Antique collecting during the pandemic
At home, in Bucks County, with their collectibles, many people are expanding, shrinking, or reorganizing their treasure troves. During the ongoing pandemic, hobbies like collecting can bring a bounty of joy among so much uncertainty. Many Americans have spent the past months stocking up on jigsaw puzzles or brewing sourdough starters to fill the time.
For many longtime antique collectors, 2020 has given them the opportunity to lean into their passions, adding comic books or model cars to their shelves, or taking stock of what they already own and can do without, and purging some of their pieces, flooding the market with coveted toys or books or antiques for the next collector to buy.
Collecting provides solace and structure and gives us ways to be productive doing something we enjoy. That doesn’t always mean buying a new piece. It can be as simple as researching your pieces or rearranging them, or just sitting and experiencing joy just by looking at them. Collecting is also about control. In a world where we have no control, thanks to Covid, we can control our collections.
Spending so much time with their collections during the pandemic has also spurred some people to think about parting with a few items, either for financial reasons or because they have had plenty of time to rearrange and come to terms with a purge. While collectors contemplate scaling back, auction houses and online trading sites have seen strong growth in 2020. People are at home; they’re scrolling to pass the time and they are springing for items they need or want in their collections. But for those people who are purging, there are many more willing to purchase those purges.
Antique collecting has shown a resurgence thanks in part to the pandemic. While it hasn’t been easy to visit antique stores or go to flea markets, many shops have posted their antiques online which has allowed people to continue to shop and buy. Now that stores are starting to open back up, there are now more avenues than ever to locate something for their collections.
People aren’t putting money into the stock market; they are going to make themselves happy and collect. Despite the pandemic and stress of 2020, people spent money. And they spent it on things they love, things that make them happy. Whether it be crafting, a hobby of collecting antiques, doing something you love should continue.
There is escapism that comes with collecting. It’s the little things that sometimes get us through anything. Sometimes those little things just happen to be Pez dispensers or comic books or something that just puts a smile on our face when we look at them. If you have been collecting for some time or have just discovered a love for it, visit antique stores like Antique Allure. You’ll spend hours exploring and there is always something for everyone.
