How much does an antique shop make on average? How to make money on antiques, what to buy and where to sell

One day, as fate would have it, I met a certain Seryozha. There was a lot of free time and there wasn’t much to do, so we talked. Why not talk to an interesting person. But Seryozha really was interesting person. He was, as they say, a third-generation antique dealer. But not the antique dealer who collects various little things and hides it all in chests and dark rooms, but an antique dealer with money. More precisely, an antique dealer who made money on antiques.

In ancient times, his grandfather exchanged various trinkets for potatoes and bread and made good money on this, then, when people began to buy these trinkets for money. And especially those people who were about to leave and really needed these trinkets. His father continued the business. He was a big fan of Russian antique icons, and therefore he actively sold them to all visiting foreigners. And he sold well, so he even had to travel a little to distant places. But he was also not idle, since after these places he rushed even further. Serezha himself, if you believe his words, at the age of fifteen made a good fortune from trading antique coins, and when the USSR collapsed, he bought himself a Zhiguli car and drove the girls around the village, making them squeal with delight. Although for truthfulness last words I can’t vouch for it, because you never know what people tell about their youth.

He really was an expert, from the point of view of various antique things there. For he himself knew a lot and could speak clearly and intelligently.

Just imagine, it so happened that you inherited from your very distant relative an album with stamps and not just ordinary stamps, but so old that it is impossible to say how they could have been preserved from those times. But having considered these brands and remembering kind words your relative, you were not lazy and via the Internet, through knowledgeable people We found out that it turns out that one of these stamps that was collecting dust in this album is worth a fortune. Because there is a kind of exchange or auction where very rich people buy and sell these small pieces of paper for crazy money. It is clear that these auctions and exchanges live in the West. If my memory serves me right, Seryozha said that the best place to sell stamps is in Switzerland. And just when you are ready to get a hundred or two crisp green dollars for this piece of paper, you get hit on the head: “Of course, your stamp is expensive and in the catalog of their exchange it is written down in black and white that such stamps are only worth that much.” . But they are respectable people and therefore want to be sure that all this is legal. Therefore, they highly recommend that you tell them how this stamp came to your relative and about all the previous owners of the brand.” In general, they are right and can be understood. This is when the stamp was collecting dust in your relative’s album, no one cared where your relative got this stamp, but if you sell this stamp in such a reputable establishment and for a lot of money, then the most incredible events can happen. And, as a result, fourth cousins ​​may suddenly appear, as if out of the ground, who definitely saw this brand on their uncle just before the Cheka came to search him. And then you know, courts, lawsuits, lawyers. Do they need it, these lovers of small pieces of paper for big money? No, it’s better not to buy than to buy and then have problems.

It's a puzzle, though. But Seryozha explained that every puzzle has a solution. Because that's why puzzles exist, to be solved. As Seryozha told in each segment antique business there are leading players. They supervise this auction exchange, they also give the smartest and most correct expert assessments one or another masterpiece of vintage art. And most importantly, if they offer a brand for sale, they don’t really need to tell where they got it. Why bother respected people with such questions? These are the people you can contact with your brand. And they can appreciate it and buy it from you at the fairest price. Which one? Seryozha said that the mathematics here is simple. If a stamp costs one hundred thousand, then they will give you ten thousand for it, well, if they like you very much, twelve thousand. “Never mind...” - I already said this to Seryozha. To which he calmly explained to me: main value stamps, like any other antique item, are not her artistic or other value, and who sells it. Why are they the gurus of the antique world, not because they are already connoisseurs of art, but because, unlike the bulk of amateurs, they can sell these stamps, paintings, figurines for very, very big money. And since they buy them for very, very little money, they often love to act as various kinds of philanthropists and “friends of children.” Did you really think that you could make a fortune? on antiques, looking for old trinkets and junk in dumpsters and attics? This is all for stories and interviews, the main money is here and there.

This is when you come to them and want to buy something, then here you have coffee and girls and a limousine. You are always a welcome guest. And how many interesting things they will tell you about the masterpiece you want to buy. And how highly valued this masterpiece is. And how expensive it will be in a few years. This is all for you and only you. But as soon as you come to them out of a desire to sell them their own masterpiece, it will immediately turn out that now it is no longer in fashion and demand has fallen, and prices are only going down, and this is of course a masterpiece, but there are very, very many such masterpieces being sold now, and in general, it was already covered in dust and the colors had somehow already faded. So you can sell, but only for half the purchase price.

