I should never, ever watch Antiques Road Show. It's not that I want to discover that I own a fabulously valuable piece of art, although I certainly wouldn't complain if that turned out to be the case, but I find myself getting the wild urge to go out and start exploring antique shops. The problem here is that I probably wouldn't know a valuable antique if it jumped up and bit me. Like people often say about art, I don't know much about antiques but I know what I like. I also have a problem distinguishing between antique and just old. My husband had a cousin who filled her house with old furniture - rickity tables, uncomfortable, shaky chairs and dark old pictures. None of these were particularly attractive. I have no idea of the value of the various pieces but I would have found it depressing to live with such gloomy pieces. My mother-in-law used to laugh when we went to estate or yard sales if she saw a piece she remembered from her youth. She would point out a dish or cup for sale for $50 or so and laugh because she remembered buying the same thing for ten cents "at the dime store" when she was a young housewife. I enjoy using the few things I own that are really old, mostly dishes and other small items that I've inherited, but it might be better if I never know their value. I would never want to be afraid to enjoy a piece. A friend who deals in antiques tells me that old dishes don't sell well these days, young people just don't want them, so I probably have nothing to worry about.
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