"The Saga of an Antiques Addict"

Chapter 4

I know I should have started worrying when I found myself removing advertising books from my shelves, and replacing them with antiques reference books. But when you're an addict, you rationalize these things. However, when you start turning away paying jobs because they'll limit your ebay surfing time, you finally face the fact that you've got a disease.

Luckily, there is readily available treatment for this affliction. It's called "selling." And, it's really quite painless. As a matter of fact, I found selling to be almost as much fun as buying.

Eventually, in addition to ebay and local flea markets, I started attending live auctions. Up until that point, I had thought that auctions were what you saw on TV: high-priced art and artifacts being sold in high-class establishments like Sotheby's or Christie's. You'd never see anything being sold for less than several million dollars. This was definitely not for me. But I soon discovered that while local auctions lacked the glamour of high-end houses, the items were affordable ... and the action was electrifying.

Now, mind you, I was still a novice. I knew nothing and nobody. I thought everyone was honest and helpful. How naive can you get? I didn't yet know the true value of my "treasures," and the predators (and there were many) were lying in wait to pounce on "fresh meat" like me. You'd think that with all the reference books I was amassing, I'd do a little more research before giving away stuff for a song. But I was having too much fun acting like I knew what I was doing without any help.

I eventually learned which dealers to rely on and which ones to avoid like the plague, which auctioneers to trust and which ones were about as trustworthy as a hungry fox in a chicken coop. I've got stories that will make you cringe in horror (a little overstated, but not by too much). And I've got stories that will convince you that there is nothing you can do with your clothes on that is more fun than antiques.

Wanna hear a few? Drop in on Wednesday for Chapter 5 of the "Saga of an Antiques Addict"