According to Seryozha, the value of any antique item depends little on her artistic values. Very often a thing causes disgust and it’s hard to call it a masterpiece of art, but if this thing is talked about in the right circles, they discuss various kinds of mythical or real events, occurred with the owners this thing, and most importantly, if the author of this thing has already died, then it costs money. Why do paintings by living artists sell so poorly, but because he can still paint more and more new paintings. But if the artist has been gone for a long time and only a few paintings remain of his works, this is already interesting. Here you can already count on success. The fewer similar things there are, the more expensive it can be sold. The effect of uniqueness is triggered. It is very important for the buyer that his ego is flattered that he has a unique thing, which is in a single copy and it doesn’t matter that this unique thing looks antediluvian and primitive, the main thing is that there is no other thing like it in the world.

Now it becomes a little clear why some of our antique collectors, having invested more than one million dollars in various masterpieces of world art, then do not know what to do with these masterpieces. Fortunately, these people have large offices, so they hang their masterpieces around their offices and tell everyone that this painting, which is actually not really a painting, but just a reproduction of a famous painting, will cost millions and billions, you just need to wait. Well, let's wait. Perhaps it will be.

Seryozha also told me something interesting for those who want to earn money on antiques.

If you know that there is a treasure buried in the far corner of your grandfather’s garden, then do not hope that it can be found with a simple mine detector. There is so much metal in the ground, most often iron debris, that a simple mine detector will beep at you every minute, and you will constantly dig up old cast-iron pots. Searching for various treasures in the ground is the job of specialists who have quite expensive equipment that can even be adjusted to the desired alloy composition of a coin or product. There is a problem here though. It is good to look for various coins and jewelry in old cemeteries or burial mounds, but this is prohibited, which is why there are “black archaeologists” who do not disdain anything.

If you not an expert then When buying a very old and rare coin that costs a fortune, be prepared to be upset when you find out that it is a “remake”. It's a whole business to do ancient coins. Moreover, they are made with high quality, so it is impossible to check “tooth or probe”. Therefore, smart people buy and sell only to “their own”. Therefore, prices for coins vary greatly “at the market” and “in the apartment.”

There was a time when you could make money, as they say, “out of the blue” and at the same time “honoring the code.” When the USSR collapsed, a lot of paintings of socialist realism remained. Moreover, the paintings are of high quality and well made, such as “Harvest Festival” or “Lenin at the Matinee”. And these paintings could legally be bought for a bottle of cheap cognac from the former chairman of the collective farm or the secretary of the party committee. Moreover, even get a certificate from the Ministry of Culture that this is no artistic value does not have one and can be taken abroad without any problems. Found smart people, they began to buy these paintings, and all there, abroad. And there these things are a curiosity, and most importantly, everyone understands that no one else will draw new ones. As they say, the social order is gone. Therefore the prices for this socialist realism began to grow by leaps and bounds. Some active antique dealers have earned themselves more than a million dollars from “Milkmaids at Dawn” or “Miners Report to the Party.” Although the fashion has already passed. How did the fashion for Russian icons go back in the day?

Unlike other countries, we don’t have many flea markets, and they sell all sorts of nonsense there. Therefore, antique dealers like Seryozha are more likely to look for little things when traveling through our cities and villages. Fortunately, our people are talkative, and if you get the right grandmother or grandfather to talk correctly, you can learn a lot. And then the main thing is to see valuable thing, start looking at and bargaining for a completely unnecessary trifle. This psychologist Seryozha, there is nothing to say. As he said, He had a case when he came to visit an old woman, and in her sideboard there was a porcelain service, dusty, but he quickly noticed the mark and was almost stunned. He had a German who bought these sets for crazy money. And then Seryozha begins to bargain hard with his grandmother for a sideboard, which is of no value at all can't imagine although old. They have already begun to take things out from the sideboard and check the strength of the shelves and doors. In short, we didn’t agree on the price. Expensive. But he bought this earthenware service, which no one needs for nothing, for an honest hundred greens. And only because he was offended that they spent so much time on him, and so that, as they say, he would not return empty-handed. Serezha did not say how much he sold this service to the German for, but he then returned from Germany in a used Mercedes. Business is business.

