From a young age my entire family loved to go antiquing. We would load up in the car, possibly pack a lunch, and drive to cities up to a few hours away to find the small town shops with the best antiques. It was always worth the drive and we can't fathom a childhood without it, so we're curious, when do you remember starting the hunt?
Although many families might not have been as die hard as we were, there's still something fun about roaming aisle after aisle and shop after shop looking for... well... we never really knew. But we knew we'd know when we saw it! It was always an adventure and it never ended up costing very much (outside of gas money) since the joy of the day was the hunt itself.
We learned many lessons along the way (besides how to behave... without a tv in the car... on road trips). We knew that when it came to many items we could just keep looking to find the prices or condition we wanted. We learned to haggle (which is far easier when you're a cute 6 year old) with the best of them and can spot a first edition publication from a mile away. It was what we like to consider a well rounded education in the junking, er vintage arts.
How young were you when you first went antiquing? Is it something your family did, or new to you in recent years? Let us know below!
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I remember my sister coming home from spending a day antiquing with our grandmother and telling me that she gently leaned in to a bureau and said "I love you"... she had a great decorating sensibility.
I remember being piled into the car to go garage sale-ing when we'd visit my Granny in West Virginia. Depression glass was highly sought after on these trips. My Granny along with one of my aunts were good at sniffing out valuable stuff, which they'd resell at a little store they kept.
My earliest antiquing memory was when "antiquing" became a verb.
Lucky you! No one else in my family likes to dig around for antiques like me, but we always had lots of old things at our 1912 house, courtesy of inheriting things from relatives. I clearly remember going somewhere on purpose to look at antique shops as soon as I could drive in high school.
After one particular visit to my Grandmother's house when we brought home cartons of her old pink Depression Glass, Mom and Dad began scouring flea markets, estate sales, antique shops and country auctions for it...
...so I'd go along with them and helpfully point out interesting pressed glass pieces - or chips in pieces that wouldn't be suitable. We particularly collected pieces in pink that were of the Mayfair/Open Rose pattern which was made by Hocking from @ 1919-1937
A few years ago when my folks were closing down their house in preparation to sell, they asked me if I wanted that enourmous collection of glassware which had been packed up in the attic for years - I didn't have a place for it and didnt' want to see any broken during shipment across country, so I told them to sell it and get what they could to help fund some of their retirement travel adventures.
growing up my Mother was an Antique Dealer and my earliest memory is from when I was about 4 and I went to a rug auction with her.There were all of these beautiful rugs every where.I kept wondering if any of them had been Aladdin's magic carpet.
I grew up in Massachusetts, so I did a lot of antiquing as a child with my mom and my sister. My earliest memories are probably of poking around in the shops we always stopped at on the way back from the Maine vacations we would take when I was little.
My family would drive downtown on Saturdays and eat lunch at this awesome little German Jewish deli and visit the antique stores. I'm sure we did it before, but I guess the earliest I remember is about age 6 or 7. I loved the hats, dolls, jewelry, and photos. Now I go for the glass and ceramic, electric fans, and kitchen anything.
I have a 5 year old now, and we've begun the same tradition. Almost every Saturday we go exploring the same shops. I really want to go out of town, but my car sucks! Hopefully soon we'll be able to expand our stomping grounds.
I would say 6-ish, my dad and I would always go to one shop in particular, and then other days go find other shops :)
I would go on my own and with him while growing up and after I got married, my husband and I are always looking for new locations we haven't been to, and no matter what state we're living in, we discover a local shop that leaves us content.
About age 12 with my parents at a flea market. I was pleased as punch for purchasing a Nixon/Agnew button for my button collection.
Does this count? My parents used to drive around town on large items trash day scoping for antique furniture. My mom would pull over to the side of the road, and deploy me like some kind of claw: "Get out and grab it!" she'd say.
I once outright refused: "Not here, Mom! My friend lives on this street!"
My sister and I HATED going antiquing. The only good thing about it was in Ohio we would also stop by a cheese shop that had free samples, one of which was chocolate cheese. Sometimes our parents would say we were going antiquing and we'd really end up at Disney or the fair. Then one day I found myself watching This Old House and looking at antiques and realized I had grown up.
My parents bought Mission furniture back in the early 1960s. I can remember when my dad bought an oak library table/desk, which I have now, and I love it. But they didn't buy that much, thank goodness, because their parents had loads of furniture, and they knew they would get it someday. Which they did!
Antiquing runs in my family. My grandmother owned a shop, and most of my earliest memories with my mom are at antique malls. I used to run around trying to find those little strawberry candies some of the dealers would leave out.
What a fun question! My first antiquing memory was when my mom took me to Sutter Creek, CA when I was about 10 and I found a pretty little porcelain doll. I named her Elizabeth. But now that I'm thinking about it, she wasn't an antique. Oh well.
My Mom used to take us to a salvage yard in Stamford, CT called "United House Wrecking". Instead of price tags, they priced using code letters from the word CHARLESTON where C=1 H=2 A=3 R=4 etc. As kids we loved solving the code and finding the weirdest things in the place. We never came home with cigar store indians, statues, or stuffed animals, but we kept busy while she look for cheap doors, hardware, and garden stuff.
http://www.unitedhousewrecking.com/unusual.htm
Whoops. my link didn't work http://www.unitedhousewrecking.com/unusual.htm
We would go on weekend trips to Amish country ever since I can remember. One place we would frequent had a street sign in one of the seller's booths that said "Sarah Lane" and I would always ask how much it was because that's my name. Every time I asked (even as a cute 5 year old) they would say it wasn't for sale because it was the seller's daughter's name...I wonder if it's still there...
My first memory was going to estate sales with my mom around age 12. Even at that age, I enjoyed the thrill of racing in and finding something cool and unique. My first purchase was a huge black steamer trunk with brass nail heads. I still have it!
Growing up in the 70's, my mother started to buy "early american" styled furniture. She had a friend who knew an elderly woman who wanted to get rid of some of her furniture. She had some antique pieces, such a Shaker-like rocker (but not real Shaker) and other pieces, such as a small child's chair. My mother acquired the rocker and chair. At the time, I thought they were so beautiful, as they were unique and unlike the the fake, generic dark pine store-bought pieces in our home. The antiques were authentic. At that point, I fell in love with antiques and started my quest... I still have the rocker.
Two memories: riding on my godfather's shoulders at the Rose Bowl at the age of 4. And waking up at 5:30AM to go to Covent Garden in London with my mother.
Both great memories and I love antiquing to this day.
I'm from Michigan and my family used to go up to Alligan for their monthly antique fair. I remember getting tired and bored and sometimes having to be carried after a while - but there were elephant ears and junk food and we loved digging through piles of stuff.
My best memory isn't until I was about 12. My family collects Coors pottery - not the most amazing stuff in the world but I've always loved the lines of the work and the beautiful matt glazing. We'd find one of two pieces a trip if we were lucky. I was the youngest by 5 years so I'd watch everyone else vying to be the first to spot a piece (it's also harder to spot branding on pottery as a kid because you aren't allowed to pick up the pottery and check the mark). The first time I spotted one before anyone else, it was the only one anyone found that day and was in our favorite color, a relative rare style and very good condition. Needless to say I was endlessly proud when they bough it and gave it to me as a start to my own collection.