The word ‘antique,’ and ‘old,’ are very similar. Antique, usually means valuable old, and just plain old, can mean anything that is just that; old in any condition. Let’s just do ‘antique’ in this. There car many forms, sizes, ages, makeups, and values of antique. Some really tiny, and others can weigh thousands of pounds, or even tons. Some dozens of years old, and some thousands of years old. Lots from which to choose. I’m certain we all have an antique or other, and according to “Antiques Roadshow,” (PBS, Monday evenings) I have seen people who picked up something at a yard sale for a couple of bucks, and it turned out to be worth hundreds and even thousands. It happens many times on that show, which I love to watch.
I bought a 1941 Plymouth truck for $235, 50 years ago, spent $2,000 doing a frame-up restoration, and not it could bring $30,000. New, it cost $400. All I do to increase its value, is to keep it in my garage, and use it about once a month. The reason an antique is valuable, is just about 100% because of its age, and condition. My home was built in 1887 for $8,000, and today it could bring a million dollars. Same house, which has been well maintained, for 136 years.
Before we go any further, remember that the dollar has lost 95% of its value over the last hundred years, so the current ‘value,’ must be considered, when you decide its current price, vs its original cost. The use of the item now, vs its use when manufactured, must also be considered when you buy an antique. An old, cheaply built, chest of drawers, held the same as now, but it was cheap then, and is still cheap now, so a piece of excellent quality chest of drawers, would be a far better value now, than a cheapie. Old reel type lawn mowers, bring high prices now, but would be impossible to do a decent job of cutting your lawn now, compared to a mower with a rotating blade. They’re good for display only. Old toys, which were cheap when built, may look good as a display piece, but can hardly be used by a child today, as they would quickly destroy them.
Antique autos are superb things to display, but are hardly good for transportation. Restoring any antique can make a fine hobby, and one fine place to view thousands of antique just about anything from steam tractors, trolley cars, cars, trucks, tractors, clothes, furnishings, and anything old, just about happens on Labor Day weekend, every year, at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, when the old steam threshers has their meet. We have been there several times, and it is a great place! You can buy a DVD of it if you don’t want to go or can’t but the in-person visit, is far better.
The U.S. Mint, a West Point New York, is where the U.S. Gold Eagle is made, and from 1907 through 1933, they made a beautiful 1 oz St. Gaudens Gold Eagles. When I began doing metals in 1974, we sold the St. Gaudens for the same price as the regular Gold Eagles, but no more. Now, since they have all been collected, there are few for sale, and the result is that they now command a high price. If tough times really came, and one needed gold to barter with, a regular Gold Eagle would have almost the same bartering power as a St. Gaudens.
The U.S. Mint made Indian Head pennies from 1859 to 1909, but that was so long ago, that when I entered the field, they had already become valuable. All U.S. silver coins, which ceased to me made in 1964, have become valuable. The problem with collecting those, is that their silver content and purity are not on the coins, so they would be difficult to barter with in difficult times. It’s far better to have a bartering object with its contents and purity on it.
A cheap piece of wood furniture, which may have sold for a few dollars a hundred years ago, can bring ten or more times that today.
-Don Stott – don@coloradogold.com