It’s always difficult to predict antique trends, but looking over the past 70 years of collecting, many trends point to our rich immigrant history. Today, it appears to be all about Asia. Asian antiques have been steadily growing since 1990, with their peak at around 2014. In the 1940s, German influence was everywhere. In the 1950s, Italian antiques were very hot as the grandsons and granddaughters of Italian immigrants started buying. The 1960s and ’70s were about Danish modern antiques.
$3,000-$4,000 / 1920 MINIATURE PORTRAIT OF INDIAN TRIBAL LEADER ON PORCELAIN
Chinese Antiques
Chinese antiques were popular in the ’90s and 2000s. While Chinese antiques have leveled off, they continue to be hot. Antiques from Asian countries like Japan and India are especially popular right now. Since our company has a global reach, we continue to sell to a current wave of Asian buyers, including well-heeled Chinese, Singaporeans and Indians. Japanese antiques have always been admired, and you can see their influence throughout all continents.
One of the attractive things about Asian antiques is their artistry and rich history. This miniature painting on porcelain, from 1920, depicts an unknown tribal leader and was affixed to a gold bracelet attributed to the English company Marks & Co., which had offices in Bombay and Poona. We paid $2,000; there is an auction estimate of $3,000-$4,000.
This is an archival article formerly written and is for informational purposes only. The valuations in this article have likely changed since it was first written.
