Top 5 Items That Have LOST Their VALUE! These Items Were Supposed To Help Us Retire?! ~ Antique Talk 

Top five items that have lost their value: Honesty, integrity, respect, loyalty and manners.

The lesson is: collect what you love.

The problem with beanie babies was they never said how many they made of any particular beanie baby; they would just say the purple octopus is rare but you never knew wether there was 10 or 10,000

I have a house filled with primitive antiques, and I would never get rid of one piece of it. It was passed on to me from my parents, and I love it!

Those Precious Moments things always gave me the creeps anyways...

I’m TOTALLY taking advantage of the “down with brown” furniture STOOOPIDITY that is going on out there. We moved recently to another state, and I brought very little with us. I have completely furnished a 2,800 sq foot home in brown quality or antique furniture for $3,200! I’m delighted to have things with a soul. The dovetailing, the wood smells, the delightful carving, the gorgeous hardware... I don’t want furniture made of sawdust and glue. Fortunately, the “trends” and I don’t agree, and that works really well for me. :-)

New sub here. I have appreciated antiques since I was 16 (63 now). I'm encouraged by this young man's appreciation of the the beauty, value and workmanship of vintage pieces. I once bought a gorgeous cedar chest from an antique consignment shop and was so intrigued by its history, I asked the seller to please contact the owner to give me background information and that I loved this piece so much. Weeks later, I received a beautiful anonymous handwritten letter explaining that it was made in 1932 in Appleton WI for a lady getting married as a hope chest. She was glad that I loved it and asked me to take care of it. That made my day💝

Walmart wanted $385 for pressed wood TV stand. I went to a local store here and got a really nice cabinet that I put under our TV solid wood for $300

I hate to see beautiful pieces of furniture ruined by someone covering it in paint it breaks my heart there's nothing quite like the lustre of well cared for old wood

I tried to get a young friend of mind to get furniture from a consignment store, but I couldn’t get her to understand why, yes it’s used, but it’s really well made. She bought from big lots because it was the same price as consignment but it was “new”. One year later the stuff is falling apart. 🤷🏼‍♀️

In high school someone tried to tell me that they would pay their college with beanie babies. I laughed.

As someone who's not young and not old, I totally see the furniture thing. Most modern houses have large closets with built-in storage, so dressers are just things that take up space. The same goes for large bed frames. The only bedroom furniture still in fashion is the bedside table/nightstand. Moving to other rooms of the house, things like china cabinets and curios don't have a place in younger folks' homes because they don't collect as much of that kind of stuff. Entertainment centers and living room storage (CDs, DVDs) are almost totally obsolete. Coffee tables have been replaced by large ottomans in many homes. On the other end of the spectrum, well-made kitchen tables and chairs will continue to be in demand, but the kitchen is the place to entertain, so fancy "dining room" sets will not see much interest. Working from home is here to stay, so well-built desks/tables will stay popular, but not so much for oversized desks that have dozens of drawers. Also, there will always be some demand for well-built rocking chairs.

Pet peeve of mine - people who buy a piece of furniture and paint it stark white, then rub the corners off and call themselves miracle workers. Pinterest is chocked full of these abominations. I've seen fantastic furniture makeovers where the paint and top coat finishes were tastefully and skillfully chosen and the hardware was treated or replaced tastefully and the results were truly stunning. These people paining furniture white, that hideous light blue, turquoise, etc, then rubbing the corners off and calling it an improvement are nothing short of vandals. Rant over, I feel better now.

It always seems to me that people who collect because they believe their collection will increase in value usually wind up losing money. Those who collect what they like at least get to enjoy their stuff even if it doesn't appreciate.

The other thing that's affected the wood furniture market it the current fad of people wanting mid century modern and in general modern furniture. I'm with you though, I love natural wood antiques. My 120 year old house has all it's original natural woodwork, and I love it. Not gonna remove it or paint it all white like everyone else is doing now.

