AUBURN – How does an antiques buyer choose the best buys? What is a fair price? What is the best way to sell your items?
These are not easy questions, says Daniel Buck Soules. “The answers depend on what part of the country you’re in, and what you are buying, especially in this ever-changing market.”
Soules will be the speaker at the next meeting of the Androscoggin Historical Society at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23, at the Society’s headquarters on the third floor of the County Building, 2 Turner St. An elevator is available. There is no charge for attending, but donations are accepted.
He will discuss likely places to find good antiques and paintings as well as what to look for in today’s antiques and collectibles market, and will answer questions. His similar presentation at the Society a year ago drew a large audience.
The Lisbon Falls resident, who lives in an early 19th-century farmhouse with his wife and step-son, has been an antiques appraiser and auctioneer for more than 40 years. For the past five years, Soules has lived and worked in Maine. His office is on Center Street in Auburn.
Traveling frequently to work with clients, he’s sometimes recognized by people who have seen him on television; for 11 years he appeared as an independent appraiser of decorative art, silver and collectibles on the PBS television show “Antiques Roadshow.”
Over the past 20 years Soules has been involved with New England museums, organizations and historical commissions, serving on the board of directors or a committee for a number of them. Much of his work is helping clients with insurance and estate appraisals. He specializes in Americana of the 18th and 19th centuries, Shaker items and 19th- and 20th-century paintings.
His career in the antiques business began at the age of 12 and he began auctioneering four years later. He graduated from the International Auction School in Deerfield, Mass., at the top of his class. During his long career he was employed by the Hancock Shaker Village in Massachusetts for about five years, serving as a cabinetmaker and interpreter, and co-authored “Simple Gifts,” a Shaker how-to book.
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