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How to Learn About Picking Antiques

If you have a passion for antiques, you may want to turn it into a career. Your focus may be narrow --- for example, antique cameras --- or broad, encompassing all objects made during a certain time period. Learning more about picking antiques can help you find treasures you might have otherwise overlooked. The more you learn about picking antiques, the better you'll become at locating bargains and spotting treasures lurking beneath layers of latex paint.

Instructions

- 1
  Watch television shows about antique collecting. PBS's "Antiques Roadshow" is an excellent source of information about a wide variety of antique objects.
- 2
  Visit antique stores and talk to the shop owners and employees. If you are interested in a particular item, leave your contact information and ask the antiques dealer to call you if they find one. Looking at and touching antique objects is the best way to learn about those which interest you.
- 3
  Attend estate auctions and garage sales regularly. Make note of how much the antiques which interest you cost, and how their condition drives the price.
- 4
  Read books and websites about antiques. Your local library is a vast resource of antiques information.
- 5
  Join online communities of antique dealers and enthusiasts. Ask questions in forums related to the objects in which you are interested; other collectors and sellers are usually happy to share information about availability, price and what to look for.

Antiques