Primitive antiques – Buying Antiques in France
January 25th, 2008
France is great country to find antiques at bargain prices. Every town there has many places where you can purchase antiques. Driving though the French countryside will give you the opportunity to find many different places where you can examine and buy antiques. In fact, many collectors from other European countries like the UK travel across the channel and across the border to find bargains.
France is renowned for its antiques markets, but you can also find a great variety of shops selling antiques. But you will find the most benefit in visiting the antique fairs, where great bargains can be found. The best time to go is during is during spring, summer and also the autumn. Even in the winter you can find such events and you are probably more likely to find better bargains as during that time there will be less tourists and hence more possibilities to strike a better deal.
When you go over to antique fairs in France it is a good idea to have some working knowledge of the French language. You will find that some dealers have some knowledge of English but French people are very proud of their language and do appreciate you making the effort to speak it. Even if you take a phrase book with you to aid you in finding the right things to say it will come in very handy when haggling for an antique piece that has taken your fancy as well as winning over the vendor who will appreciate your efforts to speak French.
The best way to collect antiques in France if you live in Europe is if you take with you a vehicle large enough to carry the antique you have bought. Obviously this might not be as practical if you live over the Atlantic. In such a case it is best to go for smaller items like jewelery, ceramics and other various ornaments that you can put on the shelf of you home, and that can be packed in a suitcase. Either that or find out in advance what it would cost to have bigger items like antique furniture shipped over.
Finding out venues where antique fairs are held in France is not difficult as France like many southern countries in Europe like Italy has buzzing markets every weekend. Although such markets include other items like food and clothes, you will often find a large number of vendors selling antiques. A lot of these vendors also include who set up stalls to sell items of their home that they want to get rid of. This offers the best opportunities to get the best deal possible. In fact many car boot salesmen and women who do so professionally or semi-professionally in the UK travel a lot to France to get such bargains on antiques to re-sell at their equivalent venues, turning over a tidy profit even after factoring in the cost of travel and shipping the antiques across the Channel.
Buying and selling antiques has become really competitive and limiting yourself to your country could still be a profitable and enjoyable experience. However travelling to places like France has made antique collecting even more enjoyable and profitable. The fact that you can travel around European Union members countries without a passport avoiding the hassle of through customs has indeed made it much easier and more popular and yet still novel enough to provide you with many great antique bargains for years to come.
James Ross is the web master of AntiquesAppraisal.info – The Number One Site For Antiques a website totally dedicated to antiques and antique furniture. For more articles and information please find out more at http://www.antique-appraisal.info
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Entry Filed under: English Antiques
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