Customer Reviews

Antique Secrets

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A great little (192 page) guide of antiquing for the novice or old timer. Provides great tips on what to buy, where to buy it and how to negotiate the best price. It covers everything from challenges and problems of antiquing, to how to get along with the folks you encounter, things to avoid, secrets of success at estate sales and how to do it better than the other guy. Your first purchase could save you more than the price of the book. It's a fun, quick read book loaded with information

I instruct Antique Buying seminars, and either this guy doesn't know much about the nitty gritty details of buying antiques, or he isn't revealing that in his book. The most revealing tip was to find a city directory before a garage sale and go to a persons house the night before the garage sale. Dah! If he did that in my area, he would find that I had already been to that place and cherry picked it, probably before he ever even knew there was going to be a garage sale. There is plenty of fluff in this book. Quite honestly, he could have said what he said in about 25 pages, but thickness sells a book sometimes. I believe this writer makes a living at being a picker, but I don't think he would make much of a living if he followed only what he has written in this book and shared with the average reader. For someone who has never known how to be an antique buyer, this book is a good head start. For those that want something besides just "go to garage sales, go to auctions, go to flea markets, go to goodwill stores" this book won't tell you very much. For a real helpful book on the subject try and find "The Secrets of a Master Antique Buyer". Now, that is a book that will give you the "nitty gritty" success secrets that very few in the business know. It is written by a professional auctioneer, for dealers and auctioneers. If you are lucky enough to find it, it is worth whatever you will pay. If you are serious about antiques, "The Secrets of a Master Antique Buyer" is a much more in depth and informative manual/course. There simply aren't that many "secrets" in Antiques Secrets.

I'm not an experienced picker, collector, or dealer so, after reading this book, I had tons of questions I didn't have before.

It seems to me an awful lot of text was used without saying very much. Throughout the entire read I felt like the author was making promises to teach and reveal without giving much away. Maybe it's the nature of the people in this field of interest.

It's not a "bad" book but it's in no way a "tell all". It's more like having a picker over for an informal "career day" discussion.