Product Description

Is hunting for hidden treasures at garage sales, flea markets, estate sales, auctions, and antique shops your idea of a good time? If you love to poke around these places but don't know the difference between something that is just plain old or something that is a bona fide antique, then you might want to make Antiquing For Dummies your next purchase. Written in Dummies-style plain English, this book is not your average highfalutin, highbrow book on antique collecting. Instead of getting a lot of attitude, you get loads of down-to-earth advice about talking the talk with antique dealers, participating in auctions, and using win-win bargaining strategies.

Authors Ron Zoglin and Deborah Shouse can help you develop a plan of attack before you begin your hunt. Even if you are already a dedicated collector, Antiquing For Dummies has plenty of sound advice and information to help you brush up on your collecting skills and broaden your knowledge. And whether you enjoy collecting furniture, glass, ceramics, or silver, you find sections in the book dedicated to each collectible that tell you how and where to buy them. Plus, after you've found that beautiful antique, you find decorating ideas and suggestions for integrating it into your household. Antiquing For Dummies is guaranteed to show you the pleasure and art of antique collecting.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #180758 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780764551086
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

A delightful read as well as educational content
Whether you are someone who breaks for garage sales or the serious collector of rare antiques, Antiquing for Dummies offers information, tips, insight and inspiration. Zoglin and Shouse help de-mystify the world of antiques and collecting and leave you feeling like you, too, can confidently and successfully find treasures that fit your lifestyle and needs. The tips on negotiating are especially helpful and I have never seen them appear anywhere else. Zoglin has spent three decades in the antique business and knows what he is talking about. Whether you are interested in antiquing or not, this book provides an entertaining read, and you will likely not look at a teacup or Granny's old desk again without a deeper appreciation of its history.

A MUST FOR BEGINNERS OR INTERMEDIATE COLLECTORS!
I have collected, sold and even appraised antiques and artwork for 25 years. This book is well written, and has valuable insights and tips for the beginning or the intermediate collector. It has very good illustrations, good anecdotes and hints, and is all in all a delight to have and read! I learned a couple of things myself, and have bought copies for my antique collecting friends and colleagues as gifts. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to gather practical and easy to understand tips and facts from authors and experts who obviously have many years of study and work in the field of antiques, collectibles and fine art. For this price, it is worth more than many of my big fancy books on single topics within the field of antiques or antique collecting. This is easy to read, humerous and fun to read, and offers good basic information on many kinds of antiques and fine art which are being collected, inherited and sold. Bravo to the writers and to Dummies!

I never throught antiquing could be so much fun!
As a sub-novice on the subject, I've always been a little intimidated walking into antique shops. So many pieces that looked so interesting and beautiful, but what hell was I really looking at here?

This chair would look great in my study, but is it really worth $700? Not much point asking the store owner, who'd be the last to point out a serious flaw, or admit that it was horribly overpriced. And when a clark says that this table is neoclassical, can she tell that my sage nod of agreement betrays an utter lack of comprehension about what that actually means?

From what little I did know, I realized that the subject of antiques was incredibly complex, and I for one did not have a lifetime to spend in arcane study. So, basically, my ignorance caused me to stay well clear of something that held a fascinating attraction for me.

That is why I was so happy to find a book called Antiquing for Dummies. I knew the Dummies series fairly well, and some of the computer-related books had saved my skin at work a number of times. But could the same principles of clear, simple and entertaining prose that marked the Dummies series in general really give me enough information to get safely started with antiques? The answer was yes, and in spades!

This book is not meant as a guide for those who are already experts. Instead, it is an exciting, entertaining, easy-to-read handbook that will help give timid new collectors a great overview of a vast subject, teaching them to swim safely in what might otherwise be very choppy waters for the uninitated.

The authors have a wonderful, light-hearted approach that is very non-intimidating and not the slightest bit elitist. They deliberately paint with broad brush strokes so that we can get a real feel for the subject and decide for ourselves which areas to explore more deeply.

Zoglin and Shouse clearly know and love antiques, and they take the position of advocates for the reader. Intead of saying, "this stuff is way too complex for the average person," they say, "hey, antiquing is fun, and with just a bit of knowledge, you can build the self-confidence to beautify your home, enrich your life, enjoy yourself and impress the hell out of your friends."

I love tongue-in-cheek tone and the wide range of information and practical tips. I could not recommend this book more highly.