I am sure everyone has things that drive them crazy in the world of American antiques. Here are a few of mine and I’d love to hear yours as well.
Ads with pictured items that do not appear on the dealer’s website, either for sale or past sales. I know that many dealers run a “tight ship” but there are those who seem not to care about wooing collectors.
Posts on Facebook that an auction catalog is available for viewing when it is not. How difficult can it be to make sure that a catalog is online before letting collectors know?
Items listed in an auction catalog with incomplete information. I respect auction houses with detailed item descriptions. Depending on the number of auctions the house is balancing at any one time, and the size of the Americana department and perhaps its expertise, incomplete descriptions are unavoidable. I’d like to think not.
Print ads that have only the most limited information on a piece. At least you could tell me the dimensions of a piece of furniture. Even if our definition of “wonderful condition” differ such a statement at least gives me an idea of the quality of the piece.
Dealers who do not return emails or phone calls. Is being a dealer a business or a sideline. How can a dealer be too busy to get back to a collector interested in an item he has for sale?
Dealers who take two or three weeks or more to get back to me. See the peeve above. A very well-known and prestigious dealer called me after I emailed about whether he had a piece in a certain genre. He did not but we had a good conversation, and I felt important to him.
Print coverage of a show or auction with no prices listed for pieces. Even if the deadline is closing in on an editor, readers value knowing what pieces were priced at or sold for at an auction.
Dealers who seem to struggle with being direct. I recently had numerous conversations with a well-known dealer about a piece. He knew I was looking for something exemplary and told me honestly, this was not that piece. But it was honest for what it was. I purchased it and he will look for an exemplary example for me. No hemming and hawing, no selling me. I like that as a collector.
Dealers who do not ship. I have encountered one or two. Each time they had a piece pictured in Maine Antique Digest I would have purchased. Both times the dealer in question said he did not ship. Go figure.
The shipping costs of some auction houses or the shippers they refer a winning bidder to. This has been discussed on Facebooks in more than one forum about American antiques. Buyer beware I guess.
Rude, loud, obnoxious collectors at a show. They monopolize dealers’ time and attention, ruin the ambiance, and are difficult to tolerate.
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