Boy, this is one of those questions that you can ask 100 people--from collectors, dealers, auctioneers, pundits--and get 150 different answers. For decades, people believed that antiques would always grow in value. I remember working for a museum in Lancaster and having a silver creamer and sugar that were on loan from a collector. Every year, he called and increased the insurance value by $5,000 because the antiques market would never go down. You can guess how quickly I returned those items to him! The perception was that antiques were the perfect hedge against inflation. Safe, reliable, like gold in Fort Knox, plus beautiful to look at. That was until the bubble began to burst in 2008. One can argue for a date earlier or later than that, but bottom line is that antiques were no longer a reliable investment. They could lose money, and boy did they. Lets begin with two axioms that I would ask you to accept before answering the question for yourself about the value of antiques. The first is, if are you are seeking to collect antiques as they offer a better financial return than stocks or bonds, you are out of your mind. If you want to invest purely for financial reasons, then go for stocks and bonds. You cant hang them on the wall, but you can sell them pretty much anytime and place you wish. Antiques can only be sold for a profit to the right buyer in the right venue and the right market. The second is that collectors need to buy only the very best quality they can. Its simple, and its basic. Broken, chipped and damaged will never be the same as pure and intact. So if you want to have a premium collection, then spend the money to buy the best and rarest items that are in the best condition. Accepting these axioms and assuming you are a collector who buys for pleasure but buys the best you can afford, then are antiques a good investment? I would give you a qualified yes. For example, one can go into a big box store and purchase a new sofa for $800, bring it home and live with it for a decade. One day you decide you want a new sofa and so you try and sell the old one. Unless you bought a lovely wooden settee by Thomas Moser whose value never goes down, the odds are that the old overstuffed sofa in your living has no value and instead will need to be left on the curb for the trash man. Pivot now, and if you purchased a built-like-a-battleship 1840s Empire sofa for $150 right now and keep it for 10 years, what would it be worth? Well, realistically, it probably will be worth $150. Is that an investment? Well, you had ten years of use for both sofas, but the antique one kept its value and the new one lost it. And suppose it sold for $200, then you made some money. Perhaps not much considering inflation indexes, but more than putting the modern sofa out for the trash man. Antiques do represent a value and an investment in-so-far as when of good quality and superb condition, they will hold their value for future generations. Born to collect should be the motto of Peter Seiberts family. Raised in Central Pennsylvania, Seibert has been collecting and writing about antiques for more than three decades. By day, he is a museum director and has worked in Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Virginia and New Mexico. In addition, he advises and consults with auction houses throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, particularly about American furniture and decorative arts. Seiberts writings include books on photography, American fraternal societies and paintings. He and his family are restoring a 1905 arts and crafts house filled with years worth of antique treasures found in shops, co-ops and at auctions.