Fall is upon us, and with it comes a return of college football, country auctions and collecting. The summer, in my estimation, has been pretty brutal in the antiques trade. The hot weather and economic turmoil have kept many buyers away. Some dealers, looking to their own fears of inflation, have started to raise prices on antiques. This, in my mind, has been offset by some antiques malls with signs offering 20, 40 and 50 percent off sales. There were strong late spring and early summer auctions, but then, like always, things dropped off hard in the middle. Today, watching an auction online, I was mighty impressed by the high prices. The antiques market is definitely a bellwether for peoples discretionary spending. For collectors of specific categories of items, economic threats mean more limited spending and fewer upgrades in quality. However, I never met a dedicated collector who let money stand in the way of a missing item for their collection. The bigger impact of the economy seems to be on the casual Saturday or Sunday shop buyer. These are the folks who might be coming home from a football game or doing some leaf peeping and decide to stop and shop. They might buy a lamp for their guest room or a piece of china for their daughter. These customers purchases are more impulse and nostalgia based, rather than those of a passionate, active collector seeking a specific item. These casual buyers provide a lot of badly needed turnover in the co-op world where their buying can help generalist dealers. My predictions for the fall are that we will see a strong push for the country look again. There are a couple of reasons why. First is that the fall is the time for seasonal decorations. Thanksgiving and Christmas are seasons where even the most dedicated urbanite wants to create a real or mythical country home for the holidays. Second is that economic downturns historically spur an interest in country items, the logic being that country items are appealing to people, like a slice of apple pie or bowl of oatmeal, when the outside world is complex or harsh. Finally, lots of baby boomer country collections are coming on the market right now. Every auction in the Mid-Atlantic seems to be teeming with crocks, painted jelly cupboards and the like. So there will be strong prices for the rarest and interest all around to support the market. I think brown furniture will remain in the doldrums, with the exception being super high style or pristine objects. Anything with a bit of a problem is going to sit wanting a bidder. Paintings and jewelry will be remarkably strong, as people see them as a real hedge against inflation. I would also add coins into that same mix, as people run to those when worried about their investments. For a young collector with $1,000 in their pocket, I would go old school and look at Currier and Ives prints, oriental rugs, brown furniture and china. Yes, I know, this is what your parents collected, but great style never really goes out of fashion. 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.