What about buying things because you like them. Once a woman in a flea market said to buy and collect things you like because you like them. I hate reducing everything to dollar value. It cheapens everything in and about your life.

I hate the fake furniture from the box stores. It's made of particle board, cardboard, flimsy crap with plastic filler.

What were the top 5 collectibles in 2020? Sadly -- Toilet paper, bullets, canned food, N95 masks, and cash.

This dude knows his stuff. When I got married I furnished my house with antiques and didn't spend more than $650 for anything. Now I have nice quality wood furniture that will still look nice 25 years from now. The only thing I wouldn't buy as an antique is a sofa. Antique sofas just weren't made for sitting watching TV-our ideas of comfort are different today.

I never liked the idea of buying something marketed "as a collectable".Am I alone?

I'd say the number one would be all those national geographic magazines people collected for a hundred years thinking they'd be worth a fortune by now

Forty years ago, my wife and I were on vacation and stopped at an antique furniture shop south of Billings, Montana. It was an old red barn and it had lots of fantastic old furniture. I asked the guy who owned it where he got his stuff. Did he go to old pioneer homes? He shook his head - there's nothing out there, he said. He told me that twice a year he drove a big bus down to Los Angeles and bought it all there. Just as we were leaving, I asked him who he sold it all to. People from Los Angeles, he answered.

The Roseville pottery is gorgeous. Maybe I can afford it now. I'll add that I love wood furniture and hate the painted stuff too. I have a friend who is so proud of her silver, painted bedroom set (that she did herself) and I flinch whenever I see it. My mother passed away from Covid in March 2020 and we had to give away antique dressers, bookcases, etc. because no one wanted them. We had a free day after the estate sale and people took them. I had no room for them and it was sad.

Here in the UK 'brown' furniture is suffering the same fate. A great shame, I really love wood, I learned a lot about wood from my Dad who was an old-school cabinet maker. He designed, built, hand veneered and polished his creations. We must never lose these skills.

I've been a cabinetmaker for 46 years and have sold pre-civil war antique furniture for years also. The market for true antique furniture is selling for penny's on the dollar. At 70 I don't think that antique furniture prices will ever come back in my lifetime. I pity the folks that have to strip these painted pieces in 30 or 40 years but I'm glad that I won't be around.

Hats off to you for valuing solid wood furniture! Painting it decreases the value .

Back in the day, my brother "invested" probably $30k in Beanie Babies and after he passed I really found out that the monetary value profound. However, The local VFW (Heroes) in Redmond, WA. include a Beanie Baby in every box they send out to our "kids" in the military. As these were older, many were of the generation the soldiers might have had as a kid. They in turn often re-gift their not quite stuffed toy to the local kids. I was told the kids (You know, those short people that get into everything.) have been known to try to keep our gift giving troops safe by pointing out IEDs.

Brown furniture in the UK is basically firewood! As an example I recently bought a Georgian (200 years old) corner cupboard for £50. It was a huge piece being over 5 feet tall, and made of oak. It needed some slight repairs, but was basically useable and was bought for pocket change!

I love old wood furniture - but most houses aren’t designed to accommodate the size of the pieces without being overwhelmed

I don't know about Precious Moments -- I hate 'em too, like your wife! -- but a neighbor of mine had to go into Assisted Living last year, and she had hundreds of Royal Doulton figurines. She bought them from some "collector club" and she had all the receipts -- $150 each plus shipping! -- and she had spent thousands of dollars over 20+ years on this. She was very proud of her "collection" but could not take them all to a small Assisted Living apartment. Her daughter in law was excited, thinking the "collection" was worth a fortune....only to check eBay and local dealers, and find out they were worth $10-$35 dollars each AT THE MOST. In other words, it lost value tremendously. Now, if you love something -- buy it, use it, look at it, display it, enjoy it -- but don't kid yourself or your family that it is some rare valuable thing. Anything made in series of 10,000s and sold online or via magazine ads -- is not rare at all -- and the market is saturated. Plus the kind of older lady who loves those things .... is today at retirement age or older, and not buying anymore. Younger people have no interest in ceramic trinkets!!!! (or dolls, stuffed animals, china, silver, brown furniture, etc.). Only buy things because you LOVE THEM and will get pleasure out of owning or displaying them IN YOUR LIFETIME. You want to leave an inheritance to your kids? buy real estate, or gold coins or something.

