If you love the ever popular Antiques Roadshow or the recent hit American Pickers as much as you love curling up with a good book, then you will want to add Killer Stuff and Tons of Money: Seeking History and Hidden Gems in Flea-Market America from Maureen Stanton to your library. This entertaining well researched book offers an insider view of the world of flea markets and auctions. Shows like Antiques Roadshow enhance the image of this world as a kind of shopping lottery: the modest $20 purchase might net you a major return when you sell it. Killer Stuff and Tons of Money follows the triumphs and trials of master dealer Curt Avery. This resourceful treasure hunter plays that lottery every day, and he wins regularly, relying on his vast knowledge of antiques, his wits, sheer persistance and the occassional stroke of luck.
Avery stalks the flea and antiques circuit-buying, selling, and advising other dealers in his many areas of expertise, from furniture to glass to stoneware, and more. But as he struggles for a spot in a high-end Boston show, he must step up his game. The author works alongside Avery in his business dealings and provides an unvarnished and often unflattering look at the business of buying and selling "killer stuff". We get to see the flea market as less of a treasure hunt and more like a demanding contact sport with many potentially expensive pitfalls. Dealing antiques is a tough business with a variety of challeges including a dwindling supply of buyers, the same "rare" items showing up from multiple sellers on eBay and the abundance of forgeries that make buyers reluctant to spend.
The bulk of the book focuses on Avery and his experieces, but the author does occassionally go out on her own to explore other topics. In one memorable chapter she interviews a furniture maker who takes pride in the antiques forgeries he creates and in another chapter she takes a look at comic book collecting.
Killer Stuff and Tons of Money is a loooooong book and reading about the minutiae about various objects can get tedious after a while, but the book does have a lot to offer. It's an insider's look at the flea market/antiques dealing culture, a treasure trove of practical tips for buyers of vintage things, and a surprisingly fresh view of buying and selling piece of history as ruthless high stakes sport full of forgeries, gullible sellers and buyers and obsessive collectors.
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