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ecently, we had the opportunity to chat with Terry Kovel, editor How has the information available on the Internet affected the
and publisher of Kovels Antiques, Inc. For over 53 years, Kovels antiques and collectibles marketplace?
Rhas published the Price Guide for American Collectors (now
Kovels’ Antiques & Collectibles Price List), a veritable encyclopedia of The Internet is responsible for most of the changes
antiques and collectibles sale prices for items purchased over the [over the past 20 years]. The large number of sales at
previous year. As you will find in this article, Terry has a great sense of auction, at online shops, and in online catalogs really
humor and is still having lots of fun as the world of antiques and opened a lot of people’s eyes to how much is out there
collectibles continues to spin, as you will see in our conversation. and how much it all costs. For instance, now you
Today, Kovels is a multi-media corporation sharing information on know what someone will pay for a real antique
antiques and collectibles through hundreds of books, bylined columns American Chippendale chair. While it used to
(the longest-running syndicated weekly column in the country), a be $1,000 to $2,000, now more are available
monthly newsletter, and radio and television programs along the way. and the prices are maybe $300 or $400.
Among its many books, Kovels publishes the annual Kovels’ Antiques & That’s happened to a lot of things. When
Collectibles Price Guide and, much to Terry’s surprise, a Collector’s collectors started selling event items online,
Guide to Handbags. “Who ever thought we would have a book on like those from a New York World’s Fair, that
collecting handbags?” asked Terry. they thought were so rare, they soon found American, 18th century
Kovels has also launched its new, updated website, kovels.com, out many people had them. Prices are a Chippendale ribbon back
making hundreds of thousands of prices, articles, marks, and other tenth what they were. chair in cherry of peg
information to help collectors price and identify their antiques I know the Antiques Road Show does a construction and original
finish, having pierced slats
and collectibles. The new kovels.com also has sections on Downsizing, great job with their valuing. They used to over an upholstered slipper seat,
Settling an Estate, and 60-plus topical Buy & Sell Guides. travel around with a couple of moving rising on square legs with
vans full of books and now they can email stretcher support. Sold for $120
somebody they know who’s an expert and
Kovels’ Price Guides get all the latest information they need. in 2018 at Cowan’s Auction

Sixty-seven years ago Ralph and Terry Kovel published their What things have gone up?
very first book, Dictionary of Marks: Pottery and Porcelain. Their first
price book, The Complete Antiques Price List, was published in 1968. Well, if what you have is “museum-quality,”—anything, it doesn't
Terry likes to say that when she and her husband Ralph started out, matter what —if it’s museum-quality it has gone crazy.
“we wrote two books before we even wrote a sentence,” alluding Look at baseball cards, comic books,
to the incredible amount of data listed in that first issue and their advertising—all these things that were every-
other publications. day throw-aways when they were made—
In each edition of the Price List, Kovels uses real selling prices that they weren’t meant to be saved, they
have been verified and edited for correctness. As they said in their weren’t meant to be collected, and they
introduction to the 2000 edition, “This is a book for the average weren’t meant to stay forever in your
collector.” They certainly know whereof they speak, for the Kovel living room.
family has built their legacy on sharing a reflection of the world of In general, I think the biggest surprise
antiques and collectibles. In the 2000 edition, the Guide contained over is advertising and what many people call
860 pages of listings—over 50,000 items with prices—“from the “automobilia,” like old oil cans from an
American market for the American market.” This year, over 500 pages old gas station, that can be worth more
are chock-full of images, listings, and ever-valuable tips, market than a thousand dollars.
overview, and cross-referenced materials.
During our talk, we covered a number of changes that have taken
place within the marketplace for antiques and collectibles as well as its Gene Autry Comics #5 Mile High pedigree
influencers, especially over the last 20 years since this Magazine began. (Fawcett Publications, 1943) CGC NM+ 9.6,
The biggest impact, without a doubt, is the Internet. sold for $1,673 at Heritage Auctions in 2017

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