Orange County

Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals

 All Chester Village Listings

 Chester Village Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals

10918, Antiques, 18th & 19th century antiques, Chester, NY, best choice Antique and unusual items from quality estates, collectors and old and new houses | Orange Chester Square Antiques

845-469-9754
  Chester Square Antiques offering 18th & 19th century antiques, is located at 104 Main Street, Chester, NY 10918 in Orange County.

From Chester Square: "We travel all over the Hudson Valley, New York and into New Jersey buying the best choice Antique and unusual items from quality estates, collectors and old and new houses. Stop by and browse. Antiques, Antique and Modern Furniture, Collectibles, Jewelry and more." Chester Square Antiques | Orange  more . . .
 All Cornwall-on-Hudson Listings

 Cornwall-on-Hudson Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals

12518, Cornwall Clock Shop, offering antique clocks, parts and repairs, is located at 316 Main Street, Cornwall, NY | Orange Cornwall Clock Shop

845-534-9677
  Cornwall Clock Shop, offering antique clocks, parts and repairs, is located at 316 Main Street, Cornwall, NY 12518 in Orange County. By appointment only. Cornwall Clock Shop | Orange  more . . .

12520, Jewelers, fine antique and estate jewelry, Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY, vintage jewelry store, unique modern, antique and estate jewelry, repair shop, antique and estate jewelry, gemstones, GIA Graduate Gemologists and appraisers | Orange GHS Jewelers

845-534-8344
  GHS Jewelers, offering fine antique and estate jewelry, is located at 1 Idlewild Ave., Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY 12520 in Orange County.

From GHS Jewelers: " GHS Jewelers is Orange County’s and the Hudson Valley’s leader in fine jewelry for over 30 years. Located in historic and beautiful Cornwall-on-Hudson, since 1981, GHS Jewelers has grown from a small fine antique and vintage jewelry store to having a large selection of unique modern, antique and estate jewelry, as well as, a full custom department and repair shop. GHS Jewelers | Orange  website and more . . .
 All Goshen Listings

 Goshen Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals

10924, antique, vintage, handmade items, Goshen, NY, Orange County | Orange Old's Cool

845-527-5783
  Old's Cool, offering antique, vintage, and handmade items, is located at 10 New Street, Goshen, NY 10924 in Orange County. Old's Cool | Orange  more . . .
 All Highland Mills Listings

 Highland Mills Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals

Yesterday's Village

845-928-9001
 
 All City of Middletown Listings

 City of Middletown Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals

Revival Workshop

845-343-4621
 
 All Montgomery Listings

 Montgomery Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals

12549, Antique Center, Montgomery, NY, selling antiques, Antiquing, antique market, unique antique collectibles and furniture, Fresh inventory, home décor, antique collection | Orange Clinton Shops Antique Center

845-457-5392
  Clinton Shops Antique Center, is located at 84 Clinton Street, Montgomery, NY 12549 in Orange County.

From Clinton Shops: "In 1985, Nina & Steve Snyder opened Clinton Shops Antique Center as a transition from selling antiques from their home. Antiquing has always been a passion that has been a big part of their personal lives, making it an easy decision when the opportunity to open their store came up. Clinton Shops Antique Center | Orange  more . . .

12549, Montgomery, NY, outdoor wicker, metal furniture, antique farm tools, unique pieces of garden décor, outdoor furniture, lawn decorations, and vintage one-of-a-kinds, affordable antiques, art, depression glass, memorabilia | Orange Hidden Barn

845-778-2575
  Hidden Barn, offering an eclectic mix of unique items, is located at 24 Bailey Road, Montgomery, NY 12549 in Orange County.

From Hidden Barn: "If you're shopping for something a little different why not try shopping at someplace a little different. Hidden Barn | Orange  website and more . . .

12549, Antique Center, multi-dealer antique shop, Montgomery, NY 12549 in Orange County | Orange Montgomery Antique Center

845-457-7100
  Montgomery Antique Center, a multi-dealer antique shop, is located at 40 Railroad Ave., Montgomery, NY 12549 in Orange County. Montgomery Antique Center | Orange  more . . .

