History
Back When
Buying and
selling antiques runs in my blood and has been a part
of my life since
my childhood. I am a born antiquer. I have been a buyer,
hoarder, accumulator, collector and seller of antiques and stuff for 45
years or more. I am 55 years old as of 2008.
My initial education in acquiring and appreciating
antiques and collectibles began 45 some years ago as a child working
with my mother as we went curbside in New Jersey during
monthly "pickup" week. My mom was such a fanatic that my
home
town instituted an ordinance against having more than 2 sales a year back
in the 60's.
She overcame that roadblock by moving the venue around. I remember those days,
experiences and the finds fondly! It was a lot different from today.
I went through the typical
phases of a young antique collector and bought, sold, and
traded baseball cards, coins, military related stuff, critters, fireworks, and most
anything else that happened along. Mom's dead, but the gene carried
through.
After moving to California in the 70's
I use to
regularly pick the local dump thirty years ago
and made a decent living at it. It was during a time when people use to throw away
some
great stuff including antiques and other valuables and often times I made more money doing
that than working a regular job. For the most part though that era
and those times of easy antiques ending up on the roadside, in the dumpster,
or at the dump waiting to be brought to market are over and
I moved on. Going into antique stores and seeing stuff I was
selling for 5 & 10.00 being offered up for 50.00 - 100.00 was an added
incentive.
Carole, my wife and
partner, is a Phi Beta
Kappa graduate from Vassar, has a degree in Anthropology and a deep
appreciation for all old things, not just bones and stones. She has
a keen sense
and ability to interact with people that makes her eminently qualified to rummage around in other people's stuff
while they are still watching. My approach is a bit rougher. The differences
in our experiences, education and approach are complimentary though and have helped us stay focused and to evolve this
business and our style of buying and selling antiques to what it is today.
Without her I might still be rummaging around the dump and thrift stores.
Changing Times
Before the advent of the internet (BI) we use to spend 8-9
months of the year on the road and on the East Coast in our constant pursuit of quality antiques. We use to go from shop to shop,
show
to show,
and auction to auction buying and selling antiques with reckless abandon. The
supply of great antiques and great buyers of antiques seemed
endless in those pre-internet times. It was an exciting, fun, and rewarding
period, and it seemed there was no end
in site, on the horizon or anywhere else. WRONG!!
The Internet happened a new reality appeared began to take hold and evolved.
It was the end of that previous seemingly endless era of cheap antiques, and the beginning
of a new era
(AI) or After Internet.
The world of antiques and how to buy or sell them changed.
At first we were slow to adapt, and were resistant. MISTAKE!
Later we realized we were not getting any younger
and it really was a changed era. We had to
adapt, and the way we conducted our business had to change in order to
continue and prosper. Our WebPages
www.Patented-Aantiques.com,
and
www.Antiqbuyer.com were created, and we entered the new era.
Today
Today, our internet antique websites are our
way of
meeting the new challenges in the ever-changing world of buying
and selling antiques in today's world. I imagine it has been an experience much like
getting one of them new fangled telephones, or a gas powered vehicle was for the operators of
antiques shops and 
early sellers of antiques in the old times.
(WBI or Way Before Internet)
As a note, we
just got our first cell phone in 2006 and were also slow to adjust to that
change. We still do not get reception or service where we live out in the woods , and we are still on a dial-up connection, but cell phones sure are convenient when on the road and now are as much a
necessity as our websites are in order to conduct our antique business in today's world.
These days we spend far
more time sitting in front of the computer reading and answering emails
than sitting in the truck reading the map on our way to the next antique auction,
flea market / swap meet, antique show,
junk shop, or house call. The road warrior days of antiquing have
become very
inefficient, and are largely ineffective making that approach almost obsolete as
a viable means of acquiring quality antiques in today's
world. My "new" 93 diesel truck had 300,000 miles on it before finally
putting it out to pasture a few years back, and our intent is to now use the Internet
and our internet antique websites as a new "vehicle"
or means to continue in our quest
to buy and sell interesting and rare antiques and vintage collectibles.
We still routinely make house
calls from contacts generated from our antique related
websites
www. Patented-Antiques.com, and
www.AntiqBuyer.com. We are always interested in buying
or helping you sell quality collections of antiques or single
great pieces from individuals. That approach has become the primary
source for our purchasing antiques today. The days of going from show to show or shop to shop, and hitting
every out of the way shop between here and there in the quest for quality
antiques are basically over for us although we still do make 1 or 2 cross
country trips every spring and fall to follow up on leads our
sites have generated and attend a few decent shows that remain.
Collecting
Clubs
We are or have been
members of numerous collecting groups such as MWTCA, AFCC, PAST, ATTIC, ISMACS,
KOOKS, MSICC, EAIA, PATINA, CRAFTS, APES, ACME and others. These clubs, and
many other Collector Clubs are valuable sources of information and knowledge, and without
exception are worthwhile expenditures of time and money for collectors and
lovers of antiques. Our advice
to all collectors is to join such an antique collector club today and participate. It is a very rewarding experience.
Our Goals
Our goals for our antique
websites are to both help you buy and sell quality antiques. The primary goal of this Internet antique website
www.Patented-Antiques.com is to provide you with a high quality,
high-profile, easily accessib
le
quality antique sales site in the "new antique marketplace"
on the internet. We fully understand and are constant witnesses to
how the antique marketplace has been changing over the past few years.
This site will provide you with a new and viable alternative to the old
and now obsolete ways of both selling and acquiring
antiques.
We strive to provide you with a
reputable, knowledgeable, and hassle-free venue to sell your individual antique or
life-long
collection of antiques that are of interest to us.
Selling antiques on
consignment through a specialty
collector / dealer who is visible,
forthright and honest has several major advantages over selling
antiques locally where the limited buying knowledge of many "antique"
dealers, or even outright deceit can often lead to prices which can be far below the
current actual market values and what you might expect to receive.
This site, and our
strong desire to help you sell high quality antiques also offers you advantages over selling at most auctions
and dealing with the unpredictability of that venue where time, high commissions,
poor scheduling, and the overall uncertain nature of the end result can
often lead to major disappointments or worse.
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We Sell Antiques!
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We want to Help you Sell Your quality Antiques
