Why do many millennials not care for antiques? For instance, it’s hard to find a millennial (born from 1980 to 2000) who has taken to collecting items over 100+ years old … hatpins, statuaries, Victorian furniture, oil lamps, old jewelry, rare coins, etc.
I read with interest this article: http://www.antiquesage.com/are-antiques-dead-millennials/ where the author argues millennials don’t collect such personal property because they don’t have the money to purchase it.
We would counter that there are generally two other reasons rather than money — that they aren’t of the age that is interested in collecting, and secondly when they start collecting, they will be looking for chattels approximately 40-50 years old — not 100 or more years old.
Most so-called collectors start at about age 45 and continue to almost 60 years old. In this time period, most collectors are searching for items from their childhood (approximately 6-13 years old.) We wrote about this phenomenon here: https://mikebrandlyauctioneer.wordpress.com/2015/08/10/what-some-collectors-cant-find-buyers/.
Many people remember being 20 to 45 years old working overtime to just get by, taking care of kids, maybe grandchildren and sometimes aging parents. It might be that money is short, but there’s actually little interest or reason to collect at this time.
Another presumption the aforementioned article makes is that once these millennials have money — they’ll start to collect antiques … and I’m not so sure, and actually suggest if they collect at all, it will be items from their childhoods — likely from 1986 or so forward.
Lastly, if I was selling antiques from the 100-year-old (+/-) era, I too would likely be suggesting prices are low so it’s time to invest and thus take advantage of prices possibly going up down the road. However, I don’t believe that for a second.
Mike Brandly, Auctioneer, CAI, CAS, AARE has been an auctioneer and certified appraiser for over 30 years. His company’s auctions are located at: Mike Brandly, Auctioneer, RES Auction Services, and Goodwill Columbus Car Auction. He serves as Distinguished Faculty at Hondros College, Executive Director of The Ohio Auction School, and an Instructor at the National Auctioneers Association’s Designation Academy and Western College of Auctioneering. He is faculty at the Certified Auctioneers Institute held at Indiana University and is approved by The Supreme Court of Ohio for attorney education.
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