12549, Antiques, handmade pottery, Montgomery, NY | Orange Olde Towne Antiques

845-457-1030
  Olde Towne Antiques, offering handmade pottery, is located in a small shop in a restored house, where antiques are displayed throughout the house, at 70 Union Street, Montgomery, NY 12549 in Orange County. Open by appointment 7 days a week. Olde Towne Antiques | Orange  more . . .
 All New Hampton Listings

 New Hampton Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals

Four Winds Antique Center is located at RR 17 New Hampton, NY 10958 in Orange County. | Orange Four Winds Antique Center

845-374-7272
  Four Winds Antique Center is located at RR 17 New Hampton, NY 10958 in Orange County.

Four Winds Antique is a mid-price range antiques shop with affordable collectibles, furniture, glassware, pottery, porcelain, jewelry, ephemera, Historical, transportation, and pop-culture collectibles for the younger crowd. Four Winds Antique Center | Orange  more . . .
 All City of Newburgh Listings

 City of Newburgh Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals

12550, Antique & Collectible Shop, coins, stamps, gems, watches, Newburgh, NY, Collectibles, 
Coins, Stamps, Gems and minerals, Fossils, Militaria, Jewelry and ancient artifacts, Sport items, Glass and pottery, Paintings, Watches and clocks, Toy soldiers | Orange Antique & Collectible Shop

845-561-7723
  The Antique & Collectible Shop, offering a selection of coins, stamps, gems, watches, and more, is located at 555 Broadway, Newburgh, NY 12550 in Orange County.

From Antique & Collectible Shop: "Are you a collector looking for unique items? Visit The Antique & Collectible Shop and see a wide variety of merchandise. We are located in Newburgh, NY. Our staff is ready to assist you with all your needs. If we don’t have the item you are looking for, we will go out of our way to find it." Antique & Collectible Shop | Orange  more . . .

Stephanie's Storage Sale

845-863-5332
  Stephanie's Storage Sale is located at 815 Blooming Grove Tpke, Suite 201, New Windsor, NY 12553 in Orange County.

From Stephanie: "We offer shabby chic, country, furniture, vintage, retro and antiques and resale and we take items on consignment. 10% off to all military, veterans, and seniors.I have a passion for thrifting. I started going to yard sales back in a time where is was not chic. As a single parent I quickly learned the value of thrifting to get quality items for less. I rarely purchase anything new and I am always searching for a bargain. With today's economy these types of businesses have become the norm. Not only is this a good avenue to save your budget, but it is environmentally healthy. As a Nation we have our landfills filled with waste." Stephanie's Storage Sale | Orange  more . . .
 All Orange County Listings

 Orange County Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals

world's best dealers, finest shops and most important galleries | Orange 1stdibs

  1stdibs, connecting the "world's best dealers, finest shops and most important galleries with individuals like you, the world's most sophisticated collectors, designers and curators. Starting with the few dealers that were hand-selected by our founder Michael Bruno at Paris's legendary antiques market, Marché Aux Puces, in 2001, we've become the global destination for those who must have 'first dibs' on treasures - from around the world - that would otherwise be inaccessible.

1stdibs IS THE WORLD'S LEADING ONLINE MARKETPLACE
FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS ON EARTH


Inspired by the Historic MARCHÉ AUX PUCES in Paris
1stdibs | Orange  website and more . . .
 All Pine Bush - Orange County Listings

 Pine Bush - Orange County Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals

12566, Antiques, furniture: armoires, cupboards, desks, bookcases, china closets, dressers, beds, tables, chairs, 18th & 19th century furnishings, Victorian, Renaissance Revival, Rococo Revival, Gothic Revival, Federal, French, Country, Oak periods | Orange Country Heritage Antiques Center

845-800-8955
  Country Heritage Antiques, specializing in furniture: armoires, cupboards, desks, bookcases, china closets, dressers, beds, tables, chairs, is located at 112 Maple Ave., Pine Bush, NY 12566 in Orange County.

