Antiques in a Bad Economy = Good Investments?

Boy, like many people, our investments have really taken a hit in the stock market! Our nest egg has flown the coop! When entering an antique mall a week back, I saw a quote from a well-known newspaper. I don’t recall the exact wording but it recommended buying antiques as investments since they have held up well, even when the economy has not. The article suggested that you buy top-quality items and that you hold onto them for a reasonable amount of time. When you are ready to offer them for sale, you can watch your profits roll in.

It reminded me of a time when I was a human resources manager for a manufacturing company. I was interviewing an older man who responded to an ad for a mechanic. He had been a ‘handy-man’ and had some valuable experience, but none with our type of machinery and because of that, was not a good fit. However, he was very interesting and we did have a good conversation. It turns out he never believed in the stock market and was even leery of banks. Whenever he made some extra income, he would buy metal – gold and silver specifically. Whether it was coin or in the form of jewelry, he said he always knew it would have value. He also felt it was rather liquid, and even in the toughest of times, it held its own. He had learned this from his father who was born at the turn of the century and when he died, he’d left him pocket watches and chains and other pieces of jewelry. I had not thought much about this discussion until I saw that posting at the antique store, but this caused me to wonder. What if I had purchased gold and silver back in the early part of the 1900s? (This was not possible because I am not THAT old. But it was an interesting concept.)

I went to the ‘home library’ and found a reproduction of the 1902 Sears, Roebuck Catalogue. I thought I’d do a “What If?” scenario on some of their products.

The book has a Watch and Jewelry Department near the front and I picked a few treasures to ‘purchase.’ I started with a gold filled hunting case pocket watch. These were quite fancy, some with scenery, or railroads, even one with a stag! The price for any style of case was $8.75. That sure seemed reasonable. Oh, wait, we see that adding the watch itself was an additional fee, depending on the brand and movement. These ranged from $10.00 for a 207 Grade Elgin to a 21 jewel Vanguard Waltham for $31.50.

Wondering how these compared with today’s prices, I went to an internet site and entered the basics – Elgin Gold Filled pocket watch, completed sales only. I found a wide variety of prices and styles. Some had not sold, most of those were the very high-priced watches. Those that did sell ranged from $15 (non-working) to $300 for a nice quality example. When doing the same for the Vanguard Waltham, I found considerably less of them were offered. And many of those had sold. Probably a lot rarer. The selling prices were from $110 to $400. Not being an economist, I cannot equate the actual profit-margin, but it appears from this that the rarer, more expensive models fared better.

Saying in the ‘gold category’, I went to thimbles, a hot item back in the day when every women worth her salt would sew for the family. The one that was ’solid 14-karat gold’ cost you $3.75. A scan of my internet sales site showed a number of the antique ones, offered at various prices. Many had sold from prices ranging at a low of $65 to a high of $105. Considering how little space these take, and how sturdy these are, this would seem to be a good investment!

After more paging through the catalogue, I came across musical instruments. What if I had purchased a “genuine Maggini” violin for $4.75? My return to the internet site offered quite a few completed listings and the majority had been sold. Prices ranged from $105 to $600 and many sold over $300. Now, this sounds like it would have been profitable.

But wait, I could have bought their top of the line Lowendall Violin for $19.95. I found just one had been listed and sold, going for $470. Because there was only one example, it is hard to compare to the number and variety of Maggini’s offered for sale.

Even back then, collectors would have had a hard time finding the ‘trends’ for antique sales many years down the road. But I definitely agree that purchasing top of the line items, paying as much as you can for the best examples of an antique or collectible, will be rewarded in the end. Patience is a virtue…as my dear mom used to say, so I am doing my best to wait for my stocks to bounce back and I continue to buy quality antiques whenever I find them.