Antiques, relics, antiques, souvenirs, antiques... there are countless ways to describe antique objects. And which of these words is the most appropriate to refer to them? It's a question that doesn't have just one right answer, after all, such old objects can be precious for some and just scrap metal for others.

Millions of people collect the most diverse objects around the world. What drives you to this? In a first analysis, collecting could be considered only as a form of entertainment, a simple hobby. But, with a deeper evaluation, the act proves to be a more complex and important activity: collecting, which, in addition to the basic idea of ​​entertainment, is an art and a science that develops learning, being a cultural activity par excellence.

Internet: a good tool to find old objects

At the same time, there are also people who see the purchase of antique objects as an investment, as relics acquire more and more value over the years. With the high demand in Brazil for this type of object, the website www.objetosantigos.com was created, a portal aimed at collectors and those interested in antiquity in general. The site works both for those looking for exclusive products and for people interested in selling their antiques and the like.

For Gabriel Uarian, creator of the site, the segment is very promising, since old objects can be considered strategic assets. To the E-commerce News website, the entrepreneur reported: “ If they don't hold wealth or art, antique objects are always fragments of memory and history, rich witnesses of the time and permanent exercises of culture and reflection ”. According to Uarian, there are more than 500 million people interested in this niche on the web today.

Another way used is sites like enjoei.com.br, which mediates the purchase and sale of used products, or the famous Mercadolivre.com.br. There, with a simple search, it is possible to find more than 600 items for sale, including watches, coins, sculptures, musical instruments and dozens of decorative objects.

Increasingly popular antique fairs

The online world can be very efficient and comprehensive for those who like to collect or for those who are after a specific piece, but going out looking for fascinating antique objects is a task that the internet cannot fully accomplish. Feeling the weight, touching, looking from all sides are actions that are only possible live. For this reason, antique fairs are extremely important for those who want to buy, sell or exchange objects.

São Paulo is one of the cities with the most options for collectors. The best known is probably the Benedito Calixto Fair. A very popular outing for locals and tourists on Saturdays, the fair located in Pinheiros and close to the heart of Vila Madalena adds live music, a food court and, of course, more than 300 exhibitors of antique and handcrafted pieces. The weekly event has already become an attraction on the city's cultural calendar and there you can find furniture, ornaments, eyeglass frames, objects, vinyl, toys and even clothes and accessories in thrift store stalls. It is important to pay attention to the values ​​and know how to negotiate, as the pieces tend to vary according to the exhibitor and the time of day. The fair takes place every Saturday, from 9 am to 6:30 pm, at Praça Benedito Calixto.

Another well-known fair is the Bixiga Fair. With exhibitors in common with the Benedito Calixto fair and similar importance in the city, the traditional antiques fair at Praça Dom Orione offers hundreds of stalls selling vintage objects and antiques. If the collector is looking for something specific, it is always important to have an overview of the fair before quickly buying the objects, as there are several exhibitors and items for sale. Furniture, lamps, household items from past decades and many other types of objects can be found there.

Auctions are not a thing of the past!

Participating in auctions can be the perfect way to find a certain antique. Pieces that mean nothing to other people might just be what you're looking for. Participate in an auction in person. That way, you can get a closer look at the pieces before they go up for auction and make more careful decisions if you like a particular piece.

Both in Brazil and abroad, there are numerous famous auction houses such as Sotheby's, Christie's, Artcurial, Drouot, etc... and many other less famous ones but with excellent business opportunities for collectors. And like everything in modern times, auctions also have their online alternative. As much as it is not possible to see the objects up close, in some situations it may be that an object is only found that way. In this regard, auctions are the right place to pan for valuable pieces of art and antiques.

united collectors

The art of collecting is so fashionable that in recent years collectors' meetings have been held in various cities across the country. Taubaté, for example, hosts the Collecting Meeting, which in 2014 had its 4th edition in August. Once a year, the city in the interior of São Paulo is the stage for this weekend gathering of collectors from all over the country. At the fair, aficionados can exchange, sell and appraise banknotes, coins, stamps, phone cards, antiques and other collectibles.

Cláudio Inês is a metallurgist and started his collection after he received a donation from his uncle. " He passed away and my aunt gave me vinyl records, so that's where it all started ", he told the G1 news website. Sílvio Alves has been a banknote and coin collector for thirty years and has a collection with the different families of banknotes issued in Brazil. From the cruise to the real and the second family, with the latest notes released. " I must have approximately 5,000 different banknotes, which I acquired over the years and the economic plans that went through ", he told the news portal.

A meeting like this aims to put collectors in touch and make them exchange experiences and find items considered rare in their collections. A 50 reais banknote with the stamp of the signature of the then president of the Central Bank, Pérsio Arida, who stayed only 6 months in office in 1995, is worth R$ 3 thousand.

Another example is the Meeting of Philatelists and Numismatists, one of the oldest in Brazil and which in 2014 had its 165th edition at Hotel Castelmar, in Florianópolis. “ The collector in general is a scholar of the subject. If it's a stamp, you need to understand the types of paper and printing. But that goes for any type of collection, ” said the president of the Philatelic and Numismatic Association of Santa Catarina (AFSC), Luis Claudio Fritzen to the newspaper Diário Catarinense. Fritzen currently collects stamps (he sold the coin collection some time ago to buy an apartment).

For 65 years, the AFSC has brought together fans of the most traditional types of collection: stamps and money - banknotes and coins. The association is also responsible for promoting the Collectors Meeting, which brings together dozens of people interested in the most diverse relics - from pens to iron carts, passing through stationery, bottle caps and beer cans.

