Beer Antiques
Beer antiques come in a wide variety of items you may be interested in collecting, whether that be beer steins, bar signs or just-don't-wanna-leave-it-behinds. No matter where you are, at a yard sale, a small town auction or browsing the listings of an auction site like beerclassfieds.com, keep your head about you as you shop and mind some proper advice.
Antique Beer & Bar Signs  | Antique Bar Mirrors  | Conetop Beer Cans  |
While there are many great beer antiques out there, here are a couple of things to look for when buying:
Take a good guess at the age of the item (say, a beer sign) that you are looking at. Ask the owner of the store or garage sale what the age of the sign is. In the case of an eBay purchase like the ones you will find on this site make sure that the vendor has verified the original date of the antique. Beer steins can be as old as 19th, 18th century or even earlier.
Consult other sources on the date and verify for yourself that the antique is as old as the vendor says it is.
No matter what you are collecting, try and have a personal reason for collecting the item. While this may already be the case, be sure that the beer antique you are looking at purchasing has some value beyond its market value. That's what makes collecting a little extra special and personal.
Buy your beer antiques objectively
On the other hand, if you think something is just a good investment and you have expertise in assessing the objective value of the antique or beer collectible, by all means, make a purchase. (That's how I operate, anyway). But in either case, examine your instincts and your feelings and don't be rushed into a deal.
Sometimes at an auction or garage sale you can get caught up in the pitch and forget yourself. In cases, like this take some time, maybe walk away and think for a bit, then come back when you have formed your own thoughts on your valuation of the beer antique.
There is lots of plain crappy kitsch in the world of beer collectibles. Don't get suckered in. That being said, yesterday's kitsch can be tomorrow's gold as we've seen many times in the past. More often, though, yesterday's kitsch is simply trash; leave it where it is.
A good general rule is that that something that is created with care and is valuable at point of purchase (let's say $300 or more) will keep or increase its value.
