QUESTION OF THE MONTH: February 2023.
Do you have a question and want to be featured? E-mail me here and I’ll do my best to answer. Be sure to include QUESTION OF THE MONTH as the subject line. Keep in mind my answers are mostly general and should not take the place of a formal appraisal.
Question: “Why are antiques and vintage items so costly? Allison from Oak Park, Illinois
Answer: I may sound like a broken Victrola
but the key to determining value always comes down to – say it with me – supply and demand.
A limited supply coupled with a high demand always generates higher values. A high supply coupled with a low demand always generates lower values. Remember when people hoarded toilet paper and sold rolls online? That was a supply and demand issue. What about recent egg prices? Supply and demand strikes again.
Lo and behold, supply and demand works the same way in determining value for antiques and vintage items. Take Depression glass for example (I beat up on Depression glass a lot, sorry!). It dates from the Great Depression, it’s translucent and often comes in pastel hues of peach, green, pink, blue or other shades. It’s very nice and pretty. But (and this is just my anecdotal experience) every grandma on Earth has a set of it. So there’s a lottttt of Depression glass out there, more than meeting the demand from collectors. Big supply limited demand – this keeps most pieces below $20.
Then look at mid-20th century modern furniture (I use this example a lot even though the “Mad Men” furniture trend has worn thin for me personally). Early styles by Heywood-Wakefield or Herman Miller can fetch a fortune on the secondary market because lotttttttts of people want them and there simply isn’t enough supply to match the demand. That’s why a fiberglass shell chair by Herman Miller can go for $800 while an upholstered Eastlake-style armchair with a walnut body that’s 60 years older might only fetch $200. Supply and demand.