Antiques & Vintage Collectibles

The Luxor Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced in absentia six people to life imprisonment and five others to 10 years in prison for armed robbery of the antiquity storage area belonging to the German mission in Luxor and the theft of two ancient...

Via Rene Nieuwenhuizen

Latest figures show that most provincial auction houses have done rather well during 2011. Why?

 

People like to collect things, and antiques are a favourite collectable. It's nice to own a piece of history that you can use; something you can sit on, serve dinner on, store items inside of, or look at in appreciation.

 

The value of an antique is realised by the collector who owns it as well as the collector who wishes to own it and that is evidenced by the sterling performance of antique auction houses during 2011, when low interest rates, record gold and silver prices and collectors looking to liquidate assets produced record sales results.

 

For instance; the highest price paid in the UK in 2011 was the 1.75m pound bid for an Imperial Qing dynasty white jade teapot and cover at Woolley & Wallis.

 

In the USA in December 2011, the unique Brasher Doubloon, known as the 1st American Dollar Gold Coin, was sold by Steven L. Contursi. It was bought by Blanchard and Company of New Orleans for around 3 million dollars, who then sold it to a Wall Street investment firm for nearly 7.4 million dollars.

 

For most antique buyers and sellers these are numbers we can only dream of; but It will always stand you in good stead if you take the time to understand how to buy and sell your more modest collectibles and antiques at auction.

Via Kat Miller