From Country Heritage Antiques: "Country Heritage Antiques specializes in quality 18th & 19th century furnishings of the Victorian, Renaissance Revival, Rococo Revival, Gothic Revival, Federal, French, Country and Oak periods. Many of our pieces are representative of cabinetmakers such as R.J. Horner, Thomas Brooks, Alexander Roux, J&J Meeks, Pottier & Stymus, Herter Bros., Leon Marcotte and others. Country Heritage Antiques Center | Orange  more . . .

Kelso Antiques

845-744-2828
  Kelso Antiques, offering early American pattern glass and other kitchen collectibles, is located at 247 Maple Avenue, Pine Bush, NY 12566 in Orange County. Kelso Antiques | Orange  more . . .
 All City of Port Jervis Listings

 City of Port Jervis Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals

Maricel's Attick

845-672-3554
  Maricel's Attic, offering antiques and collectibles, is located at 47- 49 Front Street, Port Jervis, NY 12771 in Orange County.

From Maricel's: "An eclectic mix of antique and vintage furniture, art pottery, fine art and depression glass, silver, oil paintings, Maxfield Parrish prints, sports paraphernalia, and so much more." Maricel's Attick | Orange  website and more . . .

12771, Shabby Chic furniture, found object art, Port Jervis, NY | Orange Twenty Seven Gallery

845-856-2727
  Twenty Seven Gallery, offering Shabby Chic furniture, found object art, and unusual items is located at 27 Front Street, Port Jervis, NY 12771 in Orange County. Twenty Seven Gallery | Orange  more . . .
 All Tuxedo Park Listings

 Tuxedo Park Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals

10987, Antiques,Tuxedo, NY, mid-century modern furniture, Asian artworks, oriental rugs, and retro pieces, Flea Markets, mid-century modern expertise, fine antique carpets, 20th century art  extending to old masters, 18th and 19th century | Orange BackHome Antiques

845-915-3505
  BackHome Antiques is locatged at 215 Route 17, Tuxedo, NY 10987 in Orange County.

From BackHomeAntiques: "The shop is very warm and inviting; you will not feel like you are in a museum, our pieces are priced to sell. Our goal is to turnover our inventory so that customers see different items each time they visit. BackHome Antiques | Orange  more . . .

10987, Antiques, jewelry and collectibles, Tuxedo NY, Orange County | Orange Vera Johnson Antiques

845-351-4466
  Vera Johnson Antiques, offering jewelry and collectibles, is located at 538 Route 17, Tuxedo NY 10987 in Orange County. Vera Johnson Antiques | Orange  more . . .
 All Warwick Listings

 Warwick Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals

oldest largest independent Antique/ Collectable dealer in The Warwick Valley. We always have over 2000 smalls, Victorian & Eclectic  furniture as well as a large collection of Antique Victorian Trunks | Orange 1809 House

845-986-1809
  The 1809 House, offering antiques and collectables, is located at 210 South Route 94, Warwick NY 10990 in Orange County.

From 1809 House: "We are the oldest largest independent Antique/ Collectable dealer in The Warwick Valley. We always have over 2000 smalls, Victorian & Eclectic furniture as well as a large collection of Antique Victorian Trunks." 1809 House | Orange  website and more . . .

10990, antiques and collectibles, Warwick, NY, decorative items, mid-18th century through the 1970's, Antiques and Collectibles, China, Lightings, Furniture, Jewelry, Paintings, Pottery, Shabby chic furniture, Shelving bookcases, Vintage Clothing | Orange Eclectic Eye Antiques

845-986-5520
  Eclectic Eye Antiques, offering 3000 square feet of antiques and collectibles, is located at 16-18 Railroad Ave., Warwick, NY 10990 in Orange County.

Items include unique decorative items from the mid-18th century through the 1970's, fine paintings, Glidden Pottery, couture clothing, fine lithographs. Eclectic Eye Antiques | Orange  website and more . . .

