What's hot in vintage right now?
Well, if you have some fairy lamps sitting around and you've been thinking about selling them, this might be the time. They are a hot commodity right now, and people are paying some pretty big bucks for the right ones.
And they aren't alone.
Green uranium glass continues to be popular. Vintage 1980s dishes are getting attention, especially the everyday stuff many of us remember buying at the grocery store. And Merry Mushroom? If you've got the old Sears Merry Mushroom pieces tucked away somewhere, you might want to go dig them out.
Those are just a few of the things buyers are chasing right now.
But Not Everything Has to Be a Big-Money Find
One of the things I've learned after years of reselling is that you don't necessarily need to find the $100 or $200 item every time.
Sometimes you want the little things that just keep selling.
Butter pats are a good example. So are salt cellars. They aren't necessarily going to make you rich, but they're collectible, easy to ship, don't take up much storage space, and people buy them.
I'll take steady money all day long.
Whimsical pieces are also doing well, particularly items from the 1970s and 1980s. Cute, colorful, funky and sometimes downright weird is IN.
And I love it.
We're Buying Our Childhood Back
I've talked before about the nostalgia economy and how every generation eventually reaches an age where they have enough disposable income to start buying pieces of their childhood.
We want the things we remember.
The dishes Mom used.
The toys we played with.
The decorations that came out every Christmas.
The glasses everyone drank iced tea out of.
The kitchen canisters that sat on the counter for 20 years.
That's happening now with people who grew up in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.
But there's something else happening that I find even more interesting.
We're Buying Grandma's House, Too
People aren't only buying things from their own childhood homes.
They're buying what they remember from Grandma's house.
That opens up another entire generation of vintage.
Items from the 1950s and 60s are desirable again because younger buyers remember seeing those things in their grandparents' homes. Maybe Grandma had a candy dish that always sat on the coffee table. Maybe she had colorful glass in the china cabinet. Maybe there was a particular casserole dish that showed up at every family gathering.
Those objects become attached to memories.
And memories sell.
That's one of the reasons I don't think you can look at vintage trends simply by saying, "People who are 40 are going to buy things from 40 years ago."
It's much broader than that.
People buy what makes them feel something.
But the 70s? The 70s Are Having a MOMENT.
If there is one era I would be watching closely right now, it's the 1970s.
Color is back.
Green. Gold. Orange. Brown. Avocado. Amber.
Flowers are back.
Mushrooms are back.
Funky glass is back.
Groovy patterns are back.
People are embracing things that would have been considered horribly outdated not that many years ago.
After years of gray, white, beige and minimalist decorating, we're seeing people bring personality back into their homes.
They want collections.
They want color.
They want conversation pieces.
They want things that don't look like everything else they can buy at a big-box store.
And apparently, everyone wants to feel a little groovy and experience some flower power.
I'm completely on board with that.
So What Should You Be Watching For?
If you're out treasure hunting, keep your eyes open for fairy lamps, uranium glass, 70s kitchenware, 80s dishes, Merry Mushroom pieces, butter pats, salt cellars and anything wonderfully whimsical.
But don't limit yourself to a list.
Pay attention to what people are suddenly decorating with. Watch what younger buyers pick up at antique malls. Look at what disappears quickly from booths. Notice the colors, patterns and styles showing up in homes online.
Trends change.
And sometimes that ugly thing sitting on the thrift store shelf isn't ugly anymore.
It's groovy.
And somebody wants it.