And as they say, off to the road. Seryozha told me how ten years ago he sold a very valuable Chinese vase to the owner of a small chain of stores. Really valuable and really rare. I sold it, I realized, for several thousand greenbacks. And now this businessman bothers him once a quarter with a call with a constant question: “Is it time to sell the vase?” To which Seryozha answers him in a melancholic voice: “It’s early. Let it stand a little longer. The value of a vase increases as it ages.” Well, in a hundred years, maybe it will really be “time.”

The luxury of antiquity seduces each of us. As well as the opportunity to make a profit from the objects of our admiration. But how to make money on antiques? Where to begin? Is it possible to do this online, without interrupting your main job? Today we will look at this issue in detail.

Education

First of all, you should learn to understand the subject with which you plan to make money. There are no teachers without a pedagogical education or a doctor without a medical diploma. In the same way, you cannot work with antiques without having the necessary knowledge. Take special courses in antiques. Keep in mind that the courses come in different directions: general - for those who just want to study something, and in-depth - for people who purposefully came to learn antiques and plan to use this knowledge in the future. There are also different directions training, for example, “landscape design”, “methods of checking an item for authenticity”, etc. The cost of such courses is 1–2 thousand US dollars, depending on the duration and intensity of the classes.

There are other ways to get the education necessary to work with antiques. Art degree or museum worker will also give you enough knowledge to understand the business you are planning to do.

Auctions

Nowadays you can buy absolutely everything at various auctions: from a fashionable fur coat to Marilyn Monroe’s favorite powder compact. Antiques are one of the classic items of such auctions. Today, it is not necessary to attend an ongoing auction, because many issues are resolved over the phone, often anonymously. In addition, more and more auctions are being held online.

There are many “open” sites on the Internet where any user can list their lot and independently set the minimum price. Register on one of them (or several at once) and display your products. With this scheme, your profit will be the total cost of the lot minus various commissions.

Mediation

Another option for making money on antiques via the Internet is mediation. Here it is possible to work in two directions.

The first option is to become a “buffer zone” for antique goods. For example, there is a buyer from Kazakhstan and a seller from Japan. For some reason, the seller does not want to send his goods to Kazakhstan under any pretext. In this case, the buyer turns to an intermediary, who places the order for himself and subsequently forwards it to the future owner.

The second option is to search for the right products. The customer turns to you as an intermediary. He knows what specific item he wants and knows how much he is willing to pay for it. But he doesn’t know where to find this item. Your task is to find the desired item and negotiate with its owner to sell it.

The intermediary receives on average 15% of the transaction value.

Consulting

Many wealthy people want to buy something antique and exquisite. But often they do not know where to turn, which auction or specific seller they can trust, or how to take care of the acquired value in the future. Then people turn to antique consultants who are knowledgeable in all these issues. Such consultants usually walk hand in hand with the customer through all stages of the transaction. They help in choosing an appraiser, in finding an intermediary (or act as intermediaries themselves), and in negotiations. It is not uncommon for such consultants to become permanent employees of novice collectors.

Consulting activities can also be carried out online, without interrupting your main work, for example, using video calling or correspondence.

Fees for private consultations vary as they are directly dependent on your personal agreements with the client.

Own online store

This option is for you if you already have experience and a certain weight in the antique business. An online store is a business that requires great forces and good connections. Especially if we're talking about about a product such as antiques. Even at the store planning stage you need to know:

• who your suppliers will be;
• will you work with regular suppliers or become an intermediary yourself;
• what specific sector of the antique market do you want to occupy;
• who is your target audience (what segment of the population are you targeting: gender, age, interests);
• how you will attract audience to your store.

It's worth creating a business plan.

If in addition to the website you plan to have a real outlet– try to get under the government support program for small and medium-sized businesses. To do this, you need to register with the employment center, and then create and defend your business plan.

The site itself appearance also require considerable expenses. It is better to entrust its creation to professionals. After all, an online store should be easy to use for you and easy to use for the buyer. At the same time, it should correspond to your concept as much as possible, and “sell” itself at first sight.

Video

The following video discusses many issues directly related to making money from antiques, for example, is it possible to import and export antiques from the country, what can be purchased at a flea market, and much more:

Competent antique dealers with a good reputation do not live in poverty - the business is profitable and reliable. Is it possible to master the secrets of the profession and enter the business? Where do they teach the ability to distinguish valuable items from fakes? Where to start and what are the prospects for business in antiques?

