Bad Time To Sell, Great Time To Buy

Two articles relating to the glut of collectibles available these days fill our page today. Not to go all Economics 101 on you or anything, but you'll remember that gluts, of course, are bad news for sellers but good news for buyers. You've heard the old saying, "The rich get richer, the poor get poorer." Never more true than these days, particularly in the antiques and collectibles market. If you are an investor with cash to spend, there are plenty of bargains out there.

Miami Dealers Say It's A Buyer's Market: The Miami Herald is reporting that antiques dealers in and around that city have packed aisles and and are willing to negotiate.

Monica Fidel, a personal-property appraiser in Miami, says this market is suffering just as much as others in the economic downturn but with a few quirks. The market is flooded with items, Fidel says, so the supply is much greater than the demand. Consumers aren't buying antiques or collectibles unless they have plenty of money -- and they're looking for singular or high-end items.

This glut of antiques and collectibles is not limited to the South Florida area by any means.

Charlotte Area Appraisers Staying Busy: The Charlotte Observer says that personal property appraisers in that city have been besieged lately by clients who need to convert their treasures into quick cash.

An appraisal can cost $200 to $400, on average. That risk hasn't stopped the inquiries. Local personal property appraisers say business rose dramatically in the spring. They guess that's around the time people exhausted severance pay or savings accounts and began looking for more creative ways to pay the bills. Louise Phillips of Alexander Appraisal Service in China Grove said she's seen more people who want to sell, as well as forced sales through bankruptcies. People are looking to unload everything from china to furniture to rare plants from their gardens, she said.

Both articles make one point perfectly clear: If you do not have to sell an item right now, it is best to wait until at least a slight upturn in the economy. Otherwise, you simply will not get a fair market price for your item in this climate.

Collectors, remember you need to protect your collections in two ways you may not have done. First, you need an inventory of your household items, paying special attention to your collections. Second, you need a special, inexpensive insurance policy separate from your homeowners to protect your collection. I can help you with the first point, and your local insurance agent can take care of the second.

Farley Home Services stands ready to serve your home inventory needs. Please visit EverySingleItem.com for details.

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Coin Collecting Made (Relatively) Easy

Gold Coins In The News: The Chubb Collectors summer newsletter is out and has a very informative article on collecting bullion, generic, and rare gold coins that I thought you might find interesting. Chubb Collectors is a great free publication and I would suggest you subscribe if you haven't already done so. Here' an except from the linked piece:

Historically, when paper currencies are debased, investors and collectors often turn to precious metals as an alternative to traditional investments such as stocks and bonds. In recent months there has been strong demand for platinum, gold and silver coins and bars. Much of that demand has centered on U.S. and world gold coins. [emphasis added]

Remember coin collectors, you need a special insurance coverage for your collection, separate from your homeowners insurance, called personal articles coverage. Gold coins are particularly ill-served by your homeowners policy.

A Call For Home Inventory: Insurance guy Cliff Berman writes on Isnare.com that you need to complete a home inventory when purchasing your first home.

One of the first things you should do when you get ready to buy your first home is take a careful inventory of the contents of your house. It's important to let your homeowners insurance company know if you've got jewelry or paintings of value that are going to need to be covered. [emphasis added]

Thanks Cliff. I'll take all the help I can get!

That's all folks! I hope you're having a good week.

A. J. Farley manages Farley Home Services, a home inventory documentation service. Visit the company website at EverySingleItem.com.

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Local Spin On Deaccessioning Debate

In a recent blog post I discussed the debate over whether museums and public galleries should be able to liqidate a portion of their holdings to help pay the bills in troubled times like these. This controversial practice, known as deaccessioning, allows museums to keep the bulk of their work together and exercise their own judgement. Critics claim that this is a violation of a public trust, and that it often directly conflicts with the wishes of the entity that donated the works in the first place (which is true). A local Nashville case illustrates the conflict.

Fisk University Battles O'Keefe Museum: This Nashville Tennesseean article describes a recent Tennessee Court of Appeals ruling which will, if it stands, allow Fisk University to sell a 50% share of its Alfred Steiglitz collection. Steiglitz was the husband of Georgia O'Keefe, and the collection includes primarily O'Keefe works. After Steiglitz's death, O'Keefe donated his collection of her works to Fisk University, a historically black university in Nashville, with the stipulation that the work be displayed as a complete set.

The financially troubled unversity is wishing to sell a share of the collection to the Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas. The university and the museum would then split the display time for the collection evenly. The O'Keefe Museum in New Mexico, as administrator of Mrs. O'Keefe's estate, claimed that the university's arrangement with Crystal Bridges violated the stipulation that Mrs. O'Keefe had placed upon the collection, and further claimed that the collection should returned to the estate rather than allowing Fisk to enter into these types of arrangements.

