125+ Years of Experience Speaks Out!
by Natalie Peterson

   What do you get when you mix antiques and modern technology?
   A lot of changes in the wonderful world of antiquing and more. The advent of television, computers, the internet and satellite communications has generated an explosion of information. It also has increased the interest in antiques across a broad spectrum of people worldwide and contributed to a boom in “collectibles” and even in yard sales.
    Who hasn’t logged on to e-Bay, watched the “Antiques Roadshow” or heard at least one tale of a family heirloom that has made its surprised owner very wealthy? And who hasn’t stopped at a yard sale and/or a second-hand (or should I say 're-sale') shop? Such activities have been elevated almost to the status of a national pastime.
   To understand this growing phenomenon, who better to talk with than professionals? Antiques dealers Marjorie Dow of Tuftonboro Corner, Maureen Kalfas of Alton and Conway, Gail Martin of the Wolfeboro area and Elaine Miller of Center Tuftonboro are among the most experienced and respected professionals in New Hampshire.

Marjorie Dow

Maureen Kalfas

Gail Martin

Elaine Miller

   They were more than willing to discuss “the business” and how it has changed, providing information that may be helpful to anyone who has ever thought of selling or collecting just about anything.
   The Dows, Marjorie and her husband Sandy, are now in their 53rd year at Dow’s Corner Shop. He has been involved with militaria since the age of eight, and she is considered an expert in glass and pottery. Both have considerable knowledge about furniture and antiques in general.
   Kalfas has been buying and selling for approximately 30 years. In fact, her first purchase was a set of ladder-back chairs. “I bought them in June, but couldn’t pay her until I received my first teacher’s check in September,” Kalfas said.
   Today, she specializes in high quality gold jewelry and silver, selling directly to customers referred to her. She also owns the Conway Village Pawn shop and frequently buys and sells through e-Bay. She is considered to be one of this state’s major antiques dealers, even though she is always on the move, buying estates, attending auctions, and attending to spaces she rents in several group shops.
    Miller was brought up amid Oriental antiques and Limoges china, her mother’s passions, “but I still don’t care for either,” she says. “I much prefer ‘country’ and anything from the 1920s and, of course, Star Trek collectibles.”
   Miller runs Golden Past Antiques, a group shop in Center Tuftonboro, and is now in her 26th year as a dealer in antiques and collectibles.
   Martin does a lot of buying and selling in the Wolfeboro area, although she does not run a shop. She was so happy to be living in New England, after moving here from California, that she started buying items to furnish her home. Soon, she was ‘hooked.’ She borrowed $500 from her husband to go into business, and was able to pay off the loan after her first antiques show. That was 28 years ago.
   These dealers represent more than 125 years of experience, as well as a very broad range of specialties and interests. They are dealers who have earned their reputations through years of study, hard work and decades of serving the public. As they survey the landscape of antiques and collectibles, they see lots of changes taking place -- some positive, some negative, and there is a surprising commonality in their perspectives.
   If you collect or want to collect anything, from postcards to very expensive antiques, our experts have some advice for you. “Pick a specialty and learn it...focus,” says Dow.
   “Knowledge is everything,” says Martin.
     Kalfas and Miller agree.
    The explosion of technology and the availability of information has significantly increased the public’s interest in buying, selling and collecting. It also has led to the widespread marketing of reproductions and limited editions of plates, coins and other items for ‘collectors.’
   “Repro’s abound,” says Miller. “Most are obvious to knowledgeable collectors, but some are not. That’s one of the reasons why it’s so important to learn all you can about your specialty.”
   “We all sell things from a lack of knowledge,” says Dow, pointing out that even experts and museum professionals get fooled occasionally.  “You can’t possibly know all there is to know. I think you can trust most antiques dealers to be honest, however. They wouldn’t stay in business long if they were cheating,” she says.
   All our experts agree, but caution that “Buyer, beware” is always a good rule to follow. Yard sales, auctions and internet transactions present a potential minefield to buyers, so it’s important to know exactly what you are buying and whether or not there is a return privilege. Most respected dealers will accept a return, if an item has been mis-represented in any way, but in general, there are no return privileges unless such an arrangement is made in advance of the sale.
   For these reasons (and more), our panel of experts is unanimous in advising purchasers to buy only what you really like. “You may have to live with it for a long time,” says Kalfas.
   “Buy what you really love, and go for quality,” advises Martin.
    Kalfas agrees. “Go for the best first, and fill in later. Quality will always hold its value, lesser quality won’t,” she added.
