Very ashamed terrible I was very ashamed of this book. I was reading it and ran into cuss words on page 13!! I do not recommend it. Your toilet seat is cleaner than this book.
This Is Not Easy Thanks to television networks such as The History Channel and A&E hundreds of thousands of people now dream about getting rich off something they stumble on at a neighborhood garage sale. A few of them even have high hopes that someday their fleamarket habit will produce a steady enough profit to free them from the ninetofive rat race they dread so much. Maureen Stanton's Killer Stuff and Tons of Money subtitled Seeking History and Hidden Gems in FleaMarket America is here to tell you that it is not nearly as easy as American Pickers and Pawn Stars make it appear to be.Over the years Stanton's longtime friend Curt Avery occasionally has taken her along when he goes to work in the morning. What makes that a rewarding experience for both of them is that Avery's workplace is the multitude of fleamarkets estate sales antique shows and auction houses to be found on the East Coast. He tries to pass on some of the knowledge with which his years of experience have rewarded him and Stanton provides a little bit of free labor toward unpacking packing and settingup his sales area. Killer Stuff and Tons of Money is very much Avery's life story.
Ever wonder how antique dealers find the good stuff? For the past 11 years I've been a parttime dealer of vintage goods and antiques. My love of vintage & antique stuff started early as I visited garage sales and antiques shops especially with my Mom & Nana. I'm a lifelong collector always on the lookout for wonderful old things both for my home and to resell.And I'm always interested in learning more about antiques and about the business.So I was delighted to come across Killer Stuff and Tons of Money.
Fun Entertaining Informative As someone within the business I loved this book.For those looking for a how to book for making it in the antiques world this isn't the book for you! And frankly there is no such book. As this book shows it takes years of acquired knowledge and experience to identify and be able to sell antiques especially highpriced items. The entire point of the book is to show you that the life of an antique dealer is not easy. It shows the greuling work involved in the set up and take down of the booths. You follow Curt on long drives and lessthanideal conditions including sleeping on the ground and dealing with rainouts.I was sad to see Curt Avery go as the book ended.
Excellent fun and informative read I found this to be an excellent realworld informative book about the lives of antique dealers shows wins and losses. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Not what anyone is expecting This book reads more like a mystery novel or tale of a treasure hunt which in a way it is just that.It is certainly not your basic 'how to identify the hidden value of whatever widget you're interested in' as in so many of the current crop of the same old Guides to Antiques. This one is different and far more entertaining. Stanton drags the reader along on her own voyage of discovery as to why the dealers pickers & collectors do what they do.There are hints & tips of course like recipes scattered among the pages of a Nora Ephron novel along with sly peeks at the goingson at Brimfield and 'Antiques Roadshow'. Stanton also dips her toes into the slick underworld of repros and fakes and shows how easily even the experienced can be 'taken.'Anyone who collects or deals in antiques or who knows someone that does would do well to buy this. Prepare to be pleasantly surprised.
A First Hand Look Inside the Business of Antiques For the first 50 pages or so it kinda lumbers at one point the Master Antiquer 'Avery' encounters a red chair and thinks it may be significant but he cannot tell. Which leads me to ask 'What is the point?' But it picks up. We learn about his training his mistakes his family that his house is virtually taken over with antiquity from buying odd lots for one special piece. He talks about 'Fresh' pieces yet it sounds like his house is full of that. He has a yard sale burns some and gives some away.He sells some pieces in group shops. Some things he makes signicant money on but it is a daily grind. A dealer has to keep buying to sell. He attends auctions and visits antique shops. He sells at large shows and prebuys at them. The author tries to learn along the way by helping. She visits a comic book show and discusses that vintage of the 1930's up through the 1970's and 1980's. Baseball cards are mentioned in passing.What Avery deals with can be 200 years old. She discusses fakes and reproductions. It is an engaging read like
Strengths and Weaknesses While this book has its strengths and weaknesses I tend to judge a book on its strengths more than its weaknesses most classics are deeply flawed but those flaws are overwhelmed by the strengths.What I like most about this book is the author trying to amplify the activity documented into something greater. She takes one mans activities and uses them to explore human nature how we relate to the past and how we relate to things. It's a bit disjointed but so few books like this even grasp at greater themes that you have to give one credit when it does. I also give her credit for her honesty at the end of following a dealer around off and on for at least four years she admits she has picked up very little of his expertise and that might be to our benefit instead of getting caught up in the minutia of individual deals she uses them to illustrate and relate to her larger themes. That said it may seem repetitive to some but in reality it's probably just a small sampling of the thousands of deals she witnessed.Being somewhat in the business used and rare books and I do occasionally display at flea markets I probably find the book more fascinating than many will. And I did get some new thoughts about the business the nature of collectors and how they relate to collectibles. I just finished the book and I know I'll have additional fun going through the extensive bibliography.Overall I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the themes I've mentioned.
One's man's trash is anothers treasure This is an excellent read on finding and marketing antiques. This is well written and has useful information on how professionals go about there trade. There are many tricks of the trade that can helpfull to the amateur .If you have an interest in collecting antiques for fun or profit I would recommend this book.
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