Comment by acabal | Hacker News Reader

Comment by acabal | Hacker News Reader

I would love to own more antiques. Many of them are truly beautiful handmade artifacts of great aesthetic power from a time when manual skill and humanistic ornament really mattered. If you must own something (like a chair or table), it's nice to own something that has its own history. You become a caretaker more than an owner. It encourages repair instead of disposal.

Personally I don't own more antiques because they are usually shockingly expensive. The story I like to tell is that not long ago I went to get an antique repaired at a restorer. His workshop doubled as a warehouse; he used to be an antiques dealer but now does rentals for TV/film production alongside his restoration business.

The warehouse was filled to the brim with beautiful antique furniture that was literally caked in dust. He lamented to me that young people like me don't want to buy antiques any more. I told him I loved antiques, and that (pointing) that wooden chair over there is beautiful. Maybe I'll take it home. How much is it? "That one? That's $4,000."

No wonder our generation doesn't buy antiques--you'd have to be a millionaire to furnish a home!

I think that it may also be shifting cultural values. I frankly do not want to become a caretaker like that.

I grew up in a house with expensive furniture, and it wasn't the most awesome experience. There were a lot of strict rules to follow. As much as I like having nice things, I don't want my own children to grow up in an environment where they're not allowed to have free access to art supplies, for fear that, in the course of normal play, they unwittingly commit a couple thousand dollars' worth of property damage.

I suppose it depends on one's perspective.

If one is of the perspective that antiques must be carefully preserved at all costs, then owning them might be stressful, especially with young children around.

Personally I think that antiques (and antique furniture in particular) are meant to be lived with. Damage is part of their history, and can almost always be repaired and restored. Sometimes the repair won't be perfect, but that's part of the history for the next owner too. I kind of like that.

I guess it depends a bit on what the type of play is.

I grew up with antiques my parents inherited. They were resilient to rough and tumble play. The antiques would hurt you more than you'd hurt it. But with arts stuff, there were strict rules because spilled paint or glue with damage it in a permanent sort of way.

It's also amazing how quickly one can do a number on a table when one discovers that a nice dark patina over a lighter wood makes for a really interesting version of scratchboard. It's really fun. Or at least, it is until your parents find out.

I actually think the very concept of antique is complicit in the problem here. Once upon a time, furniture was furniture, and, while nice old heirloom furniture was still nice old heirloom furniture, we didn't have things like Antiques Roadshow to tell us, "Gee, it's too bad you used that as an actual piece of furniture, because it could have been worth $20,000, but now this and that and the other thing all mean it's worth only about $3,000."

Collectible antiques (or antiques in collectible condition) are far different than ordinary antiques. Though, ordinary antiques still have the qualities of being durable and repairable. That usefulness gives them some inherent value over cheap modern furniture even ignoring the collectible value.

I have a silly hobby of collecting battered metal toolboxes. I like the fact that the history of their usefulness is displayed as the dents, scratches, rust, etc.

The nice thing about that hobby is nobody else collects them, so I can often pick one up for a dollar.

Very interesting. I had a battered metal toolbox when I was a kid, it had been my dad's. My favorite feature was a cut through the lid where he must not have been paying attention while using it to hold some lumber off the ground. Inside were old rusty wrenches for me to play with. That way he never got mad at me for leaving tools in the rain - they are already as bad as they can get.

Physical stuff exists to enable humans to live the lives we want to live. http://www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html

Stuff that is expensive to buy is also often expensive to transport. "Antiques" and the like may make sense in world in which people move very rarely and tend to occupy the same apartment for decades. They don't make any sense for people who live mobile lives and move frequently. As others have said, you want to own your stuff, not have your stuff own you.

Go to Estate Sales on the weekend. You can get great older furniture and quality well-made objects for cheap.

you'd have to be a millionaire to furnish a home!

Selling to millionaires is a sound market segmentation strategy because millionaires are more likely to have money for antiques than thousandaires. And even better is the B2B model of the restorer because TV and film productions have realistic budgets and bring repeat business of the type that has a vested interest in the sustainability of the restorer’s business.

Or to put it another way, the restorer’s business caters to people who see future value in a warehouse full of dusty antiques.

Yeah, that's not for me.

I have better uses for 4k than a chair that's probably way heavy and clunky

Let them enjoy their "$4k" in illiquid storage. It will go for $50 in a liquidation auction most likely

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