How to Make a Living as an Antique Picker

Rural garage sales are a well kept secret of antique pickers.

Popularized by shows like "American Picker" and "Pawn Kings," the role of pickers is a time-honored profession in the antiques industry. Antique stores and auction houses draw their merchandise supply from a variety of sources, including pickers. Dealers and auctioneers present well polished pieces in decorative display cases; pickers are in the proverbial trenches of the antique market, digging through old farm houses, flea markets and private garage sales in search of valuable antiques at undervalued prices. Earning a comfortable living as an antique picker requires a strong commitment to your work, an intimate knowledge of the antiques and an understanding of the modern antique market.

Instructions

1. Research your market by speaking with antique dealers and auctioneer houses in your area to learn about the current trends in antique sales. Study trade magazines and publications to find out which type of items sell for the greatest profit.

2. Narrow your focus on a category of antiques about which you have the most expertise. Read everything you can about your chosen specialty.

3. Travel to areas most densely populated your item of specialty. For example, if you are searching for a type of Quaker furniture made during the early 1900s, go to Southeastern Pennsylvania. Map out your trip before to go.

4. Attend events less frequented by other shoppers. Pickers make profit by finding "diamonds in the rough," which is easier without competition from a sophisticated population of buyers. Attend garage sales and flea markets in rural out-of-the-way areas where individuals often mistake high value items for junk and price them accordingly.

5. Store your findings in a secure, climate-controlled location and retrieve them at the end of your trip. A painting sitting inside a musty barn for the past 80 years might seem impervious to weather damage, but it may incur more damage spending three weeks inside a car trunk in August.

6. Visit multiple antique dealers and auction houses to get the best price possible for your findings. Auction houses and antique stores service different clientele, which can affect their prices and in turn, the amount of money the offer you for your findings.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't become a full-time antique picker until you've tried it for a least a full year as earnings vary by region, season and taxes.

• Expect to pay 40 percent of your earnings toward storage, travel expenses and tax.

• Keep a low profile. Pickers are territorial about the areas they search and most don't appreciate sharing their "treasure heap" with others.

• Discuss your sales, finds, territories and profits only with people who have to know, such as your accountant. The antique community is very small and speaking poorly of someone, or bragging about a recent profit will earn you more enemies than friends.

References

• History Channel: American Pickers - What Is Picking
• News Times.com: Antiques Point to Riches for "Pickers; Eugene Driscoll; September 2004.
• American Picker Newsletter: Can You Make a Living as an Antiques Picker; Roger D. Morse