Nowadays, almost everyone makes money from antiques. There are two ways to make money on antiques. The first way is to invest money in antiques. The approximate income from such an enterprise is about twenty-five percent per annum.

And the second way to make money on antiques is to work as a professional appraiser. Such a specialist receives about one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars per hour of work.

As it turns out, becoming a professional antique appraiser is not at all difficult. To do this, you don’t have to be a museum worker or an art critic. To become a professional antique appraiser, simply take a course in antiques.

Special courses on teaching antiques are held at an institute specially created for this purpose at the Gelos Auction House. Course participants can independently choose the program in which their training will take place. At the institute, training takes place in the following programs: “Interior Decoration”, “Landscape Design”, “Business Assessment in the Field of Antiques” and “Methodology for Determining the Authenticity of Antiques”.

Upon completion of training in the program “Business Valuation in the Field of Antiques,” the course participant receives a license, according to which he has the right to conduct valuation activities, and is also issued a state diploma. If you decide to change your profession or open a new business, then you should consider that antiques are a most exciting activity, but at the same time incredibly expensive. For example, only one initial course learning antiques will cost you a thousand dollars.

If you decide to take these courses due to a change in your type of activity, a change in profession, then you need to gain real knowledge for work, and not initial training, initial knowledge. Therefore, you need to take a course that lasts whole year and costs one thousand nine hundred dollars.

Before starting courses at Gelos, you do not need to pass any exams, there are no entrance examinations. But during the learning process, be prepared to undergo an interview with the teachers of the institute. The teachers will try to find out the reason for your coming to the courses. There may be only two of them. The first reason is the desire to earn good money.

And the second reason is the search for a life occupation, a professional calling. The head of the Gelos Institute says that most often people who come to antique courses have already acquired some profession, have work experience, and life experience. But having any special education is not necessary.

Study programs in this institute are usually intended for the listener who does not have any knowledge in the field of antiques. But during training, the beginner quickly begins to grasp it and after a while he can easily distinguish the original or the original from the fake. In these courses, the student can hold expensive antiques and unique antiques in his hands.

For those wishing to master the profession of art historian and cultural scientist, the Gelos Institute offers courses in which antiques will be studied in great detail and in depth. But they teach antiques not only at the Gelos Institute; such education can also be obtained at other educational centers. One of such centers is the training center “Knowledge – Prechistenka”. In this training center a series of lectures on decorative and applied arts, which lasts four months, costs two thousand three hundred dollars.

Also at the Knowledge - Prechistenka center, training takes place in other programs, for example, in painting, Soviet art and the history of iconography. Tuition for these programs costs five hundred and ninety dollars. The duration of these courses is two months.

Also at the International Moscow School of Design there is a course related to the antique profession. This course lasts five lessons. This cost is two hundred and seventy dollars. Thanks to these five lessons, you can easily distinguish the original from the fake. But, unfortunately, that's all they can teach you in these courses.

At the Moscow State Linguistic University there is educational programs on antique craft. Such programs are designed for two to two and a half months of training. Their cost is one hundred dollars. After completing these courses, you will receive a certificate stating that you have attended a course of lectures on antiques.

But don’t think that you will immediately become a connoisseur of antiques and receive a huge income. You can only become an expert after many years of practice and work in this field. But one thing is for sure. You will not have problems with employment. Graduates of antique courses do not have such problems, since art galleries and antique shops are always in need of specialists in this field of activity. The costs of the courses will pay off in the very first months after starting work in a new specialty, since an antiques specialist on average receives about a thousand to one and a half thousand dollars per month.

You can build a great career without being on certain place work. That is, in order to increase your income, you just need to earn a name, and not climb the ladder. career ladder. Immediately after you earn a name for yourself, it will begin to work for you and bring you profit.

Professional antique appraisers earn between two hundred and one thousand dollars a week. But the income of such specialists fluctuates, since the amount of profit depends only on the number and size of transactions concluded.

Professionals in this field have strict specialization. For example, if a person is a serious appraiser and evaluates paintings from a certain era, then he will never evaluate furniture from the same era and vice versa. If an antique dealer sells antiques, he receives an additional profit of five to ten percent of the transaction.

How can you make money on antiques? Most people have antique things at home that many people do not need and easily part with them; some of them are simply thrown away, although they have a high price.

Where can I get antiques?

