There’s a curio shop in most old towns which sell trinkets and antique items, usually these items are from old homes within the town, or bought from estates. The local curio shops are just one type of antique dealer. There are of course as many types of antique dealers as there are antique collections.
One of the most reputable type of antique dealer would be those dealing in antique books. The antique book dealer has to maintain a solid reputation. This comes from traveling in search of old books to add to the store’s inventory. In most cases, the book store owner would also be a collector, for who better to appraise, authenticate and sell quality antique books than someone who knows old books, a collector of antique books.
For an antique dealer, the shop owner has to have a continuously revolving inventory. Admittedly, the items sold in the store are not easy to come by. This is where the antique dealer becomes an collecter for other antique collectors. He has to search for, find and appraise antiques.
This is not an easy task; antiques do not come marching to the store. And even if the antiques were brought to the store and presented to the dealer for study, these instances are few and far between. More commonly, the antique dealer would be dealing with other antique dealers and collectors, the antique dealer would be running around the countryside, from one old town to the next checking out old homes, garage sales, fire sales, flea markets or country fairs. The hunt for legitimate antiques never ends.
An antique dealer has to verify the age of the antique. He also has to double-check that the antique is not a modern or instant antique. A modern antique is an item which was designed like an antique and looks like an antique because it was manufactured to look old. It’s also called an instant antique because the manufacturers might have sand blasted the antic to make it look old.
Double checking sources is a tedious job. Not all antiques are documented. In most instances, if the antique dealer knows his stuff, he would have an instinctive feel for the antique. The style of the original manufacturer would be instantly recognizable.
Not all antiques pass through an antique dealer. There’s only so much an antique dealer can know and do about hunting down and authenticating an old item. If you’re feeling lucky you might try to scrounge some flea market or garage sale for that one of a kind antique.
