Collecting

What Collectors Cavet Most

The latest trends in collecting, from folk art to PEZ dispensers

Collecting is a social pursuit. Different people may collect different things beer cans, fine art, barbed wire, cars – but even the most solitary of stamps collectors likely derives pleasure from knowing that other collectors covet the same stamps he does. Trends in collecting covetry sometimes are based on investment value alone, the classic example being that when an artist dies, the value of his work will skyrocket because the supply has become finite. But trends often are generated by less obvious social forces. Black memorabilia, for instance, is becoming popular as America comes to grips with issues of racial identity. Below is survey of the trends in objects that America desires. It is also, not incidentally, a portrait of the nation.

Folk art: Prices for weather vanes, embroideries, and ships’ mastheads are commanding almost as much as Old Master paintings. At a Sotheby’s auction in early 1994, a Pilgrim period blanket chest sold for $354,500. For portraits, prices are based more on prettiness than on quality or rarity: cute children and young women might go for $100,000 but a dour old man brings less than $2,000.

Outsider art, primitive work done during any period by painters with little formal training, is specially sought after. But the field has seen a small post-recession slump – prices are down, so bargains are out there for the persistent.

Victorian decorative arts: Victorian items – particularly wicker and glass – have seen a resurgence of interest. Victorian furniture from the Aesthetic Revival of the 1870s is commanding top dollar. A single chair sold to a museum for $125,000.

Modern Collectibles: Anticipating Andy Warhol by half a decade, Campbell’s soup in 1905 produced a tin sign that showed a waving American flag made up of soup tins. In 1981, one went for $5,000; it was resold in 1992 for $93,500. Other popular collectibles include Hawaiian shirts, mechanical toys and Pez candy dispensers (first produced in 1952, and then going for up to $2,000). A caveat from Maine Antiques Digest about mass-produced toys, baseball cards, and other collectibles: “Usually, the first one comes out of the attic and it brings a big price. But there were more made – somebody else will see that and other will come out.”

Black memorabilia: Dealers are still getting used to hawking items with potentially negative connotations like ceramic mammies with ingratiating smiles and minstrel-figure mechanical banks that dance for pennies, but with an annual trade show, a magazine (Black Ethnic Collectibles), and an estimated 35,000 collectors in the U.S. alone, black memorabilia has taken off in the last few years.

Recently, some sheet music went for $88, a Dapper Dan mechanical toy brought $522, and African prince and princess dolls made in France sold for $115,000 and $112,000 each. Watch out, though: Increased popularity has inspired a run on reproductions.

Prints: John James Audubon painted all 435 species of birds known in the United States in the early 19th century. A complete set of prints of his paintings ran about $1,000 in the 1830s and has been appreciating ever since, probably since only five sets are now in existence. All birds aren’t equal: A turkey cock could fetch as much as $50,000 today, while $600 might get you a small songbird like the red-breasted nuthatch. Maps are hot, too. Particularly popular are 18th-century maps of America and historical prints especially Old West scenes.

50$ Furniture: High-style furniture by well-known designers like Charles Eames is hot because it’s less expensive. The pieces at a bargain because people are still living with them. Bargains can be found for several hundred dollars or even less.

Collecting memorabilia. Illustration by Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

Painting by the Numbers

A poll discovers what Americans like in their paintings

Animals frolic among the vibrantly hued trees and shrubs as festive folk in old-fashioned garb wander along the shore. Such a scene, according to a recent survey of 1,001 Americans, is the pinnacle of beauty in art. Russian émigré artist Alex Melamid, who conducted the survey with Vitaly Komar and support from the Nation Institute, was surprised by the consensus on what looks good in paintings.

The paint-by-consensus breakdown:

The style should be realistic, with visible brushstrokes, pale and vibrant colors, and thick textured surfaces.

The painting should be simple and relaxing to look at. Please leave out the black, gold, and turquoise as well as the bold designs and sharp models. And no nudes.

The favored size for a painting is that of a dishwasher or of a 19-inch TV set.

We like our scenes outdoors, our figures historical and our subjects secular.

When all is said and done, 57 percent would still rather take the money a painting is worth in cash than the art itself.