Common advice for antique collectors is to buy what you like and not to consider your purchase as an investment. Some recent reports may now have people rethinking that.
An NBC News report at the end of last year was titled “Wealthy Drove Collectible Sales Through the Roof in 2014”. It points out a strong market for collectible cars citing 158 selling for over $1 million with all classic car sales generating $1.3 billion. An automobile was also on their list of some of the most expensive purchases of the year. A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold for over $38 million. Other record prices were $101 million for a 1951-1952 bronze sculpture of a woman on a chariot purchased by billionaire Steve Cohen. A different CNBC report states that Alberto Giacometti created it. A bottle of Romanee-Conti wine brought $1.6 million, the Patek Philippe Supercomplication pocket watch reached $24 million and the British Guiana One-Cent Black Magenta stamp sold for $9.8 million.
MoneyTalks News recently reported that the Bank of America is only offering .01 percent return on savings accounts. Investing in antiques and collectibles may offer a much greater return. They cite “24/7 Wall St.” analysis of data from the Knight Frank consultancy firm listing the following categories as the biggest gainers between 2004 and 2013: classic cars 430%, stamps 255%, coins 225%, fine art 183%, wine 182%, jewelry 146%, Chinese ceramics 83% and watches also 83%. There are some caveats though. They also suggest buying what you like, with some collectibles such as political memorabilia, duck decoys and Pez dispensers experiencing high and low points in value.
Stronger prices signal equally good news for those who have the type of items listed above and other rare collectibles. With buyers paying so much at auction for the items listed in the MoneyTalks article it may be the right time to sell. No one can say for certainty what the future will bring and that holds true for antique and collectibles. However, with interest rates being so low, some of the richest people in the world are adding antiques and collectibles to their investment portfolio.
If you want to read the articles I’ve cited in this report click on the Google+ link on at the bottom of the Central Mass Auctions home page (www.centralmassauctions.com). You will find a snippet of each story along with a link to the original article. There a wide range of topics including advice for buying and selling, rare finds and other auction, estate sale, antique and collectible news. It’s a good way to keep updated on our upcoming events as well.
I’ve added another event to our busy spring calendar. I will be appraising items at “Finn Funn Weekend” for the Finnish American Heritage Society in Canterbury, CT. Appraisals take place the morning of May 16th. See more details about the event on www.fahs-ct.org.
Lincoln life mask
Our April 30th antique estates auction in Worcester is shaping up to be a strong one. We have a wide range of items from an Abraham Lincoln life mask and tribal spears to gold jewelry, Sterling silver and antique paintings, with several more pickups still scheduled.
Contact us at: Wayne Tuiskula Auctioneer/Appraiser Central Mass Auctions for Antique Auctions, Estate Sales and Appraisal Services www.centralmassauctions.com (508-612- 6111), info@centralmassauctions.com
