially Buying and Selling only Antiques, Fine Art, and Collectibles with Daryle’s Strategic Business Plan.

Our Members are Newbies to Seasoned Dealers, making more money than they thought possible. Join Daryle Lambert’s 31 Club, today.

My 220 page book, 31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles is FREE with your membership. Join Today!

Check out the new Paintings and new items in our Gallery and Marketplace here.

LINK: 31 Club Article July, 2007

Trailblazing The Path To Success in the Antique and Fine Art Market: 31 Club Wish List & Associate Program

August 15th, 2008

Your 31 Club is trailblazing a path for people in this industry, and its tremendous growth will make it a better opportunity for our members.

31 Club is building the one place to go to if you are looking for high quality antiques, the one place to go to let people know you are ready, willing and able to buy, the one place to sell, the one place to go to get free mentoring on dealing in Antiques and Fine Art, and the one place to consign your rare and high quality antiques and art. While anyone can consign their rare and high quality items to 31 Club Gallery & Marketplace, our already low commissions are even lower when you’re a member. With our membership offer ridiculously reasonable right now, it makes good sense to join now rather than later.

Just think, we at 31 Club, are really starting to turn this market around. Last year, I can still remember when all I could read was negative articles about this business or listen as dealers complained about the business, while still doing it the old fashion way. We published several articles to the contrary and challenged this negativity through our blogs. Now I hear dealers excited about the market, and even the trade papers are beginning to think that the Antique and Fine Art business is here to stay. Considering that new records are being set in almost all areas of our business on a daily basis, they should. 31 Club was first to recognize that the best in this business is still ahead of us. As our members complete the steps in our individual Million Dollar Race, the rest of the crowd will find us hard to catch up to.

So why am I writing about all of this today?

You’ll remember that the Associates Program is already working for many members. Using the program allows the member to partner with us, with no investment of their own, to purchase the best items they find and then receive 35% of the net profit when the club sells the item.

Well, today, our long awaited 31 Club Wish List is ready to be activated. These Wish Lists will work as free advertising for Members when thousands of people see their ad as it goes out over Yahoo and Google. Each time a person visits our website, they’ll be exposed to our members’ Wish List. Can you imagine the response you could get?

The combination of these two programs, Wish List & Associates Program has the greatest potential to increase the likelihood our members will succeed in a big way in the Antique and Fine Art Business.

Members should watch their e-mail for instructions on how to use the Wish List.

If you aren’t a member of 31 Club yet, go to our website and join us today!
Put a Turbo Charge on your Antique & Collectible Treasure Hunting Skills.

Get FREE MENTORING.

Learn the Fine Art and Antique Industry Insider Secrets that can help you make money trading in these treasures. Then Learn to Grow Your Money Exponentially Buying and Selling only Antiques, Fine Art, and Collectibles with Daryle’s Strategic Business Plan.

Our Members are Newbies to Seasoned Dealers, making more money than they thought possible. Join Daryle Lambert’s 31 Club, today.

My 220 page book, 31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles is FREE with your membership. Join Today!

Check out the new Paintings and new items in our Gallery and Marketplace here.

LINK: 31 Club Article July, 2007

Ephemera: Letters & Postcards From Whom?

August 13th, 2008

True treasure can be found in what most people perceive as trash, especially when it comes to old letters and postcards.

I once shared a story with you about a friend finding several letters in a box lot at auction by Martin Luther King Jr. he paid just a few dollars for. I know this man well, and I don’t think they will be sold anytime soon, however I am certain they are worth thousands today. I also wrote about the letter Cecil bought written by John F. Kennedy to a young girl, and this letter is true history about the sensitivity of this president. You could feel his passion for children through his words.

Letters like these will command large sums of money now and especially in the future. These kinds of finds are not a rare occurrence, if you’re willing to spend time going through piles of postcards and letters that seem to have no significance. You might come up with one or more, because they are out there in abundance.
Perhaps the best thing about finding items like these is their price. When they are found, they can usually be bought for pennies. But, believe me, it isn’t as easy as it sounds – at least for me. My biggest problem with this type of item is the handwriting. I have trouble reading the old handwriting. I hope this isn’t as big a problem for you as it is for me.

I may have come across a treasure like this. I was shown a folder containing nearly 150 Civil War Letters that are coming up for sale. I’m sure there are others who have interest in these letters, but depending upon what information these letters contain, their value could be small. But, if they contain descriptions of the battles, their value could almost be priceless. The wait for those answers will give me sleepless nights, I’m sure.