"[Public galleries] see these things as assets, and they sell them off to pay their gas bills, which is frustrating," said Stan Mabry, owner of Stanford Fine Art in Belle Meade [a Nashville suburb]. "Long term, they'll regret it. I wish there was a way to get the city, the state museum, collectors and others to pitch in and keep them in Nashville." [emphasis added]

As a Middle Tennesseean, I would love for this work to stay in Nashville permanently. It seems to me that the larger issue is the right of the public galleries to do with their collections what they see fit. I understand that donors give to public galleries and museums in order to keep works on display for the good of all, but if a museum can't keep its doors open due to poor cash flow, then all of its pieces leave the public view, obviously a far worse fate. Unfortunately, these decisions will be for the courts to take moving forward, and who knows how that might end up?

If you are a collector of fine art, you need an inventory of those works for your insurance carrier as well as a separate insurance policy. Keep this in mind as you build your collection.

Farley Home Services provide home inventory documentation for everyone regardless of your stance on deaccessioning. Please visit EverySingleItem.com for more information. Thanks for reading!

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It's A Buyer's Market For Collectibles

Care For Those Trees: The Toronto Globe and Mail says add tree care to your to-do list in order to prevent property damage and injuries. "Everyone who knows trees emphasizes the need for regular inspection and care. A tree may look as strong as the Rock of Gibraltar, but it may be suffering from disease or have been damaged and susceptible to disease. A rotted-out tree will be more vulnerable."

Treasure Reduction: The Worcester Telegram says that antique and collectible retailers are experiencing a boom in their business as the economy worsens and people are turning family heirlooms into cash to pay medical bills and the like.

The company pays cash for antiques, jewelry and other items of value people bring in from their attics and basements and — in these times — cherished possessions that they wouldn’t otherwise part with. “Our shows have been pretty popular since the economy has taken a downturn,” said Ms. Thompson. “Our business has doubled, partly because we pay in cash.”

There are some pretty tough stories in that article. It's worth a read if you have the time.

Count Your Blessings: You know someone else who needs to complete a personal property inventory (besides you)? Churches! So says ChurchSafety.com, a public relations and marketing site of Brotherhood Mutual insurance company. Church buildings are every bit as much at risk of damage from fire and theft as residential structures, perhaps even more so since the buildings are unoccupied for longer stretches of time.

Farley Home Services produces home inventory documentation for homeowners, landlords, tenants, small business owners and even churches! Please visit EverySingleItem.com for details. Thanks for reading today!

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Art Theft Claims Still Unsettled

Stolen Nazi Art: Bloomberg .com updates progress (or lack thereof) being made toward settling stolen art claims from the Hitler era. The Nazis stole some 600,000 pieces of art. I had no idea the number was that high. It's been 70 years, let's get this done.

Poor Unloved Renters: David Pugh says renters need love. If not love, then at least insurance. Renters need home inventories too, by the way.

Insurance Agents Under Stress Too: Claims Journal says that "bad apple" insurance agents are tempted to protect their livelihoods through insurance fraud in tough economic times like these.

I want to take this time to emphasize how important it is to have a good working relationship with your insurance agent. This protects you in two ways: 1) Your agent has a vested interest in keeping you happy, and he will be more likely to go to bat for you in a claim situation if he is familiar with you and knows your character, and 2) You will be more likely to get of sense of how he does business the more often you meet with him. If you have some questions about his business practices, find someone else you can have confidence in. You need a trustworthy representative.

A. J. Farley owns Farley Home Services (EverySingleItem.com), an inventory service for all who own homes, small businesses, rental property, or who are tenants. Please visit our site. Thanks!

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Music Memorabilia In The News:

Beatles: A recent auction of music memorabilia included an autographed Sgt Pepper's poster that netted $52,500 at Christie's in New York.

Kurt Cobain: Christie's also recently sold one of Kurt Cobain's original bass guitars, a Sears model, for nearly $44,000.

Jimmy Hendrix, David Bowie, and Brian Jones: Christie's is selling a number of guitars belonging to these artists, among others, next week in London.

On The Soccer Front: These are heady days for fans of the Nats, as our men defeated Spain yesterday 2-0 in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup being played in South Africa, home of next year's World Cup. Spain came into the match ranked number one in the FIFA world rankings and riding a 15 match winning streak and a 36 match unbeaten streak dating back to November 2006.

Only last week the US men were embarrassed on the world stage by two frustrating group play losses to global powers Italy and Brazil. It's amazing how quickly one's fortunes can turn. Next up, the Confederations Cup championship being played this Sunday, 2 pm Eastern on one of the ESPNs against either Brazil (wouldn't that be sweet) or South Africa. I'm glad so many in the mainstream sports media are talking about this now. Soccer usually only gets a once over if any coverage at all.

A. J. Farley runs Farley Home services, an inventory service for homeowners, tenants, landlords, and small business owners. Please visit EverySingleItem.com for more information, and thanks for reading!

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