This week I was asked about where to start collecting Antique Hat Pins. The answer to this must be the same as beginning any other collection and there are a few general rules which apply to all areas of collecting.

- Buy what you Love

Unless your financial resources are vast you are going to need to put in a lot of time and effort into building a collection. Collect what appeals to you, what suits your home and surroundings, something that you are willing to devote the necessary time, money and thought to and that you can appreciate for its own qualities rather than for its financial value. As they say ” The value of your investment can go down” but with antiques their own unique qualities remain.

- Research

Much easier these days with all the information available from the internet than it was when I started. A few hours spent on eBay and Google will reap huge amounts of information on the values of items, its history, collectors clubs, on-line shops and even on-line forums dedicated to your favourite antique

Other good resources include specialist Books, Collectors Clubs, Dealers and real life events such as fairs and auctions. Get to know the other collectors and the specialist dealers in your chosen collectable.

- Condition

Some writes only recommend that you should buy perfect pieces. In general this may be true and I believe that  newer collectables should always be sort out in pristine condition. Some antiques are quite rare and having a worn, damaged or restored piece may well fill a gap in a collection until something better comes along. Say you are on a very tight budget and wish to collect Art Deco pottery. A collection of Clarice Cliff vases may be beyond you means but a very decorative collection of brightly painted vases can be aquired very cheaply if you can live withhairline cracks at the back, chips below the base or internal staining.

- Rarity

Most collectors start buying the more common and cheaper pieces of their chosen collectable and then as their colleciton develops they become fussier about what they buy and develop a taste for the rarer and more valuable pieces. Generally the rarer a piece the more costly it will be.

- Quality

Similar to Rarity, the better quality a piece the more costly it will be. For example, all other things being equal,  hand made pieces of studio glass are likely to cost more than mass produced pressed glass. This is because the quality pieces cost more when they were new and so there are fewer of them about to collect these days. Also the current demand for quality items is likely to be more than for inferior items.

- Cost

The price of an antique object is determined by the current demand for it and its rarity. Current demand can change with fashion and the state of the economy and so the value of your antique can go up and down. In todays market there is little demand for 20th century floral cups and saucers and so these can be picked up quite cheaply. A few years ago when there was a fashion for decorating homes withChintz there was a greater demand for floral china and so these cups and saucers were worth more.

The best quality, condition and rarity is going to cost you more than a common, lowgrade item in poor condition.