Antiques: How does Palm Springs' end of season affect sales?
There's no getting around it now: This season is a wrap. All the big events are over, the temperature is starting to climb and outbound flights are a lot more full than inbound ones.
I know, I know; we still have the music festivals and a few other spring flings ahead of us, but most of our seasonal snowbirds are about to take flight or have already done so.
On a positive note, we've seen a lot more young people at our gallery and around town lately, perhaps a reflection of new restrictions on short-term rentals during Coachella. These youngsters are coming earlier, staying longer and wearing less — all good things from our point of view. Anyway, below are a few personal observations, trenchant and otherwise, on the season just ending.
First of all, spending patterns have definitely changed since the free-money COVID years. At the gallery, foot traffic is up significantly, along with our transaction count, but we're seeing fewer spontaneous and extravagant purchases.
In light of all the word's seemingly intractable problems, people are increasingly cautious with their money. I get it. In fact, it's somewhat amazing to me that with the extraordinary increases in gas, food and housing costs, inessential consumer spending has remained relatively robust. All the same, I can't help but wonder if all the upbeat economic indicators coming out of Washington are really reflective of the reality on the ground.
Pretty soon there's got to be a wall out there, and we're going to hit it.
So much for my reliably opaque crystal ball. On the antiques front, our stellar performers have remained relatively constant. Art glass, bar ware and studio pottery remain enormous sellers for us, and the midcentury aesthetic is still the talk of the town.
Higher interest rates and a dearth of valley properties for sale have slowed the furniture category, although certain slivers (e.g., nightstands) remain strong. Whimsical items like goofy sunglasses and extra-loud Hawaiian shirts are also selling. The rise in gold and silver prices has depressed the jewelry market, although silver dollars and other precious metal coinage continues to move. Demand for mid-range wristwatches, but not the high-end blingy type, has mostly recovered from the COVID doldrums, but there is little movement in clocks. Clearly, it's a mixed bag.
Among all that messiness, there are some clear losers. The market for sterling silver flatware has all but disappeared, a victim of sky-high prices and millennials' distaste for its required cleaning and polishing.
Along with that, many of the traditional collectibles so much in demand during the 1990s remain on life support. Names like Limoges, Lladró, Franklin Mint, Hummel, Royal Doulton and Waterford are simply anathema to today's buyers. Polished silverplate continues to sell, but at peanut prices compared to a quarter-century ago. We can barely give Cross pens away, and rotary dial telephones sit silent and unloved. Bohemian crystal, lovely as it is, leaves our gallery in a trickle.
As a result, when many of our older customers come to us with such items to sell, about all we can do is point them in the direction of our neighborhood thrift store. There is simply no demand in our market.
If there's a takeaway to all this, it's just that the antique market has changed significantly in the last few decades and continues to evolve. We're hopeful that as the millennial generation gets married, has kids and buys homes, there will be an increasing realization that IKEA does not have all the answers. We're already seeing an increased interest among the young in vintage clothing, and that will spill over to other categories as time goes by.
At any rate, there have been antique stores around since the Middle Ages, and there remains more than enough interest in old things to keep us going for a while longer. The allure of craftsmanship, that hallmark of antiques, remains eternal.
Mike Rivkin and his wife, Linda, are long-time residents of Rancho Mirage. For many years, he was an award-winning catalogue publisher and has authored seven books, along with countless articles. Now, he's the owner of Antique Galleries of Palm Springs. His antiques column appears Sundays in The Desert Sun. Want to send Mike a question about antiques? Drop him a line at info@silverfishpress.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Antiques: How does Palm Springs' end of season affect sales?
