Antique Dealers As Professors of History

As a follow-up to Ted’s article and Toy we enjoyed through our childhood, several years ago I took a great interest in “0” gauge model trains which have a wonderful history dated back many years.

Every young Boy’s dream was to find a American Flyer or Lionel Train set under the tree on Christmas Morning.    Well, that interest grew for me over the years, and now I’m collecting my own Lionel and MTH trains of an “O” size and throughout enjoying the hobby.   Now, I just need to find a space in my house that I can set up my display on a permanent basis.   I attended last weeks, Lindsay and District Train Show and much to my pleasure was a new club out of Guelph who specialize in “O” gauge trains!   What a thrill and the hobby is as popular as ever. - Photos and Quote by Fred Schulz

ANTIQUES DEALERS AND COLLECTORS WHO DOUBLE AS HISTORIANS - MORE COMMON THAN YOU MIGHT THINK

ASK THEM -

     THERE ARE A LOT OF CRITICAL OVERVIEWS THAT CAN BE LEVELED AT THE ANTIQUE COMMUNITY, IF ONE WAS TO SET THAT UP, AS A MEANINGFUL PROJECT. IT SHOULDN'T BE OF ANY SURPRISE WE ARE PERCEIVED, IN THIS PROFESSION, TO BE OVERLY ENTHUSIASTIC OPPORTUNISTS AND IN TERMS OF EXHIBITION, WE ARE EXPLOITIVE TO THE EXPONENT OF TEN. WHICH MAKES US PERFECT FOR THE BUSINESS OF SELLING HISTORY. WE SELL OLD THINGS. ANTIQUES. COLLECTABLES. IT'S NOT A BUSINESS FOR EVERYONE.

     MUCH OF THE CRITICISM THESE DAYS, WOULD OBVIOUSLY BE ABOUT PRICING, AND THE OFTEN RIDICULOUS MARK-UPS FROM PURCHASE PRICE. IN SMALL TOWNS ESPECIALLY, ISSUES LIKE THIS ARISE FREQUENTLY, BECAUSE MANY PEOPLE DO KNOW YOUR BUSINESS….AND THE GRAPE VINE IS STILL A BIG SOURCE OF CITIZEN COMMUNICATION. WHAT A DEALER PAYS A YARD SALE VENDOR FOR A PIECE OF FURNITURE, MAY HAVE BEEN OVERHEARD BY OTHER EVENT-GOERS, WHO ALSO REGULARLY VISIT ANTIQUE SHOPS. IF A DEALER BARTERS TO GET A BETTER PRICE, IT'S MOST OFTEN DONE IN SUCH OPEN SPACE, THAT OTHERS IN THE COLLECTING COMMUNITY, ARE CLEARLY AWARE OF THE SELLING PRICE. SO IT DOESN'T TAKE TOO MUCH TRAVELING ABOUT, FOR THE CURIOUS FOLKS, TO FIND THAT A DEALER HAS MARKED UP THE SUBJECT PIECE, BY SEVERAL THOUSAND PERCENT. NOT THAT THIS IS THE AVERAGE, BUT IT DOES HAPPEN. IT'S THE DEALER'S CHOICE, AND THE VENDOR DIDN'T HAVE TO BEND ON THE ASKING PRICE EITHER.

    THE POINT IS, I'VE BEEN IN THE PROFESSION LONG ENOUGH TO HAVE EXPERIENCED MANY OF THESE CRITIQUES OF OUR BUSINESS PRACTICES, AND IT'S JUST ONE OF THOSE REALITIES OF TRADITION, WE HAVE TO CARRY ALONG WITH US. THERE HAVE BEEN SOME BAD ACTORS IN THE PROFESSION, SINCE GOD KNOWS WHEN, AND EVEN THE MOST HONEST AND TRUSTWORTHY DEALERS, STILL HAVE TO RECKON WITH THE PROFESSIONAL BURDENS OF HISTORY. BUT, THERE'S SO MUCH MORE TO BEING AN ANTIQUE DEALER, THAN JUST BUYING AND SELLING. HERE ARE A FEW THINGS TO CONSIDER, BEFORE YOU SCOLD THE LOCAL ANTIQUE DEALER, FOR THE FIGURES ON THE PRICE STICKERS.