10990, collection of fine antique clocks, collectibles, furniture, primitives, home décor, Warwick NY, Orange County | Orange Hands Of Time

845-988-5100
  Hands Of Time, offering a collection of fine antique clocks, collectibles, furniture, primitives, and home décor, is located at 85 Kings Highway, Warwick NY 10990 in Orange County. Hands Of Time | Orange  more . . .

10990, Flea Market, vintage home décor, full range of antiques, Warwick NY, vintage, antique and collectible, hand-made items, refurbished furniture, one-of-kind gifts | Orange Paris Flea Market

845-986-9038
  Paris Flea Market, offering vintage home décor and a full range of antiques, is located at 314 South Route 94, Warwick NY 10990 in Orange County.

From Paris Flea Market: "The Paris Flea Market is one of those 'best things'. This is a wonderful little shop, packed full with the best variety in all things vintage, antique and collectible. There is also an amazing selection of hand-made items, refurbished furniture, and one-of-kind gifts. We have several different vendors, all offering their very best finds for you. This shop is worth the trip from anywhere." Paris Flea Market | Orange  more . . .

10990, Antiques, fine antiques and collectibles, restored period Victorian mansion, period antiques, collectibles at affordable prices, fine Asian antiques, furniture, art, textiles, jade, swords, sculptures, bronzes and porcelains | Orange Warwick House of Antiques

845-986-1505
  Warwick House of Antiques, offering fine antiques and collectibles in a gracious Victorian mansion, is located at 12 Oakland Ave., Warwick, NY 10990 in Orange County.

From Warwick House: "The Warwick House of Antiques is located in a restored period Victorian mansion in the Village of Warwick, NY. We have a large selection of fine period antiques and collectibles at affordable prices. We are a family-owned business committed to providing quality items to our clients. We have a sub-specialty in fine Asian antiques including furniture, art, textiles, jade, swords, sculptures, bronzes and porcelains and have one of the largest Asian inventories in the region." Warwick House of Antiques | Orange  website and more . . .

 More Hudson Valley  Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals


Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals | Albany Albany County
      [15 listings over 4 locations]


Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals | Columbia Columbia County
      [35 listings over 9 locations]


Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals | Dutchess Dutchess County
      [21 listings over 10 locations]


Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals | Greene Greene County
      [5 listings over 4 locations]


Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals | Putnam Putnam County
      [16 listings over 3 locations]


Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals | Rensselaer Rensselaer County
      [2 listings over 2 locations]


Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals | Rockland Rockland County
      [2 listings over 2 locations]


Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals | Saratoga Saratoga County
      [1 listing over 1 location]


Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals | Schenectady Schenectady County
      [1 listing over 1 location]


Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals | Ulster Ulster County
      [12 listings over 6 locations]


Antique Shops | Consignment | Appraisals | Westchester Westchester County
      [69 listings over 27 locations]



Antique Shops | Consignment |Appraisals
Collectibles | Auctions
Orange County
Hudson Valley

Verified (2016) up-to-date and comprehensive list of antique stores in Orange County. Are you planning to go antiquing in Orange? Visit the antique shops and antique malls in the quaint towns and villages in Orange, New York. There are excellent places to buy antiques in the towns of Chester, Cornwall, Goshen, Newburgh, Port Jervis, and Wallkill. Go antiquing and find a fabulous selection of items in many prices ranges and from several periods.

Find a variety of antique inventory, including furniture, home accessories, silverware, flatware, collectibles, custom furnishings, garden ornaments, and many one-of-a-kind items from around the world. Several antique shops offer vintage collectibles from the 1800's to mid-century modern, antique lighting, decorative pieces, garden items, linens, and jewelry. For the best antiques, visit:

Visit the Scenic Hudson Valley. Take a scenic drive from New York City to the charming towns and historic villages scattered throughout the Hudson River Valley. Spend time in the River Towns on the Hudson Valley. Find the best places to stay and wonderful restaurants as you drive from village to village; viewing magnificent landscapes, beautiful mountains, and places to see in the Hudson River Valley of New York.