I want to scream every time I see somebody has painted a fine old piece of solid wood

Thanks! A weird anomaly . . . I bought a few Beanie Baby bears at a yard sale for 50 cents each to give to friends as dog toys. One was ripped apart quickly. A neighbor saw two others and said WAIT! Turns out they are rare "error" bears worth something. We're going to split the profits, but identical error bears are selling from $200-800. If we clear $50 each, I'll be way ahead, and all because of my neighbor's eagle eye!

It sounds like Ebay took the fun out of collecting because you don't get the scavenger hunt feel of going from shop to shop looking for treasure. Now you just type and it's all there.

When my parents died, they had a lot of beautiful antique furniture. Beautifully crafted and detailed... the appraiser came in and said, "$300". We thought it would be in the thousands. He said to replace or insure it, it would be in the thousands. However, because people want IKEA and stuff they don't have to take care of, or kids can bang up, the market for good furniture has dried up. So, if you're looking for REALLY GREAT furniture, look around at second hand and antique stores, because you can pick up some beautiful pieces really cheap. I never wanted my parents' furniture, because I was more of a mid-century modern guy. However, I did take a few pieces and they are show stoppers that everyone comments on. You don't need a lot of great furniture, just one or two pieces that look amazing.

Pianos. I hve owned several, still have some. Occasionally someone asks me what his old piano is worth. I say, "Sight unseen, it's a $50 piano." He'll say, "Geez, it's old, but it's nice I thought it would be worth a lot more than that." Then I deliver the bad news. ""$50 is the price you will probably have to pay someone to take it away."

I'm with you on lovely, old, real wood furniture. I have a dining room set, a desk, numerous small tables and a bookcase from North Carolina that are over 100 years old. I love every item and how solid and beautiful it is. My house is 125 years old and all the wood is original and never painted. For me wood exudes richness and joy.

People who live in one-bedroom condos, and they're a lot of them, do not need large furniture of any kind or antique knick-knacks. Porcelain figurines that were very collectable back in the day are just considered dust-collectors by twenty and thirty somethings.

I think a lot of younger people today like living in rooms that seem "staged" as if from a catalog layout or an HGTV show, but utterly lacking any items of personal meaning, history or even real quality. It's more about achieving a look or scheme versus really having a palpable attachment to or appreciation of the furniture & decor...

Dolls. My elderly mother collected dolls for about 20 years and had about 75 of them when she died in 2015. She once took my wife aside for a talk about their value to ensure that we didn't undervalue them when she was gone. We literally couldn't give them away. Dolls she had spent about $7000 on were sold for about $300 (there were one or two that had retained some value).

Buy quality not quantity. Don’t follow trends. Design the way you want, keep it simple, avoid clutter, avoid carpeting (holds dust and bacteria).

Anything marketed new as "Collectible" (Ex: Franklin Mint plates and other junk) will never be worth anything.

As an eBay seller (and buyer) for 21 years, and antique lover, your observations couldn't be more spot on. Well done!

I went to an estate sale, and there was an accolade for the man’s work as the marketing director for Franklin Mint in the mid 90s. Not a single Franklin mint item in the house.

My feeling with any purchase is buy what you like, for what you think it's worth. Then you'll never be disappointed with market fluctuations.

I was recently talking with the owners of another local estate sale company who has been in it for a long time. One made a comment that absolutely floored me, " When I go into an estate now, to do an estimate, the last thing I want to see is antiques. You can't get what they're worth and no one wants them." I was flabbergasted, while I don't entirely agree, I can see where she's coming from which is depressing because I love antiques!

