I found myself smiling from ear to ear this morning as I watched a YouTube video posted by edgyalbert where he talked about getting up at 3:45 a.m. to go to the antique/flea markets to hunt for treasures. For a certain generation of collectors and dealers, this was the time when the flea markets began on Sundays in Adamstown, Pa. One rose exceptionally early to get to the markets to hunt for great treasures. You could bargain or not depending upon how rare the item was, but regardless you needed to make your mind up quickly before someone else got it. It was all part of the great food chain of the antiques world. On Saturdays, pickers roamed the country auctions and yard sales of the region. They purchased items that they would then bring to the markets on Sunday. Fresh merchandise was always in demand, and so a great crock or fraktur or blanket chest was all that was needed to trigger a feeding frenzy at the markets. Now, it was not always pickers who came to sell. So did professional dealers from throughout the region who had oddball items to sell that did not normally fit into what their stock and trade was. I recall a friend spending a fortune on a Sunday at Black Angus to purchase stone fruit from a dealer from New York City. The stuff was great and fairly priced. The dealer, who specialized in antiquities, had no interest in it but took the stuff as part of a bigger deal. And so one Sunday he came to Adamstown to sell, and within an hour it was all gone. Now why I bring this up is that the YouTube poster, edgyalbert, posted a video showing early morning dealing in vintage clothing at a giant flea market in California. The merchandise was old Levi jackets and T-shirts and rare blue jeans. Vastly different than the crocks and chests in Pennsylvania, and yet, the process and play was identical. Watching him and his friend looking for deals, negotiating prices, drooling over someones discovery, well, it took me back to Adamstown. There were full-time dealers who were buying from pickers who hunted for clothing in all sorts of odd places. They in turn sold to designers, other dealers and collectors (both American and foreign) long before the public arrived at 9 a.m. Collectors of old school antiques, and yes, I am one of them, often decry that a younger generation does not like stuff. They are all, dare I say, minimalists. And yet, I think the next generation of collectors does like stuff. Watching this video, the strategies and tactics and human emotion is identical to the so-called golden era of antiques buying in Adamstown. Its just different products. For the New Year, I encourage all of us to celebrate the evolution of collecting. We may not want a 1950s jean jacket, but then again, a young collector might not like Gaudy Dutch. Its all in the eye of the beholder but the collecting genes (or jeans) carry on. 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.