Pianos and many other rarities have a high cost. Just before you try to sell them, you need to make sure that it really has great significance. Many instruments that existed in the 18th century are now in very poor condition, so they are of great value. Few people would realize that old junk is so expensive.

Everyone is trying to sell a beautiful, perfect piano that has no value, but something that is old and dilapidated is very often sent to the trash heap. But if you sell such a piano, you can earn several thousand dollars or more, the piano after restoration will be perfect, its value will increase significantly, but restoration can also take several years.

Many people have children's toys, dolls or Christmas decorations, as well as garlands, etc. People usually don’t use them, they just lie somewhere in the corner and no one needs them, but they also have their value.

Very often people find paintings, mirrors, figurines at home and try to replace some part, for example, the frame of a mirror, but do not suspect, for example, that it is the frame or some other element that carries the value of this item.

In every house, if you look carefully, you can find something that has no significance for the owners, but by selling them you can make good money.

There are a lot of buyers, they travel all over the world in search of antique and unique things. Buyers especially love to travel to villages where young families live; they usually inherit the house from their parents, which means that it contains something that is of interest to them. Young people often do not suspect that this or that thing is expensive and can give it to someone so easily or inexpensively.

And then this thing can be sold for good money. The income of people who deal with antiques is high; they try in every possible way to obtain a valuable find, and then bring it to good condition, earn their living.

After grandparents there are many things left that carry value, these can be cabinets, scarves, coins, dishes, and various tools. Don’t throw everything away at once, it’s better to first find out which of them is unique; you won’t want to throw away such things, and if necessary, you can sell them and get a good income. In addition, after relatives there should be at least something left that will remind them of them.

Of course, paintings or orders won’t just appear out of nowhere at home. This is possible when relatives were not in history the last people, or belonged to a family that had money. If people were wealthy, then in any case, something remained in the house after them. Very often people leave some things to their future generation that are passed on from daughter to mother and so on, such things can carry something in themselves. But not everyone can sell what was dear to the whole family - this is the memory of everyone.

To start a career in antiques you need:

1). Take courses, they are paid, but after completing them, you will begin to distinguish fakes from valuable things. Get acquainted with the types of antiques, see it all with your own eyes, and learn a lot of useful and interesting things.

2). After training, get a job in galleries or antique stores, at this stage the earnings will be small, but you will gain experience and reputation. After your reputation is positive and people are interested in you as a master, you can start your own business and become a private appraiser.

3). If you have income, always save some money for the future. There will be no job stability at first, and money may always be needed, for example, to expand the business, or for living if the business develops poorly.

4). After you have bought valuable items, open your online store, in which you describe in detail all the purchased antiques, take unique high-quality photographs, indicate the price, and answer everyone’s questions in detail.

Conclusion

How can you make money on antiques - antiques are not only income, but also a hobby, antiques, in addition to their value, carry their own history, and if you look, you can find a lot of information that captures and gives a person emotions. That's all, see you later!

MOSLENTA spoke with the head of the restoration workshop, Petr Seybil, about how to become an antique dealer without starting capital, why fill your house with antiques, where to get them and how to restore them.

When I read in glossy magazines that “you can go into antiques with a modest amount of $50,000 or more,” I don’t understand what they’re talking about? There are dozens of ways to do antiques on a budget or even for free. It’s enough to call your friends or go around your neighbors in the country, and you’ll definitely find something worthwhile: a table, a chair, a frame. People have things, and often the things are good, but not everyone loves and appreciates them. And some still deal with antiques, daily visiting the nearest garbage dumps around their own home.

Heirlooms

I have a love for antiques from my childhood. In our house there were several things inherited from our great-grandparents: vases, porcelain cups, silverware and Wall Clock with a fight. As an adult, I learned that his father gave them to my great-grandfather. My great-grandfather kept it in his office, and when the war began and he and his fourteen-year-old son, my grandfather, left home, they took the mechanism out of the clock and took it with them. For them it was a family heirloom - like the heart of the house.

My great-grandfather was the chief physician and throughout the war he organized hospitals in the front-line zone, and my grandfather worked in them as an orderly. Already in 1945, in the Baltics, in some dilapidated house, he saw an empty watch case on the wall, took it, slightly altered it to fit our mechanism, and brought the watch home in this form. From the point of view of an antiquarian, their value, frankly speaking, is low: the mechanism and dial are ordinary, the case is not a fountain, and, moreover, not original. But for me and my whole family this is a truly important heirloom.

