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First thing First! What deems an item an Antique...
The definition of antique varies from source to source, product to product and year to year. But, some time-tested definitions of antique deserve consideration...
- An item which is at least 75 years old and is collected or desirable due to rarity, condition, utility, or some other unique feature.
- Motor vehicles, in contrast, are considered antiques in the U.S. if older than 25 years, and some electronic gadgets of more recent vintage may be considered antiques.
- Any piece of furniture or decorative object or the like produced in a former period and valuable because of its beauty or rarity.
Antiques are usually objects which show some degree of craftsmanship, or a certain attention to design such as a desk or the early automobile. In a consumer society, an antique is above all an object whose atypical construction and age give it a market value superior to similar objects of recent manufacture. Any historical museum makes a considerable use of antiques in order to illustrate historical events and give them a practical context.
Collecting Tools - An Overlooked Market...
Some antique tools have considerable appeal as objects d'art. Beautiful designs, ingenious craftsmanship, and exotic materials are sometimes used in tools - and these happen to be the sorts of tools that hold higher value to collectors today.
Tool Time! Desirable Tools....
Categories of tools range from the broad - planes, rules, braces, hammers, etc. to the specific - planes made by the Gage Company of Vineland, New Jersey for example. people who are new to the hobby, you should know that there are many good modern reference books that will guide you in your search, as well as many reprints of the catalogs in which these tools were originally offered. It is necessary to learn the differences between various tools, their history and the history of their makers. Often tools will exhibit differences contrasting the different locations of their makers, or different features contrasting different time periods. The following are some ways to begin collecting tools:
- Tools of a specific company or maker - for example, L. Bailey Victor tools, Seneca Falls Tool Company tools, Miller's Falls tools, Disston Saws, Chelor planes, etc.
- Tools of a specific type - hammers, braces, axes, saws, patented planes, transitional planes, treadle-powered machines, etc.
- Tools of a specific period - tools from 1850-1900, post WWII era tools, etc.
- Tools from a specific place - Scottish tools, tools from Massachusetts makers, etc.
- Tools of a specific occupation - cooper's tools, machinist tools, watchmaker's tools, garden tools.
- A combination of one or more of the above categories -- for example, one each of a specific type of Stanley tool, i.e. all Stanley saws, all Stanley marking gauges, all Stanley planes, etc.
- Tools that show how a specific idea progressed over time, for example tools tracing the development of the plane's adjusting mechanisms, or tools showing how an early patent was bought out and developed by another company.
- Tool advertising and catalogs.
So, go into your garage or attic (today) and start looking at your tools! If you find a "gem" of a tool - don't clean it! If it has a wood handle - don't sand it!
Other guides relating to jewelry and gemstone buying which you may find helpful are as follows:
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