   Today, people aren’t buying and selling antiques and collectibles for the same reasons they were even ten years ago, according to our experts. This is one of the major changes in the “business” that can be attributed to the influence of modern technology.
    “Programs like the ‘Antiques Roadshow’ have given people the idea that unusual items are worth a lot of money. That may or may not be true,” Kalfas says.
   “It has given the public inflated ideas of the value of what they own,” Miller says.
     Appraisals offered on television and the internet are simply people’s opinions. “They’re just figures. They’re not backed with money. Once you have an appraisal, you still have to find someone willing to buy it at that price,” cautioned Kalfas. “Sometimes you can, sometimes you can’t.”
   Competition helps to drive prices up, but even that can be misleading. Kalfas tells of an area postcard that sold through e-Bay for $110. This prompted someone to offer another postcard with the exact same view for sale, but it brought only $7. The problem was that there apparently was a single collector willing to pay in excess of the market value to obtain that specific card, but there was no real market out there.
   This incident, however, also illustrates the very positive side of the technology explosion. The internet and e-Bay help to match hard-to-find items with collectors, benefiting both the buyer and the seller.
   “E-Bay has strengthened the ‘junk’ market too, items that sell for $5, $8 or $10 and partial items, like three volumes of a four volume set of books or a cover to a specific casserole dish. These are items that would probably sit in a shop forever, items that most dealers won’t tie up space for,” says Kalfas. “And I know that there are certain glass and china patterns that I can sell on the internet everyday because there’s a real demand for them. Technology makes finding specific items much easier for collectors, and it allows dealers to move merchandise quickly,” she says. “Most items sell within a week. You can’t turn over a shop inventory that quickly.”
   One often hears of alleged abuses of the customer by dealers and auctioneers, but more and more professionals are complaining of being victimized by their customers, another direct result of the popularity of television and the internet. All of our experts have their own stories.
   Martin and Miller have been called to appraise the contents of entire houses, with the understanding that the items would be for sale. Both spent hours going through the attic and basement areas, sorting the “good from the bad.” They also did some research before pricing everything. They were then thanked, but never were given an opportunity to buy because the owner already had planned to hold a yard sale and use the internet. Martin and Miller were not paid, either.
   “It was incredible abuse of professionals,” says Miller. “No other professional is asked to provide hours of free service, so why do some people expect us to do it?”
   “We invest thousands of dollars in books and thousands of hours in studying and researching. We’re not in business for the fun of it. The only things that count in our business are knowledge and honesty. That’s what we sell above all else, so it’s very frustrating when people take advantage of us,” says Martin.
    People used to buy because they loved and appreciated antiques, but today, people seem more interested in making a profit, these dealers said. “They don’t realize that big finds are extremely rare. The reality is that buying and selling requires a lot of hard work and study. In fact, top quality merchandise is increasingly falling into the hands of collectors. It’s much harder to find top quality items at a reasonable price than it was just 10 years ago,” says Kalfas.
   The mind-set of customers has changed, too. “There's a lack of respect,” says Miller, whose carefully starched, ironed and displayed linens are increasingly tossed in a heap.
   One dealer remembers the time an out-of-state physician handed his young son a very early, lithographed, mechanical toy, valued at several hundred dollars, and told him to sit on the floor and play with it while he looked around.
   When he indicated that he had no intention of buying the toy, he was politely told that his son was not to play with it. Enraged, the father left the store, uttering words not suitable for print, leaving the fragile toy on the floor.
   “There's a sense of entitlement today. If someone needs the top to a bank [Abraham Lincoln is a favorite], they see nothing wrong with taking it,” Miller said.
   “New Hampshire used to be the most honest state in this country, but there’s a lot more theft now and a much greater lack of respect,” says Martin.
   Dealers are insulted with increasing frequency, candy wrappers and dirty coffee cups appear among the antiques.
   “Many customers have a ‘flea market mentality’,” says Miller. “They see nothing wrong with saying, ‘I’ll give you 10 bucks for this,’ handing me an item priced much higher. Usually, I’ve paid more than that to buy the item. You don’t go into Bloomingdale’s and do this, so what gives them the idea that it’s O.K. to do this in an antique shop? It’s a game we don’t play,” says Miller.
   Pricing is always as issue for dealers and customers alike, but only a small segment of the public seems to appreciate all that goes into determining a fair buying or selling price.
   “Condition is everything. If it’s cracked, chipped, broken or repaired, I don’t want it,” says Kalfas.
