Antiques maintain a fascinating and magical allure. The business attracts creative, sometimes larger-than-life colourful characters. And although the boom years of the 1990s have passed, most rogues and fly-by-night dealers have fallen by the wayside. It is imperative today that a professional air is exercised to make a living. Even though involvement in the industry may be as small or large as one likes - a part-time hobbyist, collector, enthusiast, or professional dealer - various rules and regulations have emerged to help provide fair trading and credibility in this industry that sets it apart from any other retail business. The subject is so diverse that it has no beginning and no end. It can stretch one's expertise, knowledge, and entrepreneurship in every direction, which is why it so often appeals to retired professionals and ex-business people with a proven track record. Having been involved with the high-end antiques industry for 25 years, starting as a hobby and working through all the various stages, including owning/co-directing two professional businesses, the author thought it would be interesting to look back and analyse the process for others. A Beginner's Guide to Becoming an Antiques Dealer describes in concise, easy-to-read, fun terms a beginner's entry point. Most everyone will someday inherit antique or collector's items, and popular television series show the vast interest in the topic. Isn't it time you learned from the professionals?

Dennis Prince teams up with antique and collectible expert Lynn Dralle to provide all the information necessary to reap the huge benefits of selling antiques and collectibles on eBay. Written by an eBay Power Seller whose earnings topped $20,000 a month, this book helps you: Research types--and eras--of antiques and collectibles Find the best merchandise Use language that gets buyers to pay the most for the seller's items Price strategically. . . and much more!

The Most Valuable Tool in Your Toolbox Lacking the edge on tool information? Cut through the competition and hammer home deals like a pro with Antique Trader Tools Price Guide. Featuring 700 color photos, thousands of listings with current values, market trends, and collecting advice, it's the definitive reference on antique tools. This book features: • 700 color photos, with actual prices received at auctions • 2,000 listings covering planes, braces, drills, saws, hammers, levels, rules, squares, gauges, scientific instruments, patented tools, advertising, and much more • Information on building a collection, condition grading, market trends, and investing New! • Chapter on collecting Stanley tools • Condition grading photos

The long-awaited Volume II of a Beginner’s Guide to Becoming an Antiques Dealer is intended to complement the first volume, moving readers on to the next level in starting a full-time antiques business. This fully illustrated paperback written by Christine Pym provides in-depth professional tips and suggestions that come from her first-hand experience in creating, building, and establishing from scratch the forty-year-old acclaimed high-end retail business David J Pym Antiques. Critiqued as “unique in its genre, compelling, and captivating,” this how-to guide also provides general background information on antique terms and time periods, together with descriptions of popular products and collectors’ items. These include such treasures as rare and vintage guitars, timepieces, Renaissance and Baroque-style cupids and putti, as well as Art Nouveau and Art Deco art glass, lady figure bronzes and table lamps, mirrors and chandeliers for interior design, and fine jewellery. Written for antiquities enthusiasts and passionate collectors everywhere, the book is considered “a rare first-hand glimpse into the antiques world and its internal workings.” The book begins by asking the question: “What is the antiques industry about?” No one, including universities, has been able to get to the bottom of it. By all accounts, it remains a popular, yet mystifying, sometimes secretive, unregulated industry. Also, despite being potentially rewarding and exciting, it cannot be described as an easy profession. Therefore, the book seeks to explore and simplify the business.

Miller's Antiques Handbook & Price Guide remains the essential and trusted guide to the antiques market. It has earned the reputation of being the book no dealer, collector or auctioneer should be without. Compiled by Judith Miller, world-renowned antiques expert and co-founder of the book, the guide features more than 8,000 antiques. Comprehensive sections cover ceramics, furniture, glass, silver and metalwares, jewellery and objets de vertu, clocks and watches, books, Oriental antiques, textiles, toys, decorative arts and Modern Classics. Special features explain why one piece is worth more than another, show how to value an item and teach you to be your own valuer. Biographies of designers and factories give the background information you need to help date and value objects, while special 'Judith Picks' sections give fascinating background and valuation details for particularly interesting or unusual objects.

Judith Miller's super-sleuth guide to spotting, buying and collecting antiques, now in paperback If you are looking to discover a valuable treasure or nab a bootsale bargain then antiques and collectables expert Judith Miller shows you how to solve any collecting case. Find out how to tell a genuine antique piece from a fake. Spot signs that indicate an object has been restored. Discover makers and styles to look out for, and whether an object should be kept, or not. Includes expert advice on makers, questions to ask, tips for identifying the best examples in furniture, ceramics, glass, silver, dolls, teddy bears, textiles and more. With hundreds of photographs that reveal every detail of each piece, you'll soon know exactly what to look for. Get more at www.antiques.dk.com with over 30,000 colour photos, descriptions and price guides. "Super-easy to use, may save or make you a bob or two." 5-star rating, Web User Magazine.

You don't have to look far these days to find someone who says they can make you rich. Work from home, Pyramid Schemes, Chain Letters, Catalogue Delivery. You'll find all these jobs advertised in your local newspaper all the time. Do they work? Well yes for some people. But for most people, they just end up getting burned. Paying a joining fee and never making any money out of it at all. Frustrating isn't it?

“A gentle, knowledgeable guide to a fate we all share” (The Washington Post): the first and only all-encompassing action plan for the end of life. “There is nothing wrong with you for dying,” hospice physician B.J. Miller and journalist and caregiver Shoshana Berger write in A Beginner’s Guide to the End. “Our ultimate purpose here isn’t so much to help you die as it is to free up as much life as possible until you do.” Theirs is a clear-eyed and big-hearted action plan for approaching the end of life, written to help readers feel more in control of an experience that so often seems anything but controllable. Their book offers everything from step-by-step instructions for how to do your paperwork and navigate the healthcare system to answers to questions you might be afraid to ask your doctor, like whether or not sex is still okay when you’re sick. Get advice for how to break the news to your employer, whether to share old secrets with your family, how to face friends who might not be as empathetic as you’d hoped, and how to talk to your children about your will. (Don’t worry: if anyone gets snippy, it’ll likely be their spouses, not them.) There are also lessons for survivors, like how to shut down a loved one’s social media accounts, clean out the house, and write a great eulogy. An honest, surprising, and detail-oriented guide to the most universal of all experiences, A Beginner’s Guide to the End is “a book that every family should have, the equivalent of Dr. Spock but for this other phase of life” (New York Times bestselling author Dr. Abraham Verghese).

An all-access pass to America's first (and favorite) reality television program -- boasting over ten million viewers each week -- Antiques Roadshow! If you're a fan of PBS's top-rated Antiques Roadshow, you've probably wondered -- what would it take to get your family treasure on the program? What happens to the antiques after the show airs? Are the appraisers ever wrong? And will Antiques Roadshow come to my hometown? In this four-color, fully illustrated guide to America's favorite treasure-hunting program, Antiques Roadshow Behind the Scenes reveals inside information about the participants, the appraisers, the fans, and the antiques that make up the show, direct from the woman who makes it all happen -- executive producer Marsha Bemko. Learn what it really takes to put on a Roadshow event (and why certain cities are more likely to get a visit from the show than others), who gets chosen to be on air (and what items producers are really looking for), what it takes to be an appraiser (and how even the experts make mistakes) ... and what happens when things go terribly wrong (such as the occasional antique that turns out to have been stolen!). In addition, learn which books, websites, and resources your favorite appraisers recommend, and get updates on some of the most popular and notorious items ever featured on the show. From priceless tips to the juicy family secrets hidden in dusty heirlooms, Antiques Roadshow Behind the Scenes is both an invaluable resource and a fascinating slice of Americana.