How to Be an Antique Picker

Image Gallery Coffee Spice and Drug Mills. ILLUSTRATION: FROM THE 1895 MONTGOMERY WARD CATALOG AS REPRINTED BY DOVER PUBLICATIONS

OK . . . so you've finally made the break. You worked and saved and sold everything you didn't need and borrowed and finally got enough together to buy that farm you'd been dreaming about. You've gotten through the first winter, the crops are planted, the cow's giving milk regularly and everything's fine. It looks like you're going to make it . . . And then the old John Deere breaks down and the barn roof starts to leak and your lady wants that new loom more than anything and the one thing you don't have is plain ol' hard cash money. The farm is nowhere near being a financial success and, besides, you aren't doing it for the money anyway and you can't—get a job and run the farm and, besides that, you need the money now, not next month and just how are you going to take care of those unexpected expenses?

Fear not! There is, indeed, a way that works for many others and that just might work for you.

Be an Antique Picker

Antique Picking is the art of buying antiques from auctions and sales and people and selling them at a profit to antique shops. People who do this are known as Antique Pickers.

Antique shops have to get their merchandise somewhere, and while some dealers make the rounds of auctions and sales, there are many others who can't because they don't have the time or they're little old ladies or they don't have a truck or whatever. Even those dealers who do go to auctions and sales can't go to them all. If you're clever, you can even buy at an auction a dealer attends and turn around and sell him the very thing he bid on earlier. More about that later.

To get started on the road to fame and fortune as an Antique Picker, all you need is a little capital. And it can really be a little. You can start with five dollars . . . maybe even less if You're really clever. While it helps to have a truck or a station wagon, it isn't absolutely essential. Here are some antique picking tips to help you along the way.

If all you have is an old VW or a bike or feet, then you can limit yourself to dealing in small antiques—jewelry, lamps, glass, china, silver, old bottles, stuff like that. In fact, it helps to have a specialty. If you get to know a particular field extremely well, not only will you probably do better at buying, but shop owners will come to respect and trust you for your expertise in that area.

Incidentally, in that last sentence, there was a very important word. Trust. The people you deal with must be able to trust you. Don't rip anybody off ever for any reason. The antique business is an easy business to be dishonest in. There are plenty of temptingly gullible folks and plenty of downright despicable people who maybe deserve being ripped off . . . but don't do it anyway. There are already enough rip-offs in the antique business. Of course, there's no harm in learning to be an uncommonly clever horse trader. That's part of the game.

It's not necessary to be an antiques expert to be a successful picker, but a little basic knowledge is essential and, at the end of this article is a list of books which will help. Most of them cost more than they're worth, but the local library is bound to have some of them. Study the books carefully until you know one style and one period from another. Shouldn't take more than an evening or two.