While you're visiting Orange in the mid-Hudson Valley, make some time to go shopping in Central Valley, New York; home to Woodbury Common Premium Outlets. This upscale outlet shopping mall offers over 200 outlets of designer clothes, sportswear, housewares, home furnishings. Also find great buys for children's, women's and men's clothing in these high-end outlets.

When you have finished shopping and it's time for a coffee or dinner break, find excellent Hudson Valley restaurants from Westchester to Albany. You'll find the best places to eat, many offering Farm-To-Table cuisine supplied by local farms. Be sure to try a restaurant offering local organic and grass-fed dishes available in several of the best restaurants in the Hudson River Valley. Or, eat-out in Orange home to many excellent Italian restaurants and restaurants on the waterfront of the Hudson River.

Before buying that next piece of antique furniture, or getting an appraisal from a knowledgeable New York antique dealer, read "What is an Antique"? The more you know and understand about antiques, the more fun you can have talking to antique dealers, understanding an antique appraisal, and searching the antique shops.

What is an Antique?
In 1930 the U.S. Government ruled that objects had to be at least 100 years old to be classified as an antique, so they could be admitted duty free into the U.S. This was a legislative tax decision. Since then, antiques have often been defined as objects made before 1830.

In Europe, items as recent as that seem quite young. In contrast with a classic Roman head, an 18th-century chair is modern. Antique shops in European cities are often called "antiquities" shops. Except for Indian relics and a few Spanish buildings in the Southwest, the oldest American antiques are but 300 years old.

Americans experience the same contrast in their shops. To a New Englander who knows the pine furniture of Pilgrim days, a Victorian sofa doesn't seem antique. But in Nebraska or Oregon it does, because it represents the earliest furnishings in the region. The age of antiques seems to vary in relation to their environment. The perception of "What is antique?" changes from region to region in countries around the world.

Americans often count among their antiques items made by machine as well as those wrought by hand. Most of these are later than 1830. Circa 1830, may serve as a dividing line between the age of craftsmanship and the machine age.

A cup without a handle but with two saucers, a salt crock to hang on a kitchen wall, a cream pitcher in the form of a cow with luster spots over its white pottery body, an amber bottle shaped like a fish - all these were useful and probably treasured possessions in homes 85 to 150 years ago. Today, eyebrows would be raised if tea were served in a cup without a handle, and the salt crock would be considered unsanitary. Their value lies in their being antiques. As such, they are as genuine as the brass lantern with beveled glass sides that hangs in the hall of the Governor's Palace, restored to its eighteenth-century splendor, in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Antiques command more attention today than they ever have. Nothing that was of personal or household use during the last 300 years is too minor for consideration in this century. Yet hundreds of simple everyday articles that once were indispensable now are left to gather dust or are unrecognized for what they are.

An antique, according to the dictionary, is "a piece of furniture, tableware or the like, made at a much earlier period than the present." It is not, however, necessarily out-of-date or old fashioned. A chair that was built soundly from good hardwood around 1820 and is comfortable to sit on is never out-of-date. How many years old must a chair, a plate, a trivet, a fan, or a clock be to warrant its being called an antique without anyone's arguing the point? Some people insist on a precise number of years, such as 80 or 100. The 80-year span is justified on the basis of two generations, each covering 40 years. Yet a watch that is only 75 years old is likely to look old-fashioned, and so perhaps it also is an antique. Certainly anything that is 100 years old deserves the label.

An official definition of an antique is stated in the Tariff Act of 1930. According to Paragraph 1811 of that Act, antiques are "works of art (except rugs and carpets made after the year 1700), collections in illustration of the progress of the arts, works in bronze, marble, terra cotta, Parian, pottery or porcelain, artistic antiquities and objects of ornamental character or educational value which shall have been produced prior to the year 1830."

