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Author Topic: Glass Collecting as an investment  (Read 8402 times)

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Offline rosieposie

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Re: Glass Collecting as an investment
« Reply #10 on: February 21, 2012, 09:57:03 PM »
You forgot the Kebab and Burger van Paul!

Rosie.

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Offline aa

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Re: Glass Collecting as an investment
« Reply #11 on: February 21, 2012, 10:40:29 PM »
If you really want to collect with a view to investing, you need to consider who your future market is likely to be. One option is to choose something that is scarce - demand could exceed supply, which can push up prices. Another is to choose something where there is plenty available - more people in the market wanting to create collections can stimulate growth in prices.

The big problem is always going to be that fashion and taste changes.

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Offline scavo

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Re: Glass Collecting as an investment
« Reply #12 on: February 22, 2012, 12:00:20 AM »
: :rlz:

Offline Mosquito

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Re: Glass Collecting as an investment
« Reply #13 on: February 22, 2012, 12:46:58 AM »
I know it's not really answering your question, but myself, were I buying glass specifically for investment, I'd look beyond Britain and put my money into top-end Chinese and Taiwanese art glass; i.e. Liuligongfang, Tittot, etc. (and concentrate specifically on special and limited editions).

Another area which I think has potential for growth (and which doesn't require as much initial outlay) is Japanese glass from the sixties and seventies. Many nice quality coloured and textured pieces are still around and available for little money. However, were someone to research them and identify which firms made which patterns, etc., then I do think there is potential for them to become more widely known and collected.

Offline johnphilip

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Re: Glass Collecting as an investment
« Reply #14 on: February 22, 2012, 08:24:00 AM »
One of the problems is to first buy your good glass ,you may have to buy at auction the small ones 12-15%
 the big ones 20-25% all plus VAT 20% , then when you retire how do you sell it , thru auctions ? their rates may be even higher by then or willl you stand at fairs for hours with the unloading and reloading ? not an easy job for a pensioner ,  ;D is it Nigel ? not too bad for young Adam A tho , of course then there is ebay , not much happening there at the moment !!!!!! if you can make money then you may have the taxman & VAT on your back . sorry but someone has to put the downside to it .
All i am saying is think it thru first , but good luck whatever . The >:D advocate
I believe it was Kev who mentioned Helen Millards cameo work , i totally agree thats where i would invest if i were younger , every single piece takes many months but the result WOW Fabulous as good as anyone in the past . Helen will be standing at Cambridge on Sunday .
i believe . just go and look for yourself .

Offline BohaGlass

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Re: Glass Collecting as an investment
« Reply #15 on: February 22, 2012, 09:07:02 PM »
Blimey, a few days at work and loads of replies.! Thank you to everyone for taking the time to help me garner my thoughts.

John - my mother was a local politician and after 30 years hard work for our local community she lost her seat by 17 votes and is 67 with no pension. They aren’t all bad – just 99%

Max - I dream of walking in to old curiosity shops and finding the most amazing bargains. Now I have a two-year old human steam roller I can't even risk going into a glass shop for now.

Flying free - I agree, the glass would be far more eye catching to look at than bits of paper. If I find pieces that I like and enjoy looking at for ten years, even if I don't sell them, at least I’ve had the enjoyment of looking at them.

Nigel-Good advice and much appreciated. I definitely think a balanced portfolio makes sense - look at all the buy-to-letters who got bitten in the last few years. I don't think I would be in the find a dealer bracket - but I am a good Googler and would hope to find my own opportunities. Recently, I managed to buy some of the last few pieces of Adam Jablonski stock from his factory. He has now retired, and I felt this would be a good investment. Even if they don't sell I am enjoying looking at them.

KevinH - Thank you for the links, there is some really lovely work yet. (P.S. Hooray! A post that you didn't have to remove/close. My bad - I should have read the rule book more thoroughly!)

Johnphilip - I have been looking on Alibaba and Tradekey but the pieces I have seen are mass produced and look it. I am sure there are lovely artists out there but have not located any so far. I would love to come to Cambridge - I got the b/w email reminder the other day - but with two kids under 3 and its 3 hours drive away.

