Who buys antiques?
When I first started my antique store, a lot of people asked me who would want to buy this stuff.
You could be one
I found this kind of interesting because people would ask this to me when they’re in the middle of an antique shop. In other words, they’re the exact type of person who would buy this material. After all, they found themselves in an antique shop. What are they doing there? They could’ve easily walked into any other type of shop, but they chose mine. Didn’t they answer their question?
Regardless, this is a very common question and the answer is that everybody buys antiques if you think about it. There’s a broad answer and a narrow one. Let’s begin with he broad answer. Antiques are essentially just commercial products from a bygone era. They can be works of art, they can also be regular everyday products. But regardless, they look good. They are well preserved, they don’t look like they’re about to fall apart or they require a tremendous amount of maintenance work.
These are important considerations because people who buy antiques generally are looking for period pieces to make any kind of interior space come alive. For example, if you are decorating a kid’s room and you want some accents that highlight the kid’s intellectual side, you might want to invest in an antique globe. This is definitely a handy addition to your personal home library. Antique globes look dignified, they definitely connote some sort of intellectual curiosity or academic background.
This is the reason why most people buy antiques. They use it as accent pieces, they use it to create a certain mood or ambiance in any kind of interior space.
The other reason why people buy antiques involves investment. Antiques go up in value. Don’t get too excited. Depending on the item, the value of the antique might go up a lot or it can go up almost insignificantly. It really depends on the particulars of the product. You have to pay attention not only to the historical period of the product, but also who manufactured the product, how many items were created that year and whether there is an existing heavy demand for that type of product.

If you have the right answers to these questions, chances are if you buy antiques, they will go up in price and this would make them great investor items. Most people wouldn’t mind buying something low and then selling it at a higher price. That pretty much explains the investor’s side of antique purchase. The bottom line is you should focus on how passionate you are in investing time regarding a particular antique category and then take things from there.