     MOST OF THE ANTIQUE DEALERS AND COLLECTORS, I'VE KNOWN OVER THE PAST THIRTY-FIVE YEARS, HAVE BEEN STALWART, COMMITTED FOLKS, WHO WERE PASSIONATE ABOUT THEIR WORK IN THE PROFESSION. MANY OF THEM HAD ENJOYED OTHER PROFESSIONAL CAREERS, BEFORE RETIRING TO ANTIQUES, AND OPENING EITHER SHOPS OR SIMPLY ATTENDING SHOWS TO SATISFY THEIR INTERESTS. BUT WHAT WE DON'T ALWAYS RECOGNIZE, IS THAT IN ORDER TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL DEALER, OR ACCOMPLISHED COLLECTOR, YOU HAD TO ENTER INTO A BOOT CAMP, APPRENTICESHIP ARRANGEMENT. NOT A FORMAL, REGIMENTED PROGRAM, WITH A DEGREE PRESENTED (OR DENIED) AT GRADUATION. THIS IS ON-THE-JOB TRAINING, AND YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN, TO ADVANCE THROUGH WHAT CAN ONLY BE DESCRIBED AS THE SCHOOL OF REALLY HARD KNOCKS. FINANCIAL KNOCKS MOST OF ALL. THERE ARE NO BUFFERS, NO PADDING, NO DO-OVERS, SO THAT GETTING IT RIGHT BECOMES THE REALLY BIG DEAL, AS TO HOW YOU WILL SURVIVE IN A HUGELY COMPETITIVE PROFESSION.

     WHEN I BEGAN MY UNOFFICIAL APPRENTICESHIP, I WAS FORTUNATE TO HAVE HAD VETERANS IN THE BUSINESS, TAKE ME UNDER THEIR TUTORSHIP, TO EXPLAIN ALL THE PITFALLS I WAS LIKELY TO RUN INTO, OVER THE COURSE OF AN AVERAGE CAREER IN ANTIQUES. THEY DIDN'T PAINT A ROSEY PICTURE, THAT'S FOR SURE. THEY PATIENTLY EXPLAINED, HOW NECESSARY IT WAS, TO LEARN AS MUCH ABOUT ANTIQUES AS POSSIBLE, BEFORE OFFICIALLY LAUNCHING MY BUSINESS. THEY URGED ME TO TAKE IT SLOW, AND COMMENCE A NEVER CEASING STUDY, OF FINANCIAL PERILS INTIMATELY INVOLVED, WITH ASTUTE BUYING AND SELLING ANTIQUES. IN ORDER TO SURVIVE FINANCIALLY, I HAD TO LEARN HOW MUCH ERRORS IN JUDGEMENT COULD COST A YONG BUSINESSMAN. TRUTH IS, I LISTENED TO SOME OF THE ADVICE, AND DISMISSED MOST OF IT…..BEING CONSUMED WITH MYSELF AS A NEW GRADUATE OF UNIVERSITY, AND A SPECIALIST IN CANADIAN HISTORY. I BELIEVED THUSLY, IT WAS MY RIGHT AND PRIVILEGE TO BE IN THE PROFESSION OF MY CHOICE. WITH ALL MY SELF CONFIDENCE, YOU'D THINK I WOULD HAVE DONE BETTER, AND IN THE COURSE OF THIS BIOGRAPHY, BE ABLE TO STATE, CONFIDENTLY, MY CAREER IN ANTIQUES HAS BEEN STELLAR AND WONDERFUL FROM THE FIRST DAY TO THE PRESENT. THIS WOULD BE A LIE. A TERRIBLE MISTRUTH, THAT I COULD NEVER PASS ON TO MY BOYS, AS MY HONEST BIOGRAPHY, JUST STARTING IN THE PROFESSION. I HAD LOTS OF PROBLEMS BACK THEN, AND THE CONSEQUENCES WERE SEVERE. INSTEAD OF TAKING THE ADVICE OF VETERANS, WHO UNDERSTOOD HOW EASY IT WAS TO MAKE ERRORS IN JUDGEMENT, WHEN BUYING, I FIGURED IT WOULD COME TO ME AS EXPERIENCE ALWAYS DOES……AND IT DID, BUT NOT HAPPILY RECEIVED.