Scavo - Sadly, Nailsea Glass closed down a long time ago and a lot of the finer pieces are over in America it seems. My family have a lovely Nalisea glass cane in the local museum, but local collections are thin on the ground.

Paul - I think you definitely have something there! Bristol has only 5 antique shops and only two of them are any good. The nearest good antiques fair is Sheption Mallet once a quarter. I used to run a market stall and used to have permanent cold fingers and flat feet, but a manager position would be good!

aa - Hello my name is Barnaby and I'm an alco...sorry, wrong group! I think I am looking for scarcity and timeless beauty or something that is connected with something bigger/historical that draws people in through its celebrity status.

Mosquito - I would put money into any glass that I feel combines artistic quality and uniqueness. I will definitely be looking worldwide, and thank you for your recommendations

If anyone has made it this far, thank you for reading! Please keep the replies coming. I am sure I can learn a lot from you all.

Kinds regards
Barnaby
Barnaby Kirsen
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Offline nigel benson

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Re: Glass Collecting as an investment
« Reply #16 on: February 22, 2012, 10:00:16 PM »

Hmmm, Just looked at your website. No wonder you wouldn't consider spending with a dealer :o

Offline adam20

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Re: Glass Collecting as an investment
« Reply #17 on: February 26, 2012, 10:24:04 AM »
I buy glass because I love it so much, often take a risk just for the excitement of a good ID - however I believe its possible to buy as an investment - I buy off eBay - auctions not buy it now and if the price is fair and the peice of good quality, well designed by a good maker then the worst that can happen is you get your money back when selling again on eBay. The trick is to try and guess what areas in glass will remain stable at least and what is good for the future - well good Czech glass is climbing still and IOW is still stable and climbing (Mdina?) - if you can collect pieces with labels still attached then all the better, but signed pieces speak for themselves - some areas are inflated, look at Alsterfors Per Olaf Strom - a few years ago it was ignored and now a good signed piece is hundreds.

As mentioned there are other areas apart from glass - I bought good West German ceramics many years ago and have seen that climb to great heights - again its the quality that counts in any area you collect - a tip I was given is if it was expenisve and well made/designed when firts sold new, its going to be sought after in later years within any field of collecting.

When an area of glass is on a high there usually follows a book, that is again usually a good sign - I suggest that Caithness is a good area to collect, the paperweights and the domestic/art glass - I still pick up peices for a few pounds that I see sell on eBay for £50 up - Mark Hill's book is an excellent resource as is the Scotland's Glass website.

Then there is Chance Glass - Again a good book has been published and some more collectable bits like Canterbury often turn up for a few pounds in charity shops - well this is my experience.

Thanks Adam

Offline BohaGlass

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Re: Glass Collecting as an investment
« Reply #18 on: February 26, 2012, 06:31:16 PM »
Nigel, I'm not quite sure what you mean, but I took it as, you have great admiration for the way I have managed to combine quality and affordability on my site ;)

Adam - thank you for your thoughtful and thought-provoking message. There are so many makers out there that are not being appreciated and maybe there are still chances to get in there early.

I often used to find the odd good bargain in charity shops, but they are more keenly priced these days and the margins are generally too tight now. If I ever saw something seriously under priced, I like to think I would point this out to them though. :-[

Thanks
Barnaby
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Boha Glass - Glass Ornaments

Offline Fuhrman Glass

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Re: Glass Collecting as an investment
« Reply #19 on: February 26, 2012, 07:10:55 PM »
I would look at individual artists from the Czech Republic from the last 20 years. There are handful that have made museum quality ware, also a couple from Hungary. Only problem is they are not inexpensive to start with and you won't end up with that many pieces. There is a book that comes out every year sponsored by the Corrning Museum of Glass entitled New Glass Review. It is printed in Germany and is part of the Neues Glass/New Glass April/June issue. This will give you an indication of what is being bought for the Corning Museum and some up and coming glass artists and some that may never do anything again, but it's a good barometer of what's going on in the "art glass world". Erwin Eisch for one would be very good, if you can afford it. He's getting up in years but has produced an amazing body of work.

 

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