Antique Marketplace News

Step into the pulse of the antiques world with Antique Marketplace News—your insider guide to what’s trending, what’s selling, and what collectors are talking about. We bring together expert insights, market highlights, and curated stories for vintage and antique living.

Collecting & Preserving Seeds: An Insurance Policy for our Future

Collecting & Preserving Seeds: An Insurance Policy for our Future
Our October issue explores the historical roots of the American harvest. You may question what that has to do with antique collectibles but in their own way, the indigenous seeds ...

Exploring Antique Technologies: Acing the Autopen – Helping Collectors Feel More Confident with Mechanical Writing

This 2011 photo depicts Bob Olding of Damilic Corp, a leading present-day manufacturer of signature machines, demonstrating the vintage Autopen Model 80. The machine uses levers and your favorite pen to duplicate programmed signatures, and while this can be a lifesaver for public officials, many in the government still use it sparingly. Though President Bush received a Justice Department Ruling in 2005 to sign a bill via autopen, he opted not to, and went out of his way to sign in person. Photo: via USA Today and Damilic Corp, Associated Press, 2011
by Kary Pardy Footage from a 1950s 9-second video shows a grey, boxy machine using mechanical levers to exactly mimic the slopes and angles of a person’s handwriting. Since the ...

Exploring Antique Technologies: Leather Fire Buckets – Painted Americana at its Most Helpful 

1. Club fire buckets were decorated with their chosen logo, and few examples are as impressive as this Adroit Fire Club example from Salem, MA, ca. 1820. Emblazoned with the club’s name, the owner’s name, and the motto “Delay Not,” this striking example depicts men fighting to save a Federal-style house from burning. According to Sotheby’s, which sold the bucket for $40,000 in 2020, other examples from the Adroit Fire Club carry on the theme of the burning house surviving. photo: Sotheby’s, Triumphant Grace: Important Americana from the Collection of Barbara and Arun Singh, 2020
by Kary Pardy Imagine you lived in the 17th or 18th century. Chances are good that you would be surrounded by wooden buildings and that you would be very wary ...

Taking Your Collection to the Next Level: For many collectors and homeowners, the downtime of the last year provided the rare opportunity to do a deep dive into their collections and document their objects of value.

Taking Your Collection to the Next Level: For many collectors and homeowners, the downtime of the last year provided the rare opportunity to do a deep dive into their collections and document their objects of value.
For many collectors and homeowners, the downtime of the last year provided the rare opportunity to do a deep dive into their collections and document their objects of value. This ...

The Return of Shows: It has not been easy but show organizers are working hard to return to live events

The Return of Shows: It has not been easy but show organizers are working hard to return to live events
This week is the return in full of the Brimfield Antique Shows after over a year's hiatus due to COVID. Like all small shows and large-scale events, there remains some ...

Owning a Share of Sports History

Owning a Share of Sports History
If you are like most sports fans and collectors of sports memorabilia, you can’t help but be blown away by recent auction sales. In just the first half of this ...

“The Art World is Going Digital Over NFT”

"The Art World is Going Digital Over NFT"
When graphic designer Mike Winkelmann started producing a drawing a day in 2007, he was simply looking for a way to improve his art skills. At best, the resulting "Everydays" ...

Crafting a Legacy: The Life and Work of Olof Althin

Dressing table made by Althin, 1900-1913 photo: private collection
by Erica Lome, Ph.D. Today, few people outside of the antiques trade recognize the name Olof Althin (1859-1920), a Swedish-born cabinetmaker active in Boston at the turn of the twentieth ...

“Antiquities: The Subject of New Regulations.” How this will affect what you buy and sell

"Antiquities: The Subject of New Regulations." How this will affect what you buy and sell
On January 1, 2021, the Senate voted to override President Trump’s veto of the massive, $741 billion US National Defense Authorization Act (S.4049 /H.R. 6395) and pass it into law ...

Antique Trends in 2020

Antique Trends in 2020
The great thing about antiques is that with each passing year new items and collectible categories age into this coveted status. While that would suggest an ever-expanding and overflowing marketplace ...

Exploring Antique Technologies: Science and Sparkles – Demystifying your Jewelry Collection

Archeologists have discovered what they claim is the world’s oldest natural pearl on Marawah Island, off the coast of Abu Dhabi. The pearl dates back 8,000 years to the Neolithic period – the last stage of the Stone Age. It was found in a layer at a Neolithic site that dates to 5800 B.C. to 5600 B.C. “The presence of pearls at archeological sites is evidence that the pearl trade existed from at least as far back as the Neolithic period,” said Abdulla Khalfan Al-Kaabi, the director of the archeological survey.
by Kary Pardy How many times have you looked through a jewelry display at your favorite antique shop and was just a bit unsure about the quality or elements of ...

Exploring Antique Technologies – When Antique Technology Still Works: Finding our Way with a Sextant

How to use a sextant? Wikihow.com offers a step by step guide with visuals, Davis instruments has a downloadable manual on their website, and there are several other online resources Photo: WikiHow.com
by Kary Pardy Do You Know Where You’re Going To? In 1714, the British Parliament established the Longitude Act, and with it, the Longitude Rewards. Equivalent to just over a ...

“Collecting Just for Kicks,” by Maxine Carter-Lome

"Collecting Just for Kicks," by Maxine Carter-Lome
My isolation and downtime during the early months of COVID gave me the perfect opportunity to catch up on my Netflix binge-watching.  I watched all seasons of Designated Survivor and ...

Millennials Moving Antique & Vintage Markets

Millennials Moving Antique & Vintage Markets
ASHEFORD INSTITUTE - For many, especially during the time of Covid, it may come as somewhat of a surprise to think of today's Millennial generation as having a major influence on ...

What’s Michael Jordan worth this season at auction?

Michael Jordan collectibles bring in high prices at auction this season.
Michael Jordan‘s legend is almost unfathomable, made even greater by this year’s ESPN documentary The Last Dance. In the wake of the popular series, MJ memorabilia has skyrocketed in price and ...

The best seat in the house is up for sale at Heritage Auction’s Entertainment & Music Memorabilia event to be held online at HA.com, August 8-9.

Rocking chair given by Bob Dylan to his best friend Louie Kemp in 1974 when Dylan and The Band toured the U.S.
 This isn't just a rocking chair for sale. It was, in 1974, the best seat in the house when Bob Dylan and The Band toured the United States in January and ...

Read Us Online For Now

Read Us Online For Now
Dear Readers, With so much change and uncertainty these past few months we are happy to finally be able to publish an issue for you even if it is not ...

Comic Character Collectibles: April 2020

Acclaimed artist Todd McFarlane brings his creator-owned character Spawn together with Marvel’s top-selling Spider-Man, the character that propelled him to fame, on the golden anniversary edition of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.
Spider-Man Meets Spawn to Celebrate Overstreet’s 50th by J.C. Vaughn It has been mentioned more than once in this space that 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of The Overstreet Comic ...

The Show Will Go On – Online!

The Show Will Go On - Online!
BRIMFIELD, MA - When Klia and Arthur Crisafulli of Northwood, NH, purchased Hertan’s Antique Shows and real estate in Brimfield, MA, the last thing they expected was that their inaugural ...