8 Tips to start collecting
A collection can be anything that you bring together into a group. There is no limit to what you can collect. Look around; perhaps you have a collection and aren’t even aware of it. Many collectors in the vintage and antique genre collect for several reasons. They collect because those items remind them of a time long ago that they wish to keep alive. Others collect for the value of an antique item with the hopes that someday they can sell their collection for profit.
Whatever your reasoning for collecting is, we want to give you a few tips to get started.
- Collect what interests you, what you enjoy, and what is relatively easy to find. If you are collecting something for its value, you can get to that later on. The idea of collecting if you are new to it is to get your feet wet. Find enjoyment in it first.
- Stay within your budget. You can expand your collections later with items that are more valuable or you can sell off appreciated items to collect other things.
- Seek out items in good condition with no repairs. Vintage and antique items are less desirable if they are beyond repair or in poor condition.
- Be wary of reproductions and fakes. They are out there, even in the antique world.
- Items are more desirable if they come in their original packaging. Seek to find these items but again, if you are collecting to enjoy, don’t pass on an item if the packaging is missing and you truly love it.
- The best strategy is to collect what you like without regard to possible appreciation. If it goes up in value, that’s great. The whole art of collecting is to find things you love and want to have around you.
- The values of antiques and collectibles rise and fall over time as items gain and lose popularity. Just keep this information in the back of your mind. Unless you find the Hope diamond in your adventures, you aren’t going to get rich too quickly.
- The price of antiques depends on their location as well. You will find that antique Southern furniture is highly sought after in the South, California pottery prices are higher in California, and English silver is more valuable when you sell it in England.
Give yourself an idea of what you want to collect and then go shopping! You will find that many antique shops and malls have a little bit of everything when it comes to vintage and antique items. Go to estate sales and even yard sales. However, do your homework first on what you are interested in collecting. You may find that rare vintage piece at a garage sale because the owner has no idea what they are selling. But you have to know that it’s the real deal before you buy it.
