Buying & Selling Antiques: A Dealer's Inside View [Paperback]

Don Cline (Author), Sara Pitzer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 1986

A professional guide to getting started with minimal investment, identifying antiques that retain their value, even advice on auctions and auctioneers.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A Dealer Shows How To Get Into The Business

Author Sara Pitzer has teamed up with a veteran buyer and seller of antiques, Don Cline, to give the reader an instructive and entertaining inside view of how to deal and profit in antiques.

For those eager to get into the antiques business, this provides all they need to know -- how to do it with a $50 investment, the opportunities at antiques malls, how to be a successful "picker and hauler" (a person who knocks on doors, asks to see the family heirlooms, then makes an offer).

Even if the reader is interested only in acquiring antiques, this book will help. It tells which antiques fluctuate in value, which hold their value; it explains how to buy and what to avoid at antiques shops and flea markets; and it gives the low-down on auctions and auctioneers.

About the Author

Co-author Don Cline was a member of a family who bought, sold, and cherished antiques. His family's interest has remained with him, and Don is now a respected wholesale and retail dealer who has contributed his expert knowledge to Buying and Selling Antiques. He lives in North Carolina with his wife, Sara Pitzer.

Sara Pitzer is the author of Homegrown Whole Grains and more than a dozen cookbooks and travel guides. She has studied and written about grains in Amish country in central Pennsylvania, in the southeastern United States, and in California. More recently, she has studied small-scale rice growing in Thailand and quinoa production in Peru. She lives in North Carolina.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC (January 4, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0882664069
• ISBN-13: 978-0882664064
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,628,631 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An informative, must-have for aspiring dealers., July 27, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Jasper, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buying & Selling Antiques: A Dealer's Inside View (Paperback)

Sara Pitzer and Don Cline map out an easy-to-follow trail of tips, etiquette, and guidelines for beginning antique enthusiasts. Even those not planning to become antique dealers will benefit from the sound advice in this book.

The chapter on auctions was an eye-opening book in itself. I only wish I had read this book before I found myself at my first auction, the dreaded estate auction. As I read this book, I cringed at the novice mistakes and blunders I made at that first auction. Ms. Pitzer and Mr. Cline are kind enough to let the reader in on some of the blunders and mistakes Don and other experts have made in the past. They point out how you can learn from their mistakes.

Thank you Sara and Don, you have taught me I can inch my way into the business. Your advice is sound, and the mistakes were reassuring. With your book, I now feel ready to face the auctions again!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Older title but still valuable and fun, October 21, 2002

By 

Suzanne P. Thomas (Colorado, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Buying & Selling Antiques: A Dealer's Inside View (Paperback)

This book is excellently written with many enlightening stories to illustrate the authors' points about buying, selling, negotiating and more.
As someone who is toying with the idea of opening a booth in an antiques mall, I appreciated reading about the other selling options available such as holding antiques yard sales, picking for other dealers, or attending flea sales.
Although this book is not very long, it is the most helpful title I've found and is well worth its price. The authors concentrate on what the reader really needs to know: how to get started without getting in over one's head, how to buy and where (with the inside scoop on auctions and estate sales - fascinating!), how to sell most items at a profit and get rid of the mistakes, dealer discounts and possible sidelines to earn extra income.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, August 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Buying & Selling Antiques: A Dealer's Inside View (Paperback)

The general tips on the business are good, but this book was written during a very different time in the antiques business. A lot of the what is discussed is out of date and does not apply to today's market. The manner in which the information is presented is annoying because the book is written by Sara Pitzer, but the knowledge of the business comes from Don Cline. Pitzer ends up saying "Don says this..." and "Don tried that..." and so on. Very annoying.