Antique Collectible

There is something intriguing about an antique – a long-ago far away feeling – that is almost enigmatic. A sort of mystery surrounds an antique object. Who were the people who first used it; what all has the object witnessed? History lives on through antiques.

Buttons are perhaps the most popular antique collectible. Buttons date back to ancient Egypt and China. But most antique buttons are from Europe and are not more than 200 years old. In fact, the period from 1830 to 1850 has been labeled as the Golden Age of buttons. Victorian buttons are an antique collector’s delight. The black ‘jet’ buttons worn by the Queen while she was mourning the death of her husband are extremely rare and valuable.

Antique buttons with pictures engraved or painted on them are the best storytellers. They have truly captured the essence of the bygone times. Another kind of antique buttons is the ‘realistic’ buttons that are shaped like real objects. ‘Habitat’ buttons take the idea of realism a step further; they have dried plants or insects nicely sealed under glass domes.

Often made of precious material like gold, mother of pearl and ivory, and handcrafted by artists, antique buttons are priced very high. The older and more rare the buttons, the more valuable they are. An antique button can cost up to a few thousand dollars. Enthusiasts around the world collect antique buttons. Collectors’ clubs organize competitions and exhibitions for its members. Antique buttons are increasingly being exhibited on the Internet.

Antique buttons came to be preserved because they were too beautiful to be thrown away. And in present times antique buttons hold a legacy that is too precious to be thrown away.

Labels: antique button, antique collectible, antique collectible auction

What is an antique lamp? I personally like the generalized definition which states that it is lamp which is from a bygone era. This places the term outside the legal arena and into a subjective personal usage which is where we commonly incur the term. "Era" is general perceived and is defined as a long indefinite time period which also works out perfectly for this generalized definition. I do not perceive any problems with this working definition especially since any identification of an "antique Lamp" is fairly useless anyway without some time period designation normally in the form of "circa year". i.e. "circa 1905" which literally means " about the year 1905. So I will use the term antique lamp on this basis and often substitute it with the term "vintage".

Determining the age of an antique lamp involves numerous factors. Many times the lamp itself will promptly place its origin in a certain time frame due to well known styles from specific time periods. Sometimes a component of the lamp is marked with a date, letters, numbers, graphics or other markings which places its origin in a certain time frame or within the context of certain manufacturers known during a specific time period. Old catalog photographs, old newspaper and magazine advertisements, museum photographs and various antique lighting books and publications are reliable resources from which to compare antique lamp styles in order to confirm the origin date and manufacturer. However some of these publications have a limited availability and are often quite expensive. There are numerous auctions that have listings for antique lamps but often their descriptions are either very limited or unknown and sometimes embellished. It is not unusual to find many of these auction listings completely erroneous and misleading especially in regards to attributing unmarked antique lamps to certain highly collectible manufacturers. These venues in general are not reliable sources for authenticating or identifying antique lamps. There are some exceptions to this caveat, namely certain reliable and professional auctioneers who have a long and reliable history of accurately listing antique lamps.

Generally, there are very limited reliable sources for identifying antique vintage lamps. Among the most reliable sources are experienced professional collectors, dealers and appraisers who have amassed an extensive knowledge base for certain vintage lamp manufacturers.

Many of the most experienced and knowledgeable resources are regularly inundated with requests from individuals asking for all sorts of information regarding their antique lamps. Many of these requests are in the form of "What is it worth? "How old is it?" "Who made it?". There are plenty of individuals who will offer free quick answers and advice to these questions without regard to the time tested principles of professional appraisal. These answers are usually worth just what they cost. A genuine antique lamp appraisal determines identity and value through lengthy and careful study and actual comparisons of real transactions of the same or similar vintage lamps. The resulting appraisal not only gives a true current market value (always changing) of the antique lamp but also provides detailed historical information regarding the antique lamp, the lamp manufacturer and sometimes general historical information of the period.

Labels: antique collectible, antique collectible dealer

Labels: ngadutrafik, ngadutrafik 2007

It has always been a puzzle to me when an object, somewhat aged, can be termed an antique.

Must it be really very old- perhaps in excess of 100 years to be called an antique? Or just when can we call an object an antique?

After all, we very loosely use the term antique for any object that has lived past its popularity. A lady's coach handbag that was in vogue in summer, is now called an antique in winter!

In the days of the British Empire where the British had their conquests in far away worlds and colonised many territories, they left behind many legacies of worth. British systems of government, british designs and most of all british products and goods which now can rightly be called antiques and their systems "antiquated" at this time. Thus when I discovered a really old looking lock with the logo of the maker stamped onto it and marked "Warranted Best English Made" and " Warranted Secure" amongst some old belongings inherited from my deceased father who lived through the colonial period, I thought the lock must really be an antique.

So when is an antique really an antique?

The definition of antique varies from location to location, product to product and year to year.

In any case, universal common definitions of antiques adopted worldwide consider an item which is at least 75 years old and has unique features to enable it to be collected or kept as desirable due to it being rare, or useful is considered an antique.

Generally, cars are considered antiques in the U.S. if they are older than 25 years. In Kansas, however, I learnt that cars are eligible for an antique tag after 30 years. Guitars are only considered vintage if they were made before 1972.

In the UK anything over 75 years old generally qualifies as an antique. A car is known as a collectible "classic" rather than an antique after 25 years.

There is an understood line between antiques and collectibles in the United States as well. An item is tagged as an antique by most reliable commercial antique dealers if it is more than 100 years old, even though the universal common understanding is 75 years, and anything less than 100 years is called a collectible.

