Buy and Sell Collectibles

General buying and selling tips when purchasing or selling collectibles

• Read collectors’ magazines - Antiques & Collectables, Collectables, Collect it! - they all feature collectors’ clubs for antique and modern collectibles. They’re among the best and cheapest places to turn for specialist advice on identifying and valuing finds. Most are organised by collectors for collectors - they issue newsletters and hold collectors’ meetings where knowledge is shared between expert and novice enthusiasts.

• Get a copy of The Lyle Price Guide to Collectibles (by Tony Curtis, published by Lyle). It lists more than 20 collecting categories with lavish illustrations and guidance on identifying and valuing finds. Check out Miller’s Collectables Price Guide.

• Most collecting fields have specialist books and price guides - find the biggest selection in collectors’ magazines.

• At flea markets and collectors’ fairs sell to the trade first, collectors second. Reason: Mark-ups are lower, but repeat multi-sales much more likely, not to mention the trade is easier to reach (phone, fax, post details) and is always requiring new stock.

• Compile a regular list of offers, with prices. Mail to UK, US and worldwide dealers. We’ve done it, it works, it’s hugely profitable.

• Fast-growing demand for most collectibles - vintage and modern - has spawned an
explosion of fakes on the market, principally of dishes, vases and other ceramics and
glassware. Some are so good even the experts are fooled, with several London auction
houses already recruiting staff as detectives to counter the problem.

• How to spot good from bad? Colour is rarely perfect, for example, Carlton Ware’s
hydrangea pattern was forged, but the colours were wrong, as was the case for Sylvac’s Rabbit Jug fakes.

• The best way to avoid fakes is to join a collectors’ club for your special interest. At the first hint of fakes appearing on the market, most clubs act fast, informing members and press, auction houses and antiques and collectors’ magazines.

• Find collectors’ clubs through advertisements in ‘Collectables’, ‘Collect it!’, Antiques & Collectables Magazine’.

Tips for Trading at Flea Markets and Collectors’ Fairs

• At two-day fairs wait for people with goods to sell to approach you the first day to check you out and return the following day to give you first pick of their valuables. People like to talk to potential buyers, to determine what their goods are likely to be worth, and to decide who to sell to. Few people carry larger or more valuable items with them to fairs, often because they fear they’ll be coaxed into selling and regretting it soon afterwards. So be fair, gain their trust, offer a decent price and who knows, these may be people with countless goods to sell - and you’re their chosen buyer.

• Follow a handful of fairs organisers - book regular sites and obtain cut-price deals on multi-bookings, get a prime pitch where customers congregate most: at the entrance, bar, loos. Get first chance of spare stalls when other dealers fail to appear.

• Take a stall at fairs with 60 plus stallholders and expect 1000 per cent more visitors. Advertising is more extensive for larger fairs - and most are held on a regular basis - so high numbers of new customers will appear alongside thousands of regular buyers.

• Cut your operating costs - If you’ve only a handful of goods to sell, attend as a visitor, trade with dealers: it may not be worthwhile paying for a stall at the event. Look for visitors carrying bags of goods for sale - these are probably part-time traders - they buy at auction during the week and sell at fairs at the weekend - notice what type of goods they sell and how much is paid. Don’t be short-changed - take several trips around the room, spot people selling items similar to those you want to sell, and look to see if any traders are attracting more sellers.

• Work every inch of stall space - small high-profit collectibles - stamps, postcards, coins, model soldiers - hog less space, sell faster than expensive bulky antiques. Keep back-up stock and replenish fast. Build space upwards - with staging, shelves, boxes.

• Profit between sales - keep customers’ names and addresses, issue a regular sales list, charge new customers up front. Send approval selections to trusted customers, set date for return of unwanted items with payment for goods retained. Don’t forget to list fairs you’ll be attending soon. Note buyers’ interests - and concentrate inter-sale buying on them.

• Become well-known, display a ‘stock wanted’ list - develop a clientele of buyers and sellers at every event.

• Keep start-up costs low - follow the best fairs organisers - new traders pay stall fees up-front, old-hands pay when the sale ends and their pockets are bulging with cash.

• Determine your most profitable venues - and book well in advance. Investigate new venues - reach fresh buyers and breathe life into unsaleable stock at other venues. Choose one high-profit over several modestly profitable fairs - earn more money, faster, and leave plenty of time for buying at auction.

• Specialise for top profits - monopolise general events, be sole supplier of high profit items. For example: stamps, old telephones, local prints coloured and framed, street jewellery (enamel advertising signs), militaria. Trade at specialist events - watches and clocks, art deco, postcards and ephemera - competition is intense but expect ONE HUNDRED per cent of people to be ONE HUNDRED per cent interested in everything you sell.

• Record dealers’ special needs, buy for them between sales. Be safe, not sorry -always phone to check dealers’ interest on high-ticket items before buying.

• Choose Saturday venues in the centre of town ... THE recipe for success! Expect non-stop browsers and curiosity seekers and take money hand-over-fist all day, leave tired but expect 500% higher takings than Sunday and out-of-town sales.

Popular Buying Sources for Collectibles, Antiques, Art, etc.

Though collectibles can be obtained from dozens of different sources, generally speaking it’s the person with the keenest eye who gets the best bargains.

Most importantly, real gems can be found virtually anywhere, even from highly-knowledgeable dealers in collectors’ items and antiques. The question is, who knows most about a particular item, who spots the tell-tale signs another person overlooked!

