Collecting
Vintage shopping tips from people who do it weekly
What experienced collectors look for, what they leave behind, and how they spot a fake.
By Nina Rossi · 5 September 2026 · 1 min read
Buy the object, not the story
Labels and provenance are worth exactly what you can verify. If the seller cannot say where it came from, price it as an unnamed piece and decide whether you like it anyway.
Learn three things well
Collectors who do well tend to know a small area deeply rather than a little about everything: one era of ceramics, one furniture maker, one style of jewellery. Depth is what spots the rare one in a tray of ordinary ones.
If you cannot tell the difference between two of something, you are not ready to pay a premium for either.
Look at the back, the base and the hinges
Marks on the base, wear patterns on hinges and the way a drawer runs tell you more about age than the front of a piece ever will.
Be willing to walk away
There will be another market next weekend. The people who overspend are the ones who decided before they arrived that they were coming home with something.
- Vintage
- Collecting
