I’ve commented, from time-to-time, about “antiques” I purchased when I was a teen. To a junior high school student in the 1960s, an auction-box lot of “stuff” from the early 1900s was affordable and seemed really old. My seventy-five cents an hour as an auction runner went a long way in buying boxes of books and occasional other things. The weekly auction at Brad Foss’ auction barn was just “stuff” and I seem to recall bid increments could be ten cents. The monthly “high-end” antiques auction had a 25-cent minimum bid increment. A few years ago, I bought a Foss Auction advertising poster and it cost me the equivalent of many Saturdays’ work as a runner. But it was from my first official “paying job,” though the formalities of social security numbers and other government meddling were overlooked. Nostalgia set in.
I realize I wasn’t the typical teen when it came to collecting antiques of any era, but my interest never stopped, and what was “antique” in my thinking became quite a bit older as I aged a bit. Visiting Colonial Williamsburg set the “antiques” clock back a couple of centuries in my mind. The restoration of Williamsburg was launched in 1924, and the foundation supporting it will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year.
I continue to lean toward antiques of the early 1800s and before, however my budget in the 1970s precluded “fine” antiques of the era, so collecting “country” antiques of the same period was more attainable. I’m glad I went that route. The region is lucky to have the Genesee Country Village & Museum complex that features ordinary living in the “frontier” of Western New York.
What’s this ramble about? Well, there is a lot of discussion these days about the value of antiques. Certainly, there’s talk of Baby Boomers downsizing and younger generations not lining up to buy their collections. Some of the talk is about new homeowners who have decided “open concept” is the look, and that means fewer walls for furniture and décor. And perhaps some antiques prices had been boosted by the awakening of interest kindled by places like Colonial Williamsburg and popular magazines and Wallace Nutting books and interpretations of colonial furniture bought by the parents of Baby Boomers.
At some point in time as I suspect another generation will look back at buying opportunities of the 2020 and say, “I wish I had bought that back then…” For now, I’m getting older, yet antiques are frozen in time. I like that.
Grant Hamilton, Publisher
