Thanks for the response!

It's been a while since our last post (sorry!), but in the mean time, we have received such tremendous response to our recent column. A bit bleak, to be sure, but we think a much needed reality check.

Yes, it's true that there are some dealers and auctioneers out there trying to make some changes and do things differently, however, it's a long, steep, uphill climb to get new faces at shows and auctions. That is precisely why we need an industry-wide image makeover. We need to get rid of the gameshow image of the Antiques Roadshow and the gotta-make-a-buck image of American pickers. We need to convince non-collectors that you don't have to turn your house into a museum to enjoy antiques. We need to get rid of snobbishness masquerading as connoisseurship.

Perhaps we need to simply drop the words "antiques" and "collector" from our lexicon. What about "historic furnishings"? What about "enthusiast"? Surely there are terms we can use that are less antiquated and less fussy. Any thoughts??