My daughter, who works for an auction company, called me the other night. She had been meeting with a woman who had already been visited by another auctioneer looking to sell her home and contents. The other auctioneer went on a tirade about how kids today dont appreciate antiques and so her stuff would not bring any money. The poor woman was almost reduced to tears by his words about her cherished possessions. Folks, I think a line has to be drawn in the sand with these purveyors who are unhappy that the bubble market in antiques in the 1980s and 1990s is gone. It is not that kids today dont like antiques. It is that the outrageous prices paid by Boomers and Gen Xers (and I count myself in the later generation) drove people out of the market. Now those same Boomers and Xers want to recoup what they paid, and they are bitter that they cant. Get over it! Sorry you paid $500,000 for a cup and saucer that is worth $1,000 today. My mother regretted not selling her shares of Pennsylvania Railroad Company before they became valueless. Its called life. The antique market is in a reset place, but I would argue that it is looking back not to the heady overpriced days of the 1980s and 1990s but rather to the 1960s and 1970s. This is where the market has been for more than a decade, and this is probably where it will remain until it slowly creeps up again. When the latter will happen is not in my crystal ball, but I would bet it will be long after many of us have thrown off the mortal coil. Young people today do love old stuff. They are just not willing to pay crazy prices. Thrifting has replaced antiquing in their vocabulary, but it is really the same thing. Walk South Street in Philadelphia or the second-floor vintage clothing area at the antiques co-op in Lemoyne, Pa. You will see lots of 20- and 30-somethings with money burning a hole in their pocket to buy antiques. As for the so-called antiques that no one is buying, take a look at Live Auctioneers and see that most of it is selling! Not at the prices people paid decades ago, but the items are selling. The clock market has reset. I often tell the story that my friend Ted Wiederseim told me. Someone approached him about selling a bronze that he had purchased at one of Teds auctions. Ted quoted him a range that it would bring, and the fellow was unhappy as it was less than he paid back in the glory days. Teds comment was that for two decades you had enjoyed this item every single day. Find something in your house that you bought new two decades ago and were still enjoying and that you could recoup exactly what you paid for it. Not happening. The antiques world is alive and healthy, just not in the same way it was in the 1980s! 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.