It is not always the antiques that carries a higher price tag. Collectibles can be worth many times that of an antique. It all depends on the eyes of the beholder.

Labels: antique collectible, shopping antique and collectible

Fans date back many thousands of years but it is mainly those from the 1800s and 1900s that are most collectable today. Though many types and styles of fan appeared over the centuries it is the folding typed that can be splayed out and retracted into a compact stick shape that have proved most popular for users and collectors.

Their purpose was multifold and not always for staying cool in hot climates. They were used as fashion accessories, to hide blushing and facial blemishes, for flirting and to remain anonymous in public.

For us, they have just one main purpose, to fetch high prices on eBay. And they do fetch high prices, especially the most delicate types covered in lace or hand painted or craftsman carved. The more elaborate, generally speaking, the more money a fan will fetch. Most costly of all are fans encrusted with jewels and precious metals as well as some Art Deco and Art Nouveau types by popular artists during the 1920s and 1930s.

Lace fans represent a popular collectible in their own right especially early hand-woven silk lace filigree types. Lace fans, being easily torn and quick to fade, fetch a high premium in good condition. Silk lace was very rarely used and being so delicate few silk lace fans survived the decades unscathed by use or exposure to sunlight and dampness. Those that have survived in good condition are extremely collectable, very rare and incredibly expensive.

In recent weeks some high prices have been raised on eBay for fans I swear are similar to many I've seen selling for just a few pounds in local auction.

On eBay, an antique French Lace and Mother of Pearl fan with box recently fetched £180; a folding paper fan with an advertisement for 'Parfum Pommeia' made £75, and several late Victorian fans made from paper and hand painted with butterflies and flowers raised over £50 each.

Tips

* Fans often attract heavy bidding, not because they are beautiful or collectable, but because they interest people with widely different collecting tastes. Some people want fans, per se; others collect the theme depicted on fans, such as dogs, Japanese art; some buy for the materials used especially fancy feathers and fabulous lace.

* So when you're selling, remember always to study possible collecting themes associated with each item and consider listing in two eBay categories: vintage fans under (usually) Collectables > Vanity / Perfume / Grooming > Other Vanity / Grooming, and whatever sub-category attracts the alternative collector. I have though seen fans, especially modern types, listed alongside clothing and accessories, and older fans with advertising or dog paintings listed under Collectibles > Advertising and Collectibles > Animals > Dogs > Breed, respectively.

* Look for quality fans created on delicate hand-carved structures made from bamboo and finely carved wood (sometimes ivory and horn), embellished with hand painted paper and silk or impacted with fine jewels and gold leaf.

* The earliest fans were hand-woven in bobbin and needlelace style often from silk and these are the rarest and most desirable of all collectable fans, also the most expensive.

* Condition is vitally important to price of fans and because they were meant to be used, not stored away, most fans either got broken or discarded when they fell out of fashion. Heat and strong sunlight are the worst enemies of these delicate items, and both cause colours to fade and lace or paper to disintegrate and grow mouldy.

* Fans should be stored in acid-free boxes, placed flat and fully opened, with padding below the bottom fan and more padding with acid-free tissue paper between fans placed on top.

* Never attempt to clean fans with erasers or water, most are extremely fragile and you may cause them to disintegrate.

* Fans should not be opened and framed. Stretching causes stress that tugs at the folds and can cause splitting. Glass covering might keep out the dust, but it also leads to foxing and sweating which destroys and fades delicate fabric on folds and elsewhere, and eventually causes delicate materials to fall away from the fan's basic structure.

Labels: antique collectible, shopping antique and collectible

No one knows how the game of Chess began. It is not clear whether one person invented it, or whether several different board games gradually merged into one. Indoor board games have been played for millenniums, but the game Chaturanga, linked to modern-day Chess can be traced back to seventh-century India. Its roots probably go back further. The game may even have emerged from a religious ceremony held in order to divine the balance between good and evil. Since it's so hard to draw exact conclusions from such sparse evidence, we may never know for sure where Chess really originated. Regardless of where it originated, chess is the most enjoyable board game that gentlemen can play. The use of strategy to make and plan moves is loved by many.

From India, Chess spread quickly to Persia (present-day Iran), and after the Arabian conquest, it reached the Arab world. Chaturanga now renamed Shatranj, thrived in the "Golden Age of Islam" between the eight and the eleventh century. The Arabs were great mathematicians, and the numerical nature of Chess complemented their scientific interests. Chess arrived in Europe by a variety of different trade routes and by the early invasions of Spain and Sicily. The Vikings took Chess farther westward, and by the beginning of the eleventh century, Chess was already well known across Europe.

In a short span of time, Chess became the most popular board game in Europe. A very interesting set of chess pieces called the Isle Lewis chess set was found at Nig, in the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. The Isle Lewis chess set dates back to about the twelfth century. The Isle Lewis chess set forms the oldest surviving complete Chess set. The Isle Lewis chess set pieces are usually carved from walrus ivory and depict characters in a variety of bad moods, from rage to gloom. The backs are carved with elaborate interlacing designs like those on the reverse of the old Tarot cards. The Queens rest their cheeks on their right hands, the Kings have swords laid across their laps, while the Bishops are mitered and are seated. The contemporary Isle Lewis chess set is a collection of all chess pieces you need to play a game of Chess.

Many a debate has been settled with the playing of the game. Chess uses advanced strategies in order to plan your moves ahead of time. Without this planning, it is easy to loose a game of chess rather quickly.

Labels: antique collectible, antique collectible ebay, shopping antique and collectible