I grew up with such an attitude towards old things, and even at the institute it seemed to me that antiques were very expensive, and only very wealthy people could deal with them.

First purchase

During my second year at the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University, I worked at Ren-TV, where we did a pilot for a program dedicated to antiques. It was 2003, and we had just seen this format on the BBC: two people who don’t understand anything go to a flea market, buy for the same amount, and then sell it all at auction and see who made money and who lost minus. The guys shopped at the vernissage in Izmailovo and on the Mark platform. We made a program, and it turned out that reselling antiques can make money.

Glass (Russia, 18th century) and porcelain figurines with lost fragments

Then I went to Kyiv, where a gathering of collectors was held every month, and bought some glasses from Pushkin’s time that I liked, some cups and porcelain figurines, to which I was deeply indifferent. But at an auction in Moscow, the figurines were valued much better than the glass. Then they explained to me for the first time that among small items, figurines are the most popular, there is always a demand for them. From that moment on, everything took off.

About collecting

The topic captivated me. After all, it’s interesting: you come to any city, go to a flea market, definitely meet someone and the journeys, “addresses” and the things themselves begin. On weekends I started going to flea markets - to Mark or Izmailovo.

I bought Russian pre-revolutionary porcelain, some vases, samovars and watches. I started communicating with restorers. Over time, shopping in stores became boring, so I started advertising. It's wildly exciting. They call you and offer you some kind of cabinet, according to the description it’s good. You drive, and there is a Soviet “wall” from the seventies. But there may be something unexpected and valuable in this wall.

Any chipped fingers on the ballerina figurine can be remade. Paint, varnish, and no one will notice the difference

One day I went to a woman who was selling a cabinet and said that she had another figurine that she had hated since childhood. Based on the description, I decided that this was the Leningrad Porcelain Factory from the 40s and 50s, a good thing. I arrive, and she shows me a Gardner figurine mid-19th century. If we talk about Russian pre-revolutionary figurines, then this is the top. And she says: “I’ve hated it since childhood, take it along with the wardrobe for the same price.”

How to turn a warehouse into a workshop

When purchases no longer fit at home and in my parents’ garage, under the patronage of friends, I rented a room in the center. At the same time everything began to appear more questions to my furniture restorer, and I thought: wouldn’t it be easier to find a master myself and make my own workshop? It turned out - not simpler, but much more interesting.

Petr Seybil, restorer Dmitry Mikhailin and cat Ozzie (on a chair) at work in the restoration workshop

At some point, people started asking me to come and study; they wanted to learn restoration. And I refused all the time, and then I thought and wrote to workshop page on Facebook, that now we can do restoration. And there was a wave: people began to write, come, bring their things. At first we conducted classes on restoration of furniture, and then also porcelain. Oddly enough, it comes to furniture more women, and overall significantly less people are coming on porcelain, which, it would seem, is both beautiful, and the result of work on it is immediately visible.

When they bring fragments of a cup, we collect it, glue it together, putty on the places where there are chips, then the whole thing is painted, varnished, and sanded. It will not be used, but the cup will be preserved as a monument. We teach how to make up for lost paintings or gilding, and remove black cracks. Everything can be repaired and replenished. Any chipped fingers on the ballerina figurine can be remade. Paint it, varnish it, and no one will notice the difference.

The cup can be glued together from fragments, losses and chips can be filled with putty, painted and varnished. It will not be used, but such a cup will be preserved as a monument

With us, a person, first of all, learns to understand things, which means that the seller or restorer will no longer deceive him. When a person brings an item to class, we take it apart and attribute it - we explain how exactly its age and manufacturer are determined. Next we choose the restoration that it needs. If you want to restore it yourself, the work must be carried out under the guidance of a specialist; at least he will not let the thing be damaged so much that the next restoration will cost three times more.

About profession and vocation

A couple of years ago, the closure of quality media outlets, the famous “fucking chain,” swept across Moscow. Great amount excellent journalists are left without work. She remained with me, but I felt that I was taking someone else’s place. I love journalism, but as the lesser of two evils. The only activity that doesn't immediately make me sad is everything related to antiques.

