So disappointed at the antiques fair this summer

[jewelerman]

Every year i look foward to the larger annual antiques fair that comes to my city .There are several jewelers that come from around the country and usually there are some trained professionals that bring exceptional jewelry...This year seems to be that exception...i was so disappointed because there seemed to be fewer boothes then in years past.The few boothes that had interesting jewels were staffed by people that lacked the knowledge to properly present antique and vintage jewelry which was over priced to begin with...a 2 carat solitaire in white gold band (OEC- I1 -M/N) tagged $23,000. The man handed me the ring saying it was a beautiful eye clean and white diamond and then turned and walked away to talk to another sales person!.The american indian jewelry at some boothes was double fair market value and when i asked for items from the 1920s to 1940s at one booth I was shown poor quality 1970s pieces that the sales person assured me was from the 20s-40s.Needless to say I left empty handed and dissappointed.Are members of the forum experiancing this type of customer service at the antique fairs and sales you are attending this spring?

 

[LGK]

A lot of dealers I know are not doing shows as much; the past 5-6 years a LOT of them have just stopped. Reason? Well, same reason Blockbuster is hurting... the Internet. A lot of smaller stores are closing, and some larger malls too. This has been pretty much the state of the industry for the last 10 years. Unfortunately.

Attendance at the larger shows like Palmer Wirfs and whatnot has been going down over the years, and with fewer people attending and buying, well, there are fewer dealers selling. Also shows are such a huge time and money drain, that dealers tend to stop doing shows long before they pull out of malls and/or decide to sell exclusively online.

We still see tons of people looking to become dealers, interestingly; also, though there was a period for a couple of years where we suddenly had vacancies in our 200 dealer antique mall, this last year or so we''ve been full. From when we opened in 1982 up through the late ''90s we had a waiting list sometimes months long; now we have a small one again, finally. Sales this year have been generally up from the year before, which is GREAT. So I do think that sometimes consolidation in the industry makes business go up a bit at the surviving places, and I do think- and hope!- that there will always be room for a some of the larger shows and antique malls.

I would be bummed if all the antique buying & selling went to the net and stayed there. I don''t shun eBay or anything- hell, I''ve bought an enormous number of things over the years on eBay- but I spend a lot of money in real world stores too. And some things, jewelry especially, is soooo much better to buy in person. (And dear god, how many times have I bought a piece of art glass only to find it repaired?! It is SO nice to inspect things in person that I don''t mind paying a bit more.)

I don''t know how it all applies specifically to the poor customer service you experienced, but yeah, there''s definitely been a downtrend in the attendance of the shows in terms of dealers and customers alike.

I don''t think we''re in the buggy whip business quite yet, but some days it feels like it. So, that''s my long-winded answer for you!

 

[jewelerman]

Thanks for the reply!appreciate it.

 

[purrfectpear]

It''s the economy and the cost of gas. Dealers that used do a circuit of antique shows driving their big RV''s, now have to make a lot more sales just to pay for the gas. Unfortunately not only is gas higher, but attendance and sales are down

I attended a Continental Antiques show in the midwest earlier this year that I attend twice a year in this city. Over the years I''ve gotten to know several dealers that have fab jewelry. Imagine my shock that this year none of them were at the show.