The other major players in this market are the dealers. Some serve as agents, but generally dealers buy pieces for their own inventory, then resell them. A dealer often works closely with collectors—especially ones seeking pricier objects—learning their interests and perhaps helping them form a vision for their collections. Then the dealers hunt the want lists.
“The legwork on the collector’s end is usually minimal with a dealer, and the experience is tailored to the collector’s needs,” says Rau. “You decide what you like and let the dealer do the hard work of locating the perfect piece.”
The drawback is not knowing the dealer’s markup, which is often viewed as an amount above the market value. In some cases it might not be much more than the buyer’s premium at an auction house. And in any case, paying up may be worth it to a busy client to land something very special.
Is It Real?
No matter which avenue a collector takes, watching for fraud is essential. The Americana world is rife with fakes and forgeries. “If you stumble across a price that is too good to be true on eBay, it is almost certainly not legitimate,” says Rau, who advises buying only from reputable auction houses and dealers.
Technology abets fakery. Heritage Auctions’ Lindner says, “People are using high-quality printers to make rare Abraham Lincoln campaign ribbon, putting them on silk, and it’s very hard to detect if it’s an original or not.”
Collectors should also be careful with autographs. It’s a common practice, says Lindner, for presidents’ signatures to be made by their secretaries or by an autopen (a machine many politicians and celebrities use). These aren’t exactly forgeries. But they’re not the real thing, either.
First Actions
If Americana becomes hot and collectors think of selling their treasures, they’ll need help valuing what they have and will want to turn to appraisers. When they have some idea of the value of their collectibles, Rau says they should “reach out to auction houses and dealers after discovering which excel most in your specific market of Americana. It is well worth shopping around.”
Clients inspired to begin a collection of their own may wonder how to start. “Collecting art can be daunting,” says Erik Gronning, senior vice president and head of the Americana Department at Sotheby’s, in New York. “Even very successful people feel there’s a great knowledge base that they’re not privy to.
“It’s OK to start small,” he adds. “One of the wonderful things about any collection is that you can upgrade it or change the scope.”
Rather than collecting solely for investment, he urges people “to collect what they like. It will be a much more fulfilling experience. There’s nothing better than to sit in your living room when your friends come over and talk about a fabulous duck decoy that you have on the wall, or a table handcrafted out of walnut in 1730 in Philadelphia.”
Lindner advises buying specimens in the best condition affordable. They’ll be easier to sell later and hold value better than autographs with light ink or photographs with tears or stains.
Given today’s divided culture, cynics may argue that the enthusiasm about the country’s 250th birthday, and hence for American artifacts, won’t develop. Gronning doesn’t buy that. Because the genre encompasses so many categories, he says, “there’s something for everybody under the umbrella of Americana.”