This statement is clear in its application to imports and the payment of duty on them. But the year 1830 is more than an arbitrary date in the classification of American antiques. It was about this time that mass production and factory manufacture began to displace the making of individual pieces entirely by hand. Glass began to be pressed into forms by machine instead of being hand-blown. Chairs were the first piece of furniture to which assembly line methods were applied. Although the cabinetmaker, the glassblower, the blacksmith, and other craftsmen were not put out of business immediately, each succeeding decade brought an increase in mass manufacturing.

The fact that a chair or table was made by a cabinetmaker before 1830 does not necessarily make it a more valuable antique than a chair made thereafter. All the cabinetmakers in any period were not equally skillful; many of them turned out mediocre pieces. But in every craft that contributed to daily living, some workmen produced wares that made their name famous.

The painted side chair with stencil decoration and rush seat was produced in quantity and sold cheaply during the 1820's because Lambert Hitchcock turned his Connecticut workroom into a factory where the parts were cut and turned, assembled, and then decorated, so that many more chairs were completed in a day than if a workman had concentrated on a single chair from start to finish. The Hitchcock chair now is as undeniably an antique as a mahogany fiddle-back Empire chair or a Chippendale ladder-back made many years earlier by cabinetmakers. So also are a steeple clock of the 1860's, a pressed glass lamp that burned whale oil during the 1840's or a brass student lamp that burned kerosene in the 1880's, and the cut glass wedding presents of the 1890's.

The quest for antiques can be successful in different regions of the country. In the Southwest, the oldest traditions and antiques are Spanish in origin, although people there share with the rest of the United States a rich Victorian background. Louisiana is a notable area in the United States and Canada where the influence was primarily French. In the Northwest and in the north central states, descendants of Scandinavian settlers are proud of handsome carved bedsteads and equally handsome household linens.

Except for small districts where certain nationalities tended to settle during the nineteenth century, the eastern, southeastern, and Midwestern states reflect in their antiques a predominantly English influence. Household and family goods brought to this country, imported during Colonial days, and later produced here in great quantity followed trends and living habits established in England. The Orient also placed its stamp on eastern towns that thrived as seaports in the late 1700's and much of the 1800's, just as it did on England. To such centers as Salem and New Bedford, Massachusetts, Baltimore, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia, came Canton tableware, Kashmir shawls, teakwood chests and tables.

Not a day goes by but that someone in the United States glances at some object and fails to recognize it as an antique.Many homely things are packed away in trunks, chests, and cupboards or are gathering dust in attics and cellars. Clearing out a house where a single family has lived for a long time, or disposing of the possessions of an elderly relative, is almost certain to be rewarded with the discovery of some antiques. Few of the articles may be of museum quality. Some will have greater sentimental or nostalgic than monetary value. However, not even the stacks of magazines, the scrapbooks put together 75 or more years ago, or the clutter of dusty bottles should be tossed aside for the trash collector. At the very least, publications and clippings represent valuable research material for people in many fields of work today. If there's time to go through them, you may find an issue of a magazine, a lithograph in a scrapbook, or a historical flask among the old canning jars and milk bottles that will bring hard cash in the antique market.

It is a fact that any antique you come across that has no appeal for you or suggests no use to you is likely to be a treasure to someone else, who will gladly pay for it. Often, the person who buys will be a collector. A zealous collector usually specializes in a class or category of antiques. Preferences range from such popular things as pressed glass, some type of pottery, clocks, lamps, coins, coin banks, bottles, souvenir spoons, and guns to oddments such as butter pats, hatpin-holders, mustache cups, cut glass knife rests, and toothpicks.

Many collectors, including those who buy relatively inexpensive items such as hatpin-holders, gradually assemble a group that becomes valuable in terms of money. In contrast, there are people who literally buy antiques as an investment which they expect to increase in value. Such things as authentic Queen Anne and Philadelphia Chippendale furniture made here during the 1700's, Meissen figurines, and Lowestoft china are currently expensive examples of sound investments. Less costly now, but almost certain to increase in value during the next twenty years, are furniture made between 1785 and 1820, eighteenth and early nineteenth century brass, early nineteenth century china, Tiffany glass, and probably - cut glass.