Arguably, however, your best finds are likely to come from less experienced sellers, say car boot dealers (especially families and one-time sellers), smaller less specialised auction companies, visitors to your stall at car boot sales, flea markets, collectors’ fairs. Here’s just a general introduction to your most likely source of miracle and bargain finds:

Auctions - general and specialist.

• Contact general auction rooms in your area for an update on forthcoming lots. Few small auction companies advertise in the specialist press, say antiques traders’ guides, specialist collectors’ magazines, so there’s a good chance you’ll be one of very few specialist bidders on the day.

• Specialist auctions often carry bulk lots of collectibles, say north eastern topographical postcards, boxfuls of doggy ephemera, etc., which few collectors want in bulk and many bigger dealers don’t want anyway. Buy whatever offers profit potential and split items into, say, rubbish (only for binning), items for your own collection, items for known collectors (e.g. customers are collectors’ fairs, approvals clientele), items to be re-auctioned (perhaps combined with other items from earlier sales and bundled as a job lot). Plan a marketing strategy based on sorted items.

• Dig deep in every lot which might conceivably hide something. Look for bookmarks in books, collectors’ dolls in piles of modern toys, commemorative china in house clearance lots.

Collectors

Collectors often dispose of surplus collectibles, sometimes at auction, more frequently at antiques fairs, collectors’ fairs, or responding via ‘wanted’ ads. in general and specialist papers.

• At fairs, keep a pile of business cards on your stall, indicating what items you require and providing contact details for people who don’t have goods with them or prefer to speak to you later in private.

• Place your own ‘wanted’ ads. in local papers and places you’re prepared to travel to buy. Include specialist magazines and newsletters, such as those read by teddy bear collectors, steam train enthusiasts, postcard and stamp collectors. Ask your local reference librarian for media guides listing specialist and niche magazines.

Car Boot Sales (source of the best miracle finds featured in the press and ‘Antiques Roadshow’),

Collectors’ Fairs, Flea Markets, Antiques Fairs

• Inspect other sellers’ stalls, mainly inexperienced sellers at boot sales and flea markets, as well as specialist sellers of other collectors’ items with little or no outside interest. For example, at flea markets my biggest supplier were fellow dealers in bric-a-brac and wide-ranging antiques, often high-ticket items, who thought postcards a waste of time. Sadly for them!

• Be prepared to travel outside your selling area. For example, as specialist in postcards of Durham, Northumberland and Northern Yorkshire, I often travelled to Scotland and London to sell items outside my selling field and to buy stock from dealers not wanting to travel further afield to sell their own acquisitions.

Valuing and Disposing of Miracle Finds

You’ve got your treasure - now what? If you don’t know what it’s worth who does? And how do you avoid getting ripped off and sell your precious find at a pittance?

• First and foremost be very careful who you get to value your goods and always get more than one valuation, preferably several, and only from known reputable professionals in the appropriate collecting field.

• Don’t be afraid of selling items, either direct to the public at flea markets, car boot sales, collectors’ and antiques fairs, by re-auctioning through general or specialist auction houses, or even by post, via an approvals service, your own small auction listing, through advertisements in general and special interest collectors’ magazines. It’s very easy, a great way to make money fast and, even better, customers and fellow dealers are themselves a great source of valuable bargains and miracle finds.

• Most importantly, have goods valued properly first, before disposing of them!

Seven Foolproof Ways to Value Your Finds

Have your finds - however doubtful - valued several times before parting with them. Consider starting your own business and using other firms’ valuations to guide you.

• Consult catalogues, yearbooks and magazines for the appropriate collectors’ field.

• Approach specialist auction houses, or leading auctioneers with staff experienced in specific areas. For example, Phillips and Southeby’s sell most collectable and antique items, both having valuers in wide-ranging items alongside experts in various specialist fields.

• Note that auction is often the best way to dispose of valuable collectibles, in practice allowing you to reach a wide audience for the goods - dealers and private buyers - while allowing market forces to determine the value of your goods.

• Keep price lists and advertisements from dealers selling similar items. Study these for average prices, trends, and such.

• Always get a receipt for items valued or sold. This serves to protect you if foul play is discovered later.

• It’s not a good idea to send items to be valued by post. Items can be lost or ‘mislaid’
synonymous with stolen - or the valuer may be looking for goods to buy, not merely to value, in which case he is at liberty to keep and send money for your goods before you realise your mistake. For example, in the postcard trade it’s very common for dealers to receive several packets of cards each day for valuation. An invitation to value usually comes with first chance to buy. Some traders will return unwanted cards with cash for items they wish to purchase, sometimes specifying a period during which you can refuse the offer. Sometimes not, however, and you are expected to accept what they offer. Phone to check, never assume!

• Keep a listing of specialist buyers and collectors in particular fields and compile your own ‘auction’ catalogue, listing items, describing condition, inviting offers.

• If several experts agree on a value, they’re probably right, but don’t think they’re always right. They’re not as I’ve learned from bitter experience when items I’ve had valued by the professionals at twenty, thirty, forty pounds, have later fetched several hundred times the amount at auction. For someone else!

Three Things You Must Never Do Or Risk Being the Loser

• Never, ever, ever, ask general traders at flea markets and collectors’ fairs to value your finds. Many do not have the appropriate knowledge and most will quote the price they want to pay, well below market value.

• Never sell to the first person who offers an attractive price. That person might be under-valuing with the intention of disposing of the item later at a vastly inflated price.