     She cites other variables, too. These include the quality of the item; the market appeal - broad or limited; the amount of space required for display vs. the profit margin; and how long a particular piece was manufactured. Some glass patterns, manufactured from 1920 to the 1960s, are worth far less than others that were made for only 10 years, she explained.
   Collectibles are another area in which buyers need to be careful. “If you like it and want to keep it for your own enjoyment, buy it,” says Miller, ”but do not expect to make a whole lot of money buying issues made by Bradford and the Franklin Mint. Not once in 26 years have I seen box lots of it sold at auction go for much. Often it’s difficult for the auctioneer to get an opening bid of $10 for a box of it.”
   The reasons? The items are made in large quantities, and, because they are meant to be collectibles, almost every item that comes up for resale is still in mint condition because it has never been used. While there are a few exceptions, buyers should not expect a profit on their investment.
   How much dealers are willing to pay for an item is the subject of much debate these days. All of our experts strongly took issue with a recent article, written by Harry Rinker, a prolific writer on antiques, an editor of several antiques price guides and many more credentials in the field of antiques.
   The article appeared in the July issue of "Unravel the Gavel," a very popular (free) newspaper, available in most antiques shops. In the article, Rinker offers his guidelines for determining a fair “field” (book) value and the percentage a buyer should pay. His recommendations for buying range from 10 percent on a value of less than $100 to 35 percent above a value of $10,000. These recommendations are insultingly low, according to our panel, so low that Miller was moved to write an angry response she hopes will find its way into print.
   As a general rule of thumb, our panel regards 50 percent of the market value of an item as fair. “If it’s a superb piece, I may pay up to 90 percent just to be able to offer it to my customers,” says Dow.
   Martin agrees. “I’ll work on a 10 percent profit margin for high quality items,” she says. “You have to do that to become a better dealer.”
   Kalfas and Miller also work on small profit margins for highest quality items and on items they believe they can sell very quickly.
   (Dealers do not pay full value for two basic reasons: they need to make a profit as a business, and they have overhead costs for utilities, rent, employees, insurances, taxes, advertising, breakage, theft, education, travel and the time it takes to buy, clean-up, inventory, price display and sell their merchandise.)
   Keeping up with customers’ wants and the market value of items takes a lot of work. Kalfas believes that the internet is ‘where it’s at’, so she closely monitors e-Bay transactions to keep up with prices and demand.
   Miller avoids high technology whenever possible, preferring to focus on what her customers ask for and pricing she has learned from years of experience and buying in numerous states.
   Dow has become a recognized authority and lecturer on glass and pottery, but she and her husband still work hard to learn. Toward helping others, she helped to establish the Reproductions Room at the famous Jones Museum of Glass and Ceramics in Maine. Here, one can see an original piece next to a reproduction and learn a great deal.
   Dow recommends that anyone interested in antiques or collectibles learn first and buy later. “Read books; visit shops and museums; read trade journals; attend lectures and talk with dealers and collectors,” she advises.
   Martin says, “I learn a lot from my buyers. If you don’t like it, tell me why, and if you do like it, tell me why. Collectors generally know their fields. Ask a collector how to tell the real from the fake and to explain why one piece is more valuable than another. Most will be glad to tell you,” she says.
   Miller advises: “Go to an auction without a checkbook. Walk through the preview, pick up items, write notes and keep a record of the sales. Learn before you start buying, and don’t invest in books until you know something. Otherwise, it’s like having a dictionary. You can’t look it up if you don’t know what to look for.”
   “Our best customer is an educated customer,” says Martin. “We’re happy to help educate our customers.”
   The advent of technology has significantly helped buyers and sellers alike, and enabled one to find a buyer for almost any item imaginable, but, as with most advances, there is a negative side, too. The best advice our panel of experts can offer is “Be informed,” remembering that a little education can be dangerous. Collect what you love, and if you plan to use antiques as an investment, be prepared to wait for a profit, and realize that it may never materialize. There are no guarantees in this business, just a lot of fun.
Happy hunting.

ED NOTE: This article originally ran in the August 9, 2001 issue of the Granite State News, and is reprinted by permission of the Salmon Press of Meredith, NH. We look forward to hopefully reading Elaine Miller’s “letter” to Harry Rinker in one of our upcoming issues. We’d like to know what you think…do you agree with Harry?…or with these dealers?…or perhaps you have a different perspective that hasn’t been touched on in this article. We know our readers would love to hear your opinion. See page 2A for our email and snailmail address…Write us!