The other week we were out doing some exploring as we hunted for new shops and antiques malls to visit. We stumbled upon one not far from our home that was in a massive storefront in a town in southern New Jersey. Having never been there before, our family shifted into antique hunter mode, looking for the specific things that each of us collects. Kim hunts for jewelry. Jane and Mary hunt for Moderne design, and I look at furniture and Native American. The mall was pretty dusty, and the price tags reflected the good old days of the 1990s and early 2000s when $325, $425 and $525 were the favorite numbers for everything. What it told us is that things did not seem to be moving. What struck me and prompted this column was when I spotted a southwestern weaving from the Ortega workshops in Chimayo, N.M. Nice piece, not great, but not bad. I picked it up off the metal rack where it sat alone and could not find a price. I was going to inquire about it (since often tags fall off over time) when I looked down onto the rack and saw INDIAN WEAVING NFS. What the heck?! Not only was the item not for sale, but the seller had literally put a tag on the rack in their booth saying NFS. So a metal rack in the middle of a booth with no price tag was holding a weaving with a not-for-sale tag on it. I was irked and wandered down the aisle only to see a relatively nice and early framed map of New Jersey. It had some water damage and was less than perfect but it was pre-1850 and not cut from an Atlas so it deserved a second look. Different dealer, I think, but it too bore a large paper label saying NFS. It took me about 15 seconds to grab the family, and we walked out the door. Folks, an antiques shop is where you go to buy antiques. Museums are where you look at things. It aint rocket science! In case you have not figured it out yet, I am dogmatically negative about NFS tags in an antique shop. I have heard of dealers who use them while they are researching the item. Items to be researched need to live under the counter or at home, not out in your booth where you hope someone makes you an outrageous offer. Let me be clear with my beef that I do understand NFS on display furniture that is used by a dealer to house items that are being sold. Dealers need stuff to put things on top of in a booth. I get that. Its when the items are hanging on the walls or sitting out on a metal rack with an NFS that it is wrong. Thanks for hearing my rant. My fantasy still remains of Joe Friday showing up in a mall and taking the booth owner out under a blanket for littering their space with NFS tags. 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.