And there is another point: everything related to heritage has always been very important to me. This may sound pretentious, but when you take something in a ruined state, restore it, and it becomes new life, then, excuse the cliche, you are stretching a thread from the past to the future. I can’t close another one with my body Historical building in the center of Moscow. But I can restore a chest of drawers or a cup - such is the contribution.

Few people think that upholstery nails cost a significant amount of money. For two chairs you need about 300 nails, and they cost 10 rubles apiece

Another moment: when someone lives at your house antique, you understand that this is home. Because nowhere else will you use antique silver or sit at an antique table. When you know that you will pass on all these things to your children - a wall clock or an antique samovar - it gives a feeling of continuity and regularity of life.

And most importantly, I’ve been doing this for more than ten years and I never cease to be amazed at how cool and interesting it is.

Sometimes, to determine the color of the original paint, furniture is disassembled and the original color is found under the removed parts.

They bring you an item and ask you to restore the original color. But what if the item was repainted five times? WITH reverse side you find a part that still has the old tint on it. If you need to restore the original upholstery, you get to it under three layers or find an item in a pre-revolutionary catalog.

What is the cost of restoration?

It is known that restoration is quite expensive, and this scares many people away. In fact, if you calculate the cost of materials and labor, it turns out that no one here big money do not get. Restoring a chair can cost from 8 to 25 thousand, and often at least half of the amount is spent on materials alone. Leather or fabric cost money, sometimes a lot. But upholstery nails also cost a significant amount of money. For two chairs you need about 300 nails at 10 rubles apiece.

Do not focus only on professional resellers and stores, consult with familiar restorers. And remember - now good time to haggle and bring down the price

A jar of some oil or wax costs about 4,500 rubles. Restorers also work with shellac: this is a varnish made from the waste of tropical insects. Most customers are sure that shellac was invented recently for manicures. In fact, it was used back in Ancient Egypt, and with late XVIII Until the first half of the 20th century, furniture was decorated with it. In an art store it costs more than 1,000 rubles for a small bottle.

Perfume from mirrors

Some people think it’s scary to take things into the house that have lived long life. Most often, such conversations are heard when a person looks at a table - “how many coffins stood on it” - or a bed - “how many old women died on it.” There are also prejudices about mirrors - “you can’t take an old mirror home, it contains perfume or energy.” It doesn't work for me. Only once did I experience a similar feeling, when I came to an apartment hung with portraits of Stalin, where some KGB figure had died. He was about 90 years old, and I imagined how many deaths he was responsible for. I almost felt sick there!

About the features of the Russian antique market

When you go to a flea market, it's like hunting, fishing or mushroom picking. But, as a rule, even the old women there are rather low-level buyers who are waiting for an enthusiastic amateur. Therefore, it is difficult to snag something worthwhile. Oddly enough, a professional in Izmailovo will be much more adequate and accommodating. At least he will not claim that the broken saucer with a double-headed eagle on the mark is from the dining room of Nicholas II.

Porcelain from the 19th and 20th centuries awaiting restoration

It’s interesting that five to ten years ago the most popular antique furniture was bookcases. And now everything has changed: people read e-books, and there was a crisis in the bookcase market.

Unfortunately, there are no normal auctions in Russia now. The Gelos auction house collapsed due to internal circumstances. Previously, this was a place where auctions were constantly held, which determined prices on the market.

If we compare our Russian reality in general with the American one, for example, we must take into account that the market there is structured completely differently. When the heroes of the reality show “Treasure Hunters of America” go to look for things on the topic of “Prohibition” or “Warehouse Hunters” come across some kind of floor slot machine, they usually have a conversation like this: “This thing on the market costs $1,000, we will get 900 for it.” Then they come to a specialized store that deals specifically with this topic, and get 850 for it. In our country, if an item costs 1,000 dollars, the store owner will buy it from you for no more than 200. I know that in Yaroslavl, until recently, the largest The bill at the sale was 500 rubles.

What purchase should I start with?

If they ask me where to start, I will suggest a pre-revolutionary tea pair or a samovar. Take him on a picnic. When, after barbecue, you start heating the samovar and pouring hot tea for everyone - this, of course, is style, you can’t say anything. This has been remembered for years. Tested for myself.

Restoration of a rocking chair

A wall clock, a rocking chair or a buffet make the interior of a home. Go to the opening day, look at online auctions and private classifieds sites, look at the prices. Do not focus only on professional resellers and stores, consult with familiar restorers. And remember: now is a good time to bargain and bring down the price.