RINKER ON COLLECTIBLES — Column #1436

Copyright © Harry Rinker, LLC 2014

Fresh to Market: What Does It Mean?

A headline in the National Section of the August 4, 2014 edition of “AntiqueWeek” reads: “Fresh-to-market works sell strong at Leslie Hindman.”  Susan Nutter’s article focused on paintings and prints and not fresh farm produce.

The phrase “fresh-to-market” is used indiscriminately in the antiques and collectibles trade.  I am among the guilty.  The definition of the phrase is subjective.  “Fresh-to-market” means something different to each individual.

Tragically, people accept the phrase without question.  What does fresh mean?  What does market mean?  What relationship, if any, do the two have to each other?  Is the phrase informative or does it have a financial implication?

Although used by Ms. Nutter to discuss items appearing at auction, dealers tout an object’s “fresh-to-market” status as a positive merchandising feature.  The implication is that this specific object has not appeared in the market in “x” number of years.  “X” is subjective.  Further, if the object is mass-produced, there is no guarantee that identical examples have not appeared in the market in the last year, five years, or ten years.

If “fresh-to-market” refers to an object that has not appeared in the market in “x” number of years, how should “x” be interpreted?  The longer a person participates in the antiques and collectibles trade, the more he/she asks the question: “where have I seen that object before?”  The location varies – auction, collections, mall, periodical article, reference book, shop, or show.  The antiques and collectibles trade recycles its goods.  Objects pass from owner to owner.  The time span for passage is not predictable.  It can happen in a week or take more than 50 years.

I propose a minimum of 25 years for an object to have to be out of the market to be considered “fresh-to-market.”  I wrestled with 30, 35, or 40 years but rejected them because recent field experience demonstrates that objects are turning over much quicker in the 21st century than they did in the 20th century.  Modern antiques and collectibles collectors and speculative investors do not take a lifetime approach to objects.  Shifting trends change one’s perspectives.  Economic volatility often forces speculative investors to sell earlier than planned, especially if a collecting category or object type is in a market downturn that shows little prospect of ending.

During the over 25 years an object has been off the market, it has remained largely unseen, known to a few individuals but not to the general collecting community.  Further, if the object is mass-produced, identical objects also must be absent.

“Fresh-to-market” should not be applied to commonly found and above average objects.  I question whether the term should be used for hard to find objects.  Rather, it should be limited to upper echelon and masterpiece (ultimate) units, those objects which define the very top end of any collecting category.

There are three basic sources for “fresh-to-market” material—(1) collections, (2) family heirlooms, and (3) newly made objects.  Throughout the 20th century when collectors dominated the antiques and collectibles marketplace, a single-owner auction or piecing out of a major collection was big news in the trade.  Major collectors knew the collections that contained the objects they coveted.  While few collectors admit they maintain a death watch list, most do.

In the mid-20th century, collectors and dealers enjoyed a close relationship.  Loyalty was understood but rarely discussed.  Hence, when the time came for a collector to dispose of his/her collection, the collector often utilized his favorite dealer to reintroduce his/her objects into the antiques and collectibles marketplace.

As the second half of the 20th century dawned, auctions houses, especially Christie’s and Sotheby’s (Parke Bernet), became more aggressive in competing for the disposal rights to private collections, cultivating seller and buyers, and hyping sales and objects to increase the panache of ownership and investment.  In the 21st century, the auction house is the preferred collection dispersal method.  The auction house options have expanded—strong regional houses, specialized auction galleries, and new national auction companies that compete effectively with Christie’s and Sotheby’s.

The next 15 years will witness the disposal of hundreds of major collections consisting of objects from traditional antiques and collectibles categories, many of which have failed to attract younger collectors.  The objects will be “fresh-to-market.”  If buyers are limited or in many cases non-existent, no matter how fresh the objects are to the market, they will fail to match the expectations of the sellers.  Common and above average examples will sell far below what the owners paid for them.  It is a disaster waiting to happen.

Because of rising costs, large and regional auction houses are less and less able to handle an estate that contains only a few choice antiques and collectibles.  While one sale option is to allow an auction house to cherry pick the personal property, a far better alternative is to consider engaging the services of an estate sale management company.

Recently, I tracked the sale of a Gothic, Ohio design style bird’s-eye maple secretary and chest of drawers sold by Epic Auctions & Estate Sales.  Each was a candidate for sale by a regional auction house such as Garth’s.  The secretary and chest of drawers had been acquired by the owners more than 30 years earlier.  They were the lead pieces in the estate sale, helping to attract a strong buying crowd for the antiques, collectibles, and household goods that made up the balance of the sale.  Epic Auctions & Estate Sales utilized internet and periodical advertising.  The Secretary sold within the first ten minutes of the sale.  The chest of drawers sold early in the second day.  Both sold at prices comparable to what would have been obtained at auction.  Since the owners of the estate had “lived with” their possessions, everything in the estate sale was “fresh-to-market.”

America’s homes are loaded with heirloom antiques and collectibles.  The owners are savers of their family heritage.  They are not collectors.  Unfortunately, situations arise where there are no heirs.  When these heirlooms appear for sale, they are “fresh-to-market.”

There is a growing trend for artists, movie studios, and manufacturers to offer newly created works of art and other materials at auction.  These items are “fresh-to-market” because they have never been marketed.  The buying public should equate these auctions to cruise ship art auctions and merchandise offered as “collectible” on home shopping channels, two of the biggest flimflams in the antiques and collectibles business.   Using “fresh-to-market” as a selling tool is misdirection.  It diverts buyers’ attention away from the fact that this material is a speculative financial investment and subject to great risk.

The “market” portion of the question is critical.  There are a myriad of market levels in the antiques and collectibles business—local, state, regional, national, and international.  It is common practice for dealer/speculators to buy objects in a market where they are less desirable and turn around and offer them in a market that is more favorable.

The internet is not as great a market sales leveler as many auction houses claim.  It does enhance the ability to reach a greater number of buyers.  However, there is no guarantee potential buyers know where to look.  Auction house advertising has its limitations.  Quick turnaround time from the announcement of an auction to a sale means a causal but possibly critical buyer misses the sale of an object.

Rinker Enterprises and Harry L. Rinker are on the Internet.  Check out www.harryrinker.com.

You can listen and participate in WHATCHA GOT?, Harry’s antiques and collectibles radio call-in show, on Sunday mornings between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM Eastern Time.  If you cannot find it on a station in your area, WHATCHA GOT? streams live and is archived on the Internet at www.gcnlive.com.

SELL, KEEP OR TOSS?  HOW TO DOWNSIZE A HOME, SETTLE AN ESTATE, AND APPRAISE PERSONAL PROPERTY (House of Collectibles, an imprint of the Random House Information Group, $17.99), Harry’s latest book, is available at your favorite bookstore and via www.harryrinker.com.