My mom has so many pieces of American Sweetheart pink and white depression glass. No one wants it anymore, and the price has gone down. It's so beautiful and precious. She has a whole table setting like 8 piece from years and years of finding piece by piece at thrift stores and estate sales. It's sad to see no-one wants antiques as much any more.

I completely agree with you on wood furniture. We will never see craftsmanship like that again.

I was at an auction in central Pennsylvania a few years ago where a real wooden formal dining room table with 12 chairs was up for bid. A Mennonite man bought it for $50. He had not seen it but just heard “dining room table with twelve chairs”. When the bidding got stuck at $45 he bid $50 and got it. The woman whose possessions were being sold came over and talked with him afterward. She wasn’t bitter. She was happy for him and his family. She wanted him to know that she paid $12,000 for the set. You can’t hardly give away real wooden furniture at household auctions right now.

I remember some advice heard on an edition of Antiques Roadshow many years ago. That was do not buy antiques/collectibles if the your purpose is to turn a profit, buy them because you genuinely love having them around. Makes sense to me.

You are my type of person I hate painted furniture love the look and smell of real wood

I'm in the insurance business. I see people passing away or having to go into nursing homes and the kids come in (usually they live pretty far away) and just rent a dumpster to put everything into it. They have no interest in moms/grandmas/ great grandmas old furniture, dishes or linens. They fly in or drive, so they are limited on what they can take back with them.. You can't imagine the stuff I've seen just taken to the landfill. Younger people don't seem to have much interest in old stuff. Things are different now and it's just the way things are. Hang on to that wooden furniture, it may be worth money again. With more and more being thrown away it will become scarce.

I knew the good times were over when the Roy Rogers - Dale Evans Museum closed because nobody went there anymore.

I firmly believe the value of antique furniture will come back one day. It will be "discovered" by a future generation. Also I love to hear you say "give it away". I get much more satisfaction out of giving things away rather than accept an insultingly low offer.

Furniture is difficult to sell because new homes actually have smaller rooms than older homes. It’s hard to shoe in the big beautiful pieces. Also, people are big and the chairs and bed frames are small. The last and most significant reason is families have gotten smaller. Instead of 10 grandchildren fighting for the heirlooms, two or only one wants the old things. The supply chain has become inverted, too much stuff and not enough heirs to find it valuable. Stagflation.

My house is full of antique wooden furniture. Bow-fronted chests, armoires, writing bureau, sideboard ... Dovetail joints and brass handles aplenty. I love it!

I love REAL wood furniture! My grandfather was a carpenter so I guess that's where it came from. Miss you Grandpa!!! ❤❤❤

We moved and had to downsize. Sold a 52inch round quarter-sawn tiger oak claw foot table in like new condition. Sold at auction for $53. Made me physically ill.

The good news is that if you’re short on cash you can furnish your home with solid wood furniture on the cheap!

My mom collected beanie babies just because she loved them. To this day she pulls out bears for every holiday (major and minor) and sets them out on display. That's the way a collection should be. Something that brings you joy. Enjoyed your video!

I completely agree with you on the wood furniture!!! In my day too, you bought wood furniture once and that was it for life. It’s classic. Keep on selling it!

My mother had tons of beanie babies. She gave them to me and my wife and daughters gave them the kindergarten and preschool kids they teach. Those little kids were so happy to get them.

If you're going to "refinish" a piece, you might as well paint it. The goal is to restore, never refinish. A good cleaning and maybe a coat of a good quality furniture oil is all wood furniture needs. If you're using anything that strips or removes the finish in order to refinish, you are killing any value your piece may have had. Our home is filled with old pieces, some antique, some just old. But rarely do we ever purchase a new piece of furniture. You can never get the same character or life in a new piece...

My husband sold his football cards in 1989. He sold at the highest price. His friends who collected football cards said he was crazy.

I love to restore antique pieces of furniture. The few pieces that I have found in second hand stores and have refinished have been with us for many years. Great info btw. 😊

"Top 5 Items That Have Lost Their Value!" #1, a sense of personal pride in your appearance.

