$25 Consignments: Sell Your Antiques!

Folks:

It has been great hearing from so many of you in recent weeks as economic conditions turn many of us "collectors" into "sellers." As usual, quality, early wares sell well and briskly - especially antique arms, early California pieces, photographs and militaria.

You can look at this "downturn" in a couple of different ways, I suppose, and I don't want to present too rosy a spin to it as people are, of course, suffering in many ways - but it also present opportunity for those who have saved wisely, want to invest, and have the means to acquire nice things as they "come out of the weeds."

This, we have seen at Antiqueswest, has been the case. So if you have something you wish to place with us, hit the "Consign" button and send us pictures of your item. A one-time $25 fee gets you hosting for three months on our site - though many things are not lasting for days! One caller recently told us a competing site offered to host his items for a considerable up-front fee and 50% off the sale price.

Again, Antiqueswest charges you just 10% of the final sale value when we move your item for us. An unlike other sites, you KEEP your item.

Check us out, you'll be glad you did!

Wanted: U.S.S. Arizona Model

Wanted: A museum grade model of the U.S.S. Arizona, around 30" in length and correctly rigged and presented.

If you have one, please contact us with photos and price.

Thank you.

A Cannon Shot Comes Home... 150 Years Later

One of the really nice things about we do is the fact that we get to reunite pieces with their original owners from time to time.

This happened again this week.

We've had this nice lantern slide image of a battle-torn tree on the Sherfey Farm property on the Gettysburg, Pa. site for a little while. It has a handwritten description of the image and depicts several cannon shot lodged in the tree, obviously sent their by counter-battery fire.

A couple of days ago a descendant of the family inquired about the slide and then bought it, identifying the slide as a family favorite of the tree in the family's yard but unusual in that someone has placed protective chickenwire over the battle scars to keep scavengers from digging the shot out.

And then, to add to the "small world" aspect of this whole thing, we find out in talking with the very nice man who bought the slide that he used to live within a mile and half of our home, during a stay in the Bay Area.

So there you have it. Not quite "the cannon shot heard 'round the world," but close.

Glad it's "going home."

Antiqueswest.com

One Man's Art May Be Another Man's Loot...

We've been pretty lucky.

Perhaps because we're cautious by nature and perhaps because our business model greatly reduces the chances of theft from us or from one of our customers, we've escaped the sort of large-scale looting that does go on in some areas of the antiques world today.

We've seen it happen, and seen the effect it has on collectors. And we understand completely the devastating impact it leaves on a collector's psyche, being collectors ourselves. That some yobbo in a pickup truck could invade your home or off-site lockers and help himself to what it took you years to put together is not something we like to think about.

But we do. So, we take the usual preventative steps, install the usual safeguards and a few others to make thievery more difficult, try to live our lives, and help others who find themselves victimized by these no-necked, knuckle-dragging vermin pick up and, hopefully, get their precious items back.

Again knocking on that lucky nearby wood, we've never handled a stolen item or felt the bite when someone claims the piece you found under a dusty horseblanket in a Vermont barn is theirs, stolen from sweet aunt Maude in 1932. But we know folks who have.

As collectors of California art we were struck by the tale of Mr. Jim McCarty, who lost most of his beloved early California works to thieves many years ago. Jim took all the precautionary steps and still ended up losing his paintings, many by artists we collect ourselves. So we thought we'd post a picture of one of his paintings in hope you may recognize it and be able to return it to him.

We operate under the principle that if we all watch out for one another we come out stronger for it.

What A Year! Thank You From Antiqueswest...

It has been a nutty year on many fronts, with great change happening on the broader front of national and world news. We're hoping for better things in 2009, with our people back from foreign lands, some resolution to the attack on our country and a return to the value set that made this land great but which many seem to have lost sight of in recent years.

On the antique front, it was a good year, with many new things coming up out of the weeds - partly due to the "new economics" which changed the fortunes of many. We were pleased to handle many new items and move them along to happy new caretakers, helping out their former owners in the process.

What was moving? Antique arms did well, with concentration on flinters and muzzle-loading arms from the Civil War, and edged weapons selling briskly, especially the presentation-grade models.

With our Western focus, Gold Rush and Early California items did well this year, with buyers exhibiting interest from all over the world and not just the Golden State. As we have in years past, we were pleased to re-unite family pieces sold off and forgotten long ago with descendants eager to re-connect with their ancestors.

This was done on an almost regular basis and always added a sense of joy to what we do. We may be a business, but we like the idea of old things going back to the people who made or originally owned them. Antiqueswest was also pleased to find its photographica collection eagerly sought out by researchers, scholars, and writers looking for ways to illustrate their research. We were pleased to help with this where we could, as we appreciate the effort to study and learn from our past.

We rung in the New Year quietly, with an appropriate bottle of bubbly and time spent with family. A check of the computer this morning shows more people lining up to have their antiques hosted on the site so look for more fine things in the days to come and keep in touch when you can... we like to hear from you.

All best, and best wishes for our collective success in 2009!


J.D.