Just like the meeting in Taubaté, the objective of the event is to promote exchange and enable collectors to sell or exchange pieces from their collections. In the last edition, representatives from at least 10 Brazilian states and the Argentinean capital, Buenos Aires, participated.

For those who live in the Northeast, object collectors gather at the Petrópolis Market, in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte. On the Abraham Palatnik mezzanine, a group of antique collectors met for the first time in 2015. Coins, stamps, wristwatches and various other types of objects were on display there. The space was also used as a place to meet collectors and look for new objects to collect.

Luciano Silva, a computer operator, visited the fair to get new coins for his collection. “ I've been in the business for a few months, as I had some old coins and, encouraged by a friend, I started collecting ”, he told the news site Portal no Ar.

Frenchman Didier Bryckaert has lived in Natal for 22 years and said that since he was a little boy he was encouraged to store objects. “ In France, we collected everything. This is something quite cultural in the country ”, said the foreigner to the news portal. Currently, Didier is letting go of his collection and encourages other people to join the hobby. “ That's why I'm selling my stamps at a lower price, so that people can start building their own collection. Young people are collecting less, because the internet has made everything easier and people have lost interest , ”he lamented.

One of the rare objects he has on display is a 5 euro coin with the face of the pilot Ayrton Senna, which the Government of San Marino produced in honor of the 20th anniversary of his death.

How to value antique objects?

For those who want to enter this market and do not know how to evaluate objects, here are some very important tips:

Study the item! If you have boxes full of objects or just one item you want to evaluate, you need to study it. The general condition of the object can determine whether it is very valuable or simply useless. Pay attention to any damage, cracks, rust, if it is bent or has any kind of wear. An old lamp that is in good condition will have a much greater value than one that has a crack in it. Be sure to inspect the entire object so there are no surprises.

Knowing the history of the object is also essential. Go to bookstores or use a library or the Internet to research as deeply as possible about the antique you are appraising. There are many stories of people who donated or sold some priceless antiques to thrift stores for very cheap, simply because they were not aware of the value of their pieces. It is important to research so as not to be the next protagonist of news like this.

Be aware of current market trends. Some price guides are updated monthly, so if you are using a 5 year old price guide to determine the value of your item, then you will have a wildly outdated valuation of the item. Many antiques magazines have value tables for sports cards, coins, and stamps that are updated monthly, so look for the most up-to-date price guide possible. Don't forget to subtract some value from your old object if it shows any kind of wear.

See if the object is rare. If there are not many items similar to yours on the market, or even if it is a unique piece, this will greatly influence its appraised value. Look out for marks on your antiquity that make it unique. Serial numbers, signatures or certificates of authenticity facilitate evaluation.

Finally, after you've done your research, get a professional to appraise your antique. Remember that online reviews are not 100% reliable. online appraisal process because, since the appraiser is not looking at the object in person, the value will be highly inaccurate. Do a lot of research before investing in an appraiser, who can end up being quite unprofessional.

Where to reliably restore old objects?

When it comes to restoration, one of the first questions that comes up is the value of such meticulous work. To recover items such as famous and highly valued paintings, the cost of a professional restoration is usually 10% of their full sales value. But for pieces without so much prominence, the price of restorations vary according to the type of work that needs to be done and the piece itself.

Anyone interested in antiques and would like to restore objects for sale or for use, it is necessary to choose a reliable place for such a task. Fifities Restorations, for example, specializes in restoring vintage objects from the 1950s and even vintage cars.

For those who want to restore a more artistic piece, a good place is A Capela Móveis Antigos, which specializes in furniture, mirrors and decorative objects. The store is located at Rua Cardeal Arcoverde, 1285, in Pinheiros, São Paulo. In addition to restoration, the site also offers the services of Buying, Selling and Leasing antique objects.

Restoration, a business opportunity

Catering lovers can even make a business out of it. There are several courses across the country. Sebrae – Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service, for example, offers a course for conservators/restorers. There, you will learn the techniques to restore objects that have value considered cultural assets and you will work in the conservation and restoration of movable assets, such as books, manuscripts, paintings, photographs, objects and sculptures. The activity can be carried out with an employment relationship in public and private institutions or even autonomously, with the setting up of an independent restoration workshop.

Another option for those who live in São Paulo is the Templo da Arte technical center, which offers a Conservation and Restoration Technician course. With a workload of 880 hours, the course aims to equip the student for the study and research in conservation and restoration of works of art or artistic objects. The course also guarantees the teaching of specific technical skills, as well as theoretical knowledge to carry out work in the areas of conservation and restoration of ancient objects and works of art in a responsible and ethical manner, following the guidelines, resolutions, letters and advice international and national.

For residents of Rio de Janeiro, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) has the option of graduating in Conservation and Restoration at the institution's School of Fine Arts. The aim of the course is to create an adequate structure for the training of higher education professionals capable of conserving and restoring the artistic and cultural heritage based on the highest ethical and aesthetic values.

The graduation, which is composed of 8 periods and a variety of optional subjects, aims to carry out studies and theoretical research regarding the preservation of the visual arts in collaboration with related areas such as History and Art Criticism. With this, you will learn the laws of the art market, curatorship practices for exhibitions and business management related to culture and knowledge of new artistic languages.

Collecting: investment and hobby

There are many theories that try to explain the unique feeling that some people experience when collecting objects: nostalgia for lost things, desire for what is rare, attachment to symbols or the pleasure of owning historical artifacts are some of them. But in all cases there is a common denominator - the collector loves what he does.

Whether as a hobby or investment, collecting has been gaining more followers, popularity and, consequently, opening new ways to mine antiques in different ways. This is a vast world, but with research and the right information, you can acquire unique objects, either with high market value or, better yet, high personal value.