People with money to invest seldom buy without the advice of a reliable antique dealer. Collectors, both those who rely on an expert and those who do not, are bound eventually to learn a good deal about their field and most of them become shrewd buyers. In self-defense, therefore, a person who owns or finds antiques must learn something about them before offering them for sale. It is not enough to be halfway convinced that the iridescent, marigold-hued glass bowl that you've kept in the cupboard because it came from home, but have never liked or used, is carnival or taffeta glass. When you attempt to make certain that it is, you undoubtedly will hear that there is at present a brisk market for this glass, which is hardly old enough yet to be antique.

Carnival glass does not have the name of the manufacturer or the butcher who gave it away worked in with the design, nor does any pressed glass that was obtained as a premium. Many other things displaying the name of the manufacturer or merchant that were given away between 1850 and 1900 are worth money today. If you find any fans, spoons, calendars, paper dolls (printing on the backs), a bootjack, or tin containers emblazoned with firm or trade names, they need not be discarded as trash.

Anyone who is in a hurry to sell the antiques found in an old house is probably wise to ask a reliable dealer to come in and look them over. He may be willing to handle the sale of some or all of them on the usual commission basis. Or, for a small fee, he may merely advise on the value and salability of the entire lot. Remember, antique dealers have customers, whereas you must find an interested buyer before you can dispose of anything, however rare, odd, or valuable it may seem.

If selling is not urgent, there are several ways a person can learn to recognize and, eventually, evaluate an antique. Visits to antique shops and occasional attendance at an auction in a city gallery or on a rural green are means of learning what is being offered for sale, what people are buying, and what prices are being paid.

Visiting restorations show how people lived - they are full of everyday things. A restoration visitor is often reminded of a nineteenth-century duplicate consigned to a cupboard at home as too ordinary to be considered an antique but too good to throw away. Fully as enlightening are the specialized exhibits at the Clock Museum in Bristol, Connecticut, the Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, New York, the Maritime Museum in San Francisco. California, and Henry Ford Museum and Dearborn Village in Dearborn, Michigan, to mention only a few.

Books are perhaps the easiest way to sharpen recognition and aid in the identification of antiques. There also are books on subjects as specific as milk glass, paperweights, and pewter.

Once an antique has been identified, its characteristics will have to be evaluated. Its approximate age, workmanship, the quality of the materials, present condition, and rarity all have a hearing on both its intrinsic and market values. Repair or restoration may downgrade an antique. A piece of pressed glass that can be authenticated as having been made at the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company's factory in Sandwich, Massachusetts, is to be prized or sold for a good price. However, many excellent as well as beautiful pieces came from factories elsewhere in New England and in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio.

Owners often carelessly fool themselves into believing that an antique is older than it actually is. The Queen Anne style in furniture, for example, was made everywhere in America between 1725 and 1750. Its distinguishing details continued to be followed, particularly in rural areas, for many years after other styles had come into fashion. Thus, a tea table made in New Hampshire in the early 1800's may well have some distinctly Queen Anne characteristics.

There is a tendency also among owners who are not familiar with the antique market to set an inflated valuation on anything they wish to sell. Pride and sentiment have nothing to do with selling prices. The appraised value of an antique, stated after careful examination by a qualified expert, may well be higher than current market value. In antiques as in everything else, the selling price is determined by supply and demand. Pressed glass brings much higher prices now than it did thirty years ago when collecting it first became popular.

Every year adds both prestige and value to nineteenth-century antiques. It will take longer, because more of everything was made during the 1800's, but sooner or later the number of nineteenth-century pieces will be reduced just as eighteenth-century antiques have been-by collectors and investors. Add those who enjoy living with antiques. The increasing number of folk museums and restorations is another drain, for such places may sell reproductions but not authentic pieces. If not this week, then some day, the Double Nine-Patch quilt hand stitched about 1810 and other equally unpretentious furnishings and belongings are certain to rank as important inheritances. A second look at utensils from a nineteenth-century kitchen may prove them to be as worthwhile from an antique standpoint as the parlor furniture.

Source "What is an Antique"




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