We’ve become a throwaway society, what did anyone expect. Surprised Barbie dolls and Hummel figurines weren’t on the list.

Hi Mike, On the subject of wood furniture. I'm a woodworker, and the only color enhancement that I use on my stuff is boiled linseed oil under the finish. Several years ago I started doing work for a lady who painted furniture. The final straw was a cabinet for a very high end Victor phonograph. Solid South American mahogany, had the brass plates etc. The most wonderful thing was it had an acoustic sound chamber speaker system in the lower part of the cabinet. All this needed was the turntable & arm to make it worth a small fortune. I replaced the turn table shelf, took off the brass, tore out the speaker system & replaced with a wine rack. This was IT! no more destroying classic wood to be painted and sold to stupid unpreaching young Turkeys. I don't do her stuff anymore. Pop

When my parents passed, they left me their collections of Hummels and not very rare baseball cards. It didn't bother me because they truly enjoyed their hobbies and you know what they say, collect what you love, not for an investment. I also have some turn of the 19th century wood pieces that were my great grandparents so they are worth a fortune to me.

Glad I found your channel. We are lucky to be living in a time where old wood furniture is unpopular. I have been scooping it up myself. The masses never cease to amaze me with their brilliance these days. A guy can literally follow them around and pick up the money they lose.

I remember when Beanie Babies were "Hot"and long lines formed to buy them.Six months in to the craze, an investment guy on T.V. said "all they are worth is the heat they will generate when burned to warm your home if you need to not freeze to death.."

Beanie babies were never about the company stopping production. What made them such a sensation was that previous to them, if you wanted to get a plush doll for your kid, mabye your girlfriend, it was kinda a "big deal". This culminated in the snobbery of the "Vermont Teddy Bears", where those bears were selling new for $100+. Then TY came along and said, look, you can put a few pieces of stitched velvet together with some beans inside and it's something that has all the same gifting and kid emotional attachment as the $50 teddy bear. And selling them at under $10 is going to be profitable. So people were like, "Wow, they are too cheap. The price is going to have to go up. And TY heard those comments, and went into "limited series" mode. And secondary prices did go up. But stuffed animals do require space, and do collect dust. And people are not staying in the same place long term. They move from house to house nearly every 3 years on average. Pay the mover to pack up those dolls, or give them to goodwill? Most people pick the latter. And from goodwill you get the rock bottom prices. It's that same migrant nature of our society that makes it difficult to move wood furniture. The most common things at estate sales are fine china, wood furniture, and old tools. The china is usually in pristine condition... only used 1-2x per year. The furniture can be good or bad, but is always capable of being restored. But the tools are often pretty rough shape, having seen lot of use. And what sells? The tools... because even with lots of wear and tear, they are much better than the cheap imported stuff that is being manufactured today.

I understand your wife’s disdain. A friend gifted me with a couple of precious moments figurines for my birthday, my face must have been a dead giveaway because she asked what’s wrong? I said ‘seriously do I look like someone who collects precious moments?’ We burst out laughing and she returned them the next day

I like wood furniture too. Unpainted.

I know from watching shows like Antique Roadshow that if there is a piece of jewelry that is old and I find horribly ugly and my wife likes it, it's worth some serious money. 🤔

I gave my nephew a set of drawers my dad bought himself when he was 17 years old. His 1st and only drawers. Pure oak. My nephews wife painted it up bright colours!! I was speechless 😂 it was over 100 years old!!

I see a lot of pieces by Lenox china in thrift shops selling for $5, $7, $9 ... pieces when new cost $60-$100 thirty or thirty-five years ago! I'm talking about that nice ivory colored porcelain often trimmed in gold: vases, candlesticks, picture frames, fruit bowls - in perfect condition!

LOL on the Beanie Babies. My wife worked at a Hallmark store which received regular shipments . I would get asked daily by my co-workers when the next shipment was coming. Almost felt I was a middleman for some drug deal.

