I have to confess that I have been in a deep funk. The antiques market seems to have slowed down, particularly as it relates to retail customers. Yes, I have heard of strong auction prices being paid and I also have had reports of antiques shows doing well in some locations. But, that being said, I have also seen lots of 20-, 30- and 50-percent off signs in antique malls and shops across the Mid-Atlantic and up into New England. I have also heard stories about long-established shops closing and dealers selling their wares at auction. For those of us who have been around a few rodeos, presidential election years are never super strong selling times. People are holding their discretionary income a little tight waiting for things to change. By spring of next year, we will have a new president, and the market may be back. This connection between politics and antiques has always been known. Many years ago, dealers in southeastern Pennsylvania and Maryland would pray for a Republican Congress. It seemed that Republican buyers always liked to spend lots of money decorating their new D.C. homes with early Americana. The antiques shows in York, Chester County, and Wilmington would always do well in that period. Today, that thinking may not be as true as it once was. Differing tastes and the prevalence of Moderne in the marketplace makes it harder to ascribe collecting to one party or the other. Some dealers have been blaming the economic conditions and particularly inflation on the lack of buyers. I have to confess that I dont see the perfect correlation here that these folks do. Buying antiques is something done by those who have the discretionary cash to use on something that is not needed for survival, meaning that while you might cut the family vacation a bit short to buy a great painting, you probably are not going to give up several meals. So the cash for collecting is not necessarily tied up in paying for the overall costs of living. To the positive, I am seeing more of a maximalist trend in decorating becoming commonplace, particularly on social media. For a long time, we all suffered through the millennial and Gen Z view that minimalism was the only way to live. A bed, a chair and a jug of wine, to paraphrase Kahlil Gibran. Now, we are starting to see people abandoning that perspective and think more about a chair, a bed, a rug, several pictures, some knick knacks, and so on. So what is driving the current downward trend? One little clue that I picked up to perhaps answer this was a business news report that some of the big box home improvement stores were having much softer sales than previous years. The speculation was that people were traveling more and working on their homes less. Over the last few years since Covid, people had been staying home and working around the house more than traveling. This year, people went on the road. Certainly, this was true in many countries who ended up limiting tourists because of the glut of people. Even here in the United States, some national parks had to limit access except by prior reservation. So perhaps the answer to the downward trend at this moment is not macroeconomics but rather plain and simple family vacations. We will know as vacation season ends and people return to work and school. I am crossing my fingers and hoping! 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.