I’ve known many people who have found real treasure in letters and postcards. I remember a gentleman who found hundreds of pieces of sports memorabilia in the way of letters that had been tossed out into the garbage, only to find that they had once been the property of a very famous sports star.

Could this happen to you? If you’re willing to spend the time looking through piles of letters and postcards it can.

And there’s another value to be found in old letters and postcards. The stamps! You might get a real surprise in the value of some stamps. I’ve seen stamps attached to envelopes that have brought in $100,000 plus. There might be one of these in that old trunk in the attic at your next estate sale or garage sale waiting for you. So keep your eyes open and read, read, and read.

Today’s Photo is a signed letter from Robert E. Lee

Put a Turbo Charge on your Antique & Collectible Treasure Hunting Skills.

Get FREE MENTORING.

Learn the Fine Art and Antique Industry Insider Secrets that can help you make money trading in these treasures. Then Learn to Grow Your Money Exponentially Buying and Selling only Antiques, Fine Art, and Collectibles with Daryle’s Strategic Business Plan.

Our Members are Newbies to Seasoned Dealers, making more money than they thought possible. Join Daryle Lambert’s 31 Club, today.

My 220 page book, 31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles is FREE with your membership. Join Today!

Check out the new Paintings and new items in our Gallery and Marketplace here.

Quick Turn Your Antique & Collectible Items to Keep Your Money in Circulation

August 12th, 2008


I got the chance to visit with Cecil visited while I was headed back to Chicago, and we found some time to visit an indoor antique market together. We came upon a booth filled with some pretty good items. There was pottery, good art glass and some other varied items. To Cecil’s surprise, he began to recognize most of the pieces and realized they belonged to a lady who had placed them in his store to sell over ten years ago.

She must have tried to sell these items at many places since Cecil first saw them with no success. There was a Budweiser advertising piece she had turned down $1250 for when she had it at Cecil’s store, but now her price was $950. What must she be waiting for? Perhaps she isn’t convinced her prices are too high, but ten years? If she had sold everything at her cost back then and reinvested her money the 31 Club way, she may have been retired by now.

This isn’t where the story ends, however. I thought a bigger market place might be the thing these items needed to get them sold. So, I asked the sales lady if I picked several items that totaled from one to two thousand dollars, would she make the offer? I was told yes because the owner had reasons why she wanted to liquidate her inventory. After scanning her entire booth, I came up with a list of items that, by her tickets, totaled $2425 (but they were all well over priced.)

After discussing it with Cecil, he said his top dollar would be $1050, however due to the circumstances I decided to make the offer $1250. It took about twenty minutes to get the answer. “No, but $1500 would be okay.” I told the sales lady I was already paying more than I should, and that I was leaving for Nashville and then returning to Chicago and $1250 was my last offer. She let me walk out of the store with my money in my pocket. In my opinion, she made a huge mistake. Will she even sell a portion of these items over the next ten years? Who knows.

Why is this story important to you as your search for treasure advances?

This type of experience can halt your enthusiasm. If you paid too much, you could end up tying up your money, and if a bargain does come your way, there might not be money for its purchase. Yes, you’ll always have the Associates Program to fall back on, but then the item has to be something the Club will approve first. We are in the business of keeping our money moving. You can’t compound your resources very quickly by holding items for long periods of time without buying and selling something.

90 days or 6 months should be more than enough time to sell anything you’ve acquired, even if it goes to auction.

If it’s in your possession after that length of time, my advise is to send it to auction. With the proceeds you get for its sale, start the compounding method all over again. Even if you paid a little too much and there may not be a lot of profit, you’ll have your money back in circulation where it should be. I wish this lady good luck, but my hope and pray for her is that if this is her chosen profession that she’ll join with us at the 31 Club, where we as a community, can take her under our wing and give her some guidance.

Thanks for all your prayers while I was away.

Daryle

*****

Put a Turbo Charge on your Antique & Collectible Treasure Hunting Skills.

Get FREE MENTORING.

Learn the Fine Art and Antique Industry Insider Secrets that can help you make money trading in these treasures. Then Learn to Grow Your Money Exponentially Buying and Selling only Antiques, Fine Art, and Collectibles with Daryle’s Strategic Business Plan.

Our Members are Newbies to Seasoned Dealers, making more money than they thought possible. Join Daryle Lambert’s 31 Club, today.

My 220 page book, 31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles is FREE with your membership. Join Today!

Check out the new Paintings and new items in our Gallery and Marketplace here.

