American Pickers?

I guess you could call us American Pickers.  We do go all over seeking out hidden treasures; however, it is rare that we would pick through someone's garage filled with old rusty stuff.  We look for the treasures that other Antique dealers have already found, but haven't a clue as to what they really have.  When I was a child my father would buy art this way.  He made a living by studying and knowing more than the other guy.  You pay the price that the person wants and sometimes you luck out.

The hold idea is that you must constantly study.  Studying the market as to what people are buying and studying antiques, art, and design. I have to say that I have a habit.  A buying habit, that is.  We work hard buying and selling so that in return we can buy some more.  We have local people that kid about following us on our buying trips.  We never really know where the good buys will turn up.  We sometimes just follow a whim.  Intuition is sometimes the best way to go.  There are times that we feel that a good spirit (perhaps my Father) is whispering in our ears.  If we follow that hunch we usually find a treasure or two.  My advise to those of you who aspire to be American Pickers is to know what you want and to have studied up and then just go out there and look around with an open mind.

Misunderstood Century

Over the years we have gotten more and more pieces from the early to mid twentieth century. I can not tell you how many times people come in and ask if we are only carrying Decorator items. Yes, a lot of decorators use the pieces by furniture designers of the twentieth century, but many people don't realize that there are special pieces that command respect for their design and their quality. Just like anything there are differences between pieces made for the masses, and those special pieces made for the rich, and or people with discriminating taste. Their sleek lines and beautiful materials lend them to blending with some of the more classic older pieces. Recently we listed a pair of 18th century Italian bedside tables on the website 1stdibs.



These compare well with pieces such as the Paolo Buffa piece that we just listed from the twentieth century.
These are exceptional for both style and quality of workmanship. We also listed a pair of Grosfeld House display cabinets. That are also very nice pieces from the twentieth century. They may be used with a mixture of periods and styles. All these pieces have substance and integrity.

I just read a great article about American pickers back in the early 1990's and their interest in Deco 1920's thru 1960's. We are not alone and they were ahead of us by a long shot. Back in the the 1970's they were selling to of all people Andy Warhol. They said to Warhol "I get stuff you like." Andy said,"Bring me stuff." He was buying 1950's stuff in the 1970's. He would buy trailer loads of Deco at a time. Andy was a compulsive buyer. I remember hearing tales about his estate where they found bags straight from stores that he had never even unwrapped when he got them home.