Vintage Home Furniture

How to become an antiques appraiser?

Like on the Antiques Roadshow. Where do I go from High School? What kind of school, and where are the school(s) located? Anyone know how much they make?

Public Comments

1. Your best path is to go to work for an antique dealer. Here you will be exposed to the business, learn what is what and with much experience you will learn the business. It doesn"t happen overnight and you may need a full time job and do antiques as a side line.
2. Appraisals are opinions. What you need is expertise, in one or more specialized areas. You can go to school -- art or design at a college, or an art school. You can find a job with an auction firm or a high quality antique dealer or jewelry firm or art gallery. You can train to be a crafts person or an artist -- furniture, ceramics, jewelry, painter. The idea being if you know how to make something, you will become skilled at identifying the little odd things that tell you something is a fake, or repaired, or original. It's very important to practice close observation of detail. You should spend a lot of time in galleries, museums, or stores; learning what is of most interest to you. You will always do better studying those things that you personally find exciting and keenly interesting. Most of the real experts got their start working or studying with an older person who is already an expert. Handling many quality items is key.