Always Be Prepared to Make an Offer

August 11th, 2008
Charles Courney Curran

The margin between success and failure in the antique business is razor thin. When you come across items you know are treasures and you want to make an offer, there are many things that will mean the difference between having your offer accepted or not.

The inflexion in your voice, the manner in which you make the offer, the kind of day the seller has encountered, and your being able to assure the seller you are an expert on whatever items your dealing on can mean closing the deal or walking away empty handed.

Never leave home without having the means to buy whatever you might come across during the day. Carry blank checks, credit cards, or the phone number for the 31 Club with you at all times.

Don’t let your past experience dictate your present action.

How does this all play out in real life? My experience from other day might happen to you:

There’s a man whom I’ve found it very difficult to deal with over the years. Now, this isn’t because he wants to be unfair with me, but he reasons that, “If Daryle can make a profit on the items I sell him, so can I.” I can’t fault him for that.

The other day I was able to visit his place of business just at closing time. He wasn’t in, but as I looked around, I found some items I wanted to make an offer on, so we called him to see if he was in the selling mood. Although my past experience with him hadn’t resulted in a sale, I tried anyway. He haggled a little, but to my surprise, he said the pieces were mine if I could pay for them immediately.

Two wonderful paintings by Charles Courney Curran (be sure to look him up], a signed Ronald Reagan photograph in a great frame, the best print of West Point, from about 1860 that I’ve ever seen, and two watercolors by Daniel Sheerin immediately became mine for almost $6000.

I’m wondering though, would the results have been the same if I said, “I’ll send you a check?” Or, what if I’d let my past experience with him dictate my present action? My past experience told me he’d say, “No Deal.” If I’d kept that in mind when I spotted his shop, I might never have gone in to look that day.

You see the timing was right. The deal was closed because I could pay for the pieces at that moment, and he envisioned something else he wanted to do with the money that day.

I will be completing my travels today, and the last part of the trip will not be nearly as pleasant as the time I spent yesterday doing what I love to do: search for treasure. Most of the finds I come across aren’t found at times I know what I will be looking, at but rather when I least expect them, like yesterday, so you must always be ready.

I did make a major mistake in yesterdays blog and believe it or not it wasn’t in my grammar. The mistake was that it is my Brother-in-Law’s funeral, not my Son-in-Law’s.

*****

Put a Turbo Charge on your Antique & Collectible Treasure Hunting Skills.

Get FREE MENTORING.

Learn the Fine Art and Antique Industry Insider Secrets that can help you make money trading in these treasures. Then Learn to Grow Your Money Exponentially Buying and Selling only Antiques, Fine Art, and Collectibles with Daryle’s Strategic Business Plan.

Our Members are Newbies to Seasoned Dealers, making more money than they thought possible. Join Daryle Lambert’s 31 Club, today.

My 220 page book, 31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles is FREE with your membership. Join Today!

Check out the new Paintings and new items in our Gallery and Marketplace here.

Stay Current With Trends in Antiques & Collectibles: Carnival Glass

August 10th, 2008

For some time, I’ve told you how very important it is to stay current with the trends so you won’t make mistakes. Well, I guess I will have to take some of my own medicine, because I am surprised how far off I was on the trend in rare Carnival Glass.

Some of the Carnival Glass I sold only two or three years ago have tripled or more in value since then. I was talking to Cecil about the Carnival Glass Blue People’s Vase that brought in over $31,000 and he began to laugh. At first I wanted to punch him because I thought he didn’t believe me. But, that wasn’t the case. He showed me that in the latest Mordini Records on Carnival Glass, this piece sold for over $100,000. If Carnival Glass in of interest to you, you can get the Mordini Records for a very reasonable amount each year.

At this point, I have to admit my curiosity got the best of me, and I had to know what some other pieces I sold were worth today. According to the records, a plate I sold for $5000 sold for over $17,000 and a punch set that brought me $4500 listed
near $20,000. I wanted to quit looking.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sorry I sold these pieces. After all, the profits were quickly reinvested and I’ve kept my money moving and compounding. I was more upset I haven’t kept current on their prices. You see, if I passed a great piece because I wasn’t prepared by staying current on prices, this could have been my misfortune.

You can be assured that Rare Carnival Glass will be added to the What’s Hot List, and I’ve learned a lesson. But remember, not all Carnival Glass is desirable. Look for pastel colors and unusual pieces. Vintage pieces in red will definitely make you a happy camper if you come across them.

Today’s Photo: A rare Fenton 3-Toed Bowl in Grape & Cable Pattern. This bowl is in the Showroom and Museum of Replacement’s, Ltd.

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