My grandmother died recently. My mother was convinced that her "antique" dresser set was terribly valuable. I could immediately tell it was not. The back was all plywood. It may have been 100 years old, but it was the 100 year old version of IKEA.

My Mama supported herself by buying & selling. She did pretty good, had an eye for collectibles and antiques. EBay hit and I told her to start listing but she would get a mad face. She told me that eBay ruined the market but I didn’t believe her back then because eBay was still pretty new. Mama retired and then the market for ok’d and collectible stuff bottomed out. Now it’s hard to find something that considered worth buying.

Because I once sold a tool bag on ebay, all of a sudden, friends and family beat a path to my door to sell their ‘collector’s edition’ collections that they were sure it was going to pay for their kid’s college education because they’d been holding onto it for 30 years. I would show them what a collection like theirs had sold for and they’d get really upset. Loved you video, sir. Thank you. I LOVE quality antique furniture. Chip board and painted crud stinks!

The value of anything always depends on how much someone really wants something and is willing to pay for it. Almost everyone wants something for nothing anymore, unless they're the one selling it. Then it's another story.

Ok, "Beanie Babies. Make a kids day, give 'em away." That was good. I like your style, Mr.

The wood furniture thing kills me too. My home is furnished exclusively with antique and vintage furniture. We buy pieces even if we have to put it in the basement bc we just personally value it so much. There’s not a single piece of furniture in my house that’s new. This furniture will last forever basically and it’s special

People don't appreciate the beautifully made wood furniture. They think it looks old fashioned. I love it!

The only thing that gives anything "value" is what people think of it. "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

Yes, wood furniture is beautiful. I inherited two beautiful, large pieces, and brother, I ain't painting them!! Wish I could afford to have them refinished, but no worries; they and I are aging gracefully together.

I am so glad to see those damn beanie babies on your list! I used to work at a store that sold them and people were IN! SANE! when new ones would come out. All that abuse of the store employees....karma right back at those folks who always thought they were going to be RICH with those hings.

You know something will be a future collectible when your mother or wife want to throw it out

It's such a shame so many people have no taste in furniture.

I love antique oak furniture and I have finally been Blessed to buy 3 beautiful pieces that I will love and cherish the rest of my life for very inexpensive prices. For years the antique stores in my area gouged price - way over charged. I think KARMA is at work here. I love natural wood and do not ever want to paint over it unless badly damaged.

I am definitely with you on the wood antiques, forget the Walmart disposable stuff and appreciate the craftsmanship in the real good things

As a sometime dealer in the UK, there is absolutely no doubt, that for good or bad, that the internet with Etsy and eBay has challenged notions of rarity throughout the antiques trade. Here we always say, "quality always sells" but even that adage has been challenged recently. Ive seen 16th and 17th century dark-oak farmworkers coffers that used to fetch upwards of £1,000 go for less than £75, and Victorian items of brass and copper you can hardly give away now. I blame the so-called "Shabby Chic" fashion; you know, those items that used to be the fodder of a good bonfire!

I never understood the beanie babies craze. I thought they were way overpriced even in the stores.

Man, I’ve never seen any wood furniture in local antique stores or junk shops that wasn’t hundreds of bucks. Come to Ohio if you want it.

i HATE painted furniture too. My Mom used to "pickle" or "antique" furniture, and my Dad and I would just shake our heads.

3 out of 5 things you named are collectibles, not antiques. And you wife is right. Precious Moments are just trailer Hummels

Some of the older wood pieces are works of art. And nothing nicer than polishing the wood and see it shine.

I totally agree about wood furniture. It is a great buyers market...... It is fine to paint furniture that is in bad shape or very common. It is painful when they paint beautiful pieces. When my mother was young blond furniture was the fashion. Her friends gave her antiques to add to her family pieces. They are treasured.

I gave up on antiques along time ago. I got tired of hearing, "Oh yes! these are very valuable! However, the one you have is only worth 65 cents."

Roseville... spot-on. Do not toss this or give it away. It has intrinsic beauty and will soon come back as a valued collectible.