     I HAVE MET HUNDREDS OF ANTIQUE DEALERS WHO HAVE BEEN TREMENDOUSLY GENEROUS WITH INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR RESPECTIVE COLLECTING INTERESTS. I HAVE HAD SO MANY ONE-ON-ONES, WITH ACCOMPLISHED ANTIQUARIANS, WHO BESTOWED GREAT WISDOM, FOR THE SMALL PRICE OF TIME, AND CONVERSATION. THEY DIDN'T GIVE UP THEIR OWN TRADE SECRETS, BUT IF I HAD LISTENED TO THEIR SAGE ADVICE, EARLY ON, I WOULD HAVE BEEN SPARED SOME UNFORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCES, THAT NEARLY CAUSED THE COLLAPSE OF MY LITTLE EMPIRE. AFTER THE FIRST DECADE ACTIVELY BUYING AND SELLING, FOR EVEN A SMALL PROFIT, IT BEGAN TO DAWN ON ME, THAT IF I WAS GOING TO SURVIVE AND PROFIT, I WAS GOING TO REQUIRE A MORE HUMBLE APPROACH TO THE WHOLE THING. I WOULD HAVE TO GIVE CREDIT WHERE IT WAS DUE, AND TAKE KINDLY ADVICE WHEN OFFERED. I WENT BEYOND THAT, AND ASKED FOR HELP. I STOPPED BEING EMBARRASSED TO ADMIT I DIDN'T KNOW SOMETHING OR OTHER, AND GOT ON WITH THE INFORMATION GATHERING, THAT COULD HELP ME. THERE ARE FOLKS IN OUR PROFESSION, WHO DON'T WANT OR ASK FOR HELP. IT'S THEIR CHOICE. I CAN TELL YOU BY EXPERIENCE, THAT IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR MY FRIENDS IN THE ANTIQUE COMMUNITY, GUIDING ME WHERE I NEEDED TO GO, I WOULD HAVE LIKELY GIVEN UP THIS OLD-STUFF PURSUIT YEARS AGO.

WHAT THEY KNOW ABOUT ANTIQUES, AND PROVENANCE

     As I made reference to, in yesterday's blog, antique and collectable dealers, are generally well-read individuals…..and by this, I'm not just talking about consuming content published by the daily press. They are constantly upgrading their knowledge, to stay on top of trends, and pricing valuations. They have reason to be concerned about the economy, and the situation provincially and regionally. They pay attention to what is going on in their home towns, because this is generally their customer base. They need to be able to talk intelligently, with their customers, about all the items they have in their shop for sale…..or even on display. The added burden of responsibility, is when a general antiques dealer, has to know a little or a lot about a huge diversified inventory, in order to represent each piece responsibly. Think about the last antique and collectable shop you visited. Now imagine having to know about each and every piece, because I'll tell you from experience, a customer will inevitably ask a delving question…..and you need, as a dealer, to have an answer. We can't ever learn it all, and there will be weaknesses at times. My experience with the antique community, is that they hate, with a passion, not being able to properly and accurately date and identify pieces they've acquired; whether paintings, art glass, pottery, furnishings, and time pieces. It's always frustrating to finally admit, more research is needed. We want to dazzle you with our knowledge. Of course we do. Not as braggarts. Not because we think our shop is the best one in town, or in the region. But because we know that for a customer to have confidence in us, we have to provide all the information that cements this high regard, for what we do at the sales counter…..and of course, out on the hunt and gather. If we fail, as does happen from time to time, we can't help but look bad because we couldn't cross all the "t's" that we should have been able……and our only recourse, is to admit we need more knowledge in that particular field. We want customer loyalty, and the only way of securing this, is to do our job exceptionally well……and mitigate these kind of shortfalls.

     These dealers won't put a sign on their counters, stating, "Historian on duty." They don't wish to take these credentials inappropriately, because many won't be able to produce a degree in history, above their desks. Yet by experience and immersion, they have dealt with a huge component of history, as part of their professions, and in some cases, they are more qualified than full fledged historians having all the corroborating paper work. But they don't step out of their role, as antiques dealers, all that often…..but they would sure like to be asked their opinion on historical issues.

     Antique dealers over many centuries, while frequently accused of being exploitive of unfortunate circumstances, have also been hugely responsible for rescuing incredible amounts of heritage relics that would have been otherwise destroyed, lost and abandoned to rot into time. By their knowledge and experience, they have been instrumental, in documenting millions upon millions of artifacts, and undetected antiques, without the glamour attached to the archaeological profession. They don't get much in the way of credit, but these unsung history sleuths, have been able to protect and preserve ephemera in particular, that might well have been considered garbage. Antique dealers have been "dumpster diving" before dumpsters were even invented. Every antique dealer knows the relevance of watching what is being thrown out…..and how many times have you read news articles about important historic papers, and documents, being pulled from garbage piles; after an antique dealer or collector, spotted them in this final stage of disposal. They don't get much credit at all, for being so conservation minded, when it comes to heritage pieces. There's money in it!  Of course, we can all be astute when it comes to a big pay day. But antique dealers add a little bit more punch to the equation than that…..because as low-key historians, they are truly interested, in making sure history is clearly recognized for what it is…..much as curators establishing museum exhibits. If they can make a buck saving these things, well then, that's their business……literally. Just consider how much history has been destroyed, because the key people weren't in place, to stop the carnage.

     I have worked side by side many antique dealers who had much more historical prowess, in their fields, than I did…..and I took advantage of this opportunity…..by asking for their mentorship.

     Thanks very much for dropping by today, to share another story about the antique profession, as I have known it.

     Please take the opportunity to visit my Muskoka and Walden blogsite by clicking on http://muskokaaswaldenpond.blogspot.ca/