I am often wary about prognosticating about the antiques market, as, frankly, it is akin to trying to guess the lottery or predict the weather on a given hour a week away. But venturing into the lions den is something that I am not afraid to do, and so here it goes. While the economists are predicting a recession at some point, I think a lot of dealers would say that it is here. Despite lots of lookers, it seems as though the market is softer than it was a year ago at this time. Some shows, especially the small and well-managed and promoted ones, are solid, but I think others are really struggling. In the Midatlantic, the old adage was that you hoped for Republicans in D.C. because they would day trip to Lancaster and York to buy antiques. With a split Congress, I had hopes that we would see some impact, but not yet. The items that seem to be selling, based on what I hear from dealers, are jewelry, jewelry and jewelry. Not surprising for a host of reasons. First, people are driven to valuable metals when thinking about tough economic times. While I doubt most would consign their collections to the furnaces to extract the gold or silver, it is still comforting to buy. Second, we are in a jewelry season, as Valentines Day and Mothers Day are big jewelry events. I was surprised recently to be at an antiques mall waiting in a long line for payment (and I love lines in malls cause it means merch is moving). The people in front of me all had 1960-80s vintage ceramics. Not my taste, but clearly a hot item. Watching the auctions, they seem soft as well. Items, especially esoteric material, that have high reserves are just crashing and burning. The comment always was that items from a dead collector will always get higher bids at sale than items from a living collector. So items that are coming from old collections seem to be doing well, although I note a dead pool fascination of sorts with the prices on items sold now compared to what they brought back in the 1990s. I confess to playing that game and digging out old catalogs to see what something brought in the day vs. what it is bringing at a sale now. I will also say, with tears in my eyes, that brown furniture seems to have taken a bit of downward spin. I have seen solid prices on great clocks and the like, but I also have witnessed really good 18th century furniture bringing a fraction of what a repro example would do sold by a big box store. Up at Adamstown, I have watched serpentine card tables go wanting for buyers at $200. My mania for clocks could easily get out of hand when a brass dial eight-day tall clock in a nice case goes for only $5,000. Its a buyers market, so lets all be buyers! 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.