George Higby: Cheerful Goodwill Hunting with The Antique Nomad – WorthPoint

WorthPoint’s “Real People, Real Places, Real Fun!” series spotlights fascinating collectors, resellers, dealers, and more in the antiques and collectibles world. Read their stories to discover the who, what, when, where, and why behind what they do!

What started with the childhood discovery of a wheat penny is today a full-time love affair with antiques and vintage items for George Higby, better known as “The Antique Nomad.”

With a camera and microphone, Higby travels around the country, navigating sleepy antique shops, yard sales, and bustling flea markets while appraising items for resale in his many YouTube videos. Although he has traveled over one million miles throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico for the last fifteen years, Higby started his YouTube channel in 2019. Since then, he has created nearly 600 videos and amassed 55,000 subscribers and counting.

“Collecting was part of my formative years,” Higby said via email from his Federal Way, Washington, home. “Mom took us thrifting a lot, and we had various knickknacks, but when I found a wheat penny on the ground at age five, that was the start of my coin collection! I still have it. I collected everything from stamps to hubcaps as a kid, but then really found my way to the antique world after I graduated college and needed a job.” 

After more than thirty years immersed in the antiques business, the fifty-eight-year-old Higby is a walking encyclopedia of all things old. Tall and lean with long hair and a short beard, Higby fortifies his videos with simple explanations that are so genuinely friendly you can’t help but get hooked on both his wholesome love for vintage and antiques and his desire to share knowledge. So, if you’re new to the trade, watch and learn.

In one of his videos, Higby shops a community yard sale in a mobile home park for those fifty-five and over in Washington and discovers a ceramic salt and pepper shakers collection. “These little coffee pot ones are by Metlox Pottery out of California; they’re cute,” he said as he turned over the petite navy blue shakers. “This a great deal on an old Pfaltzgraff tureen at $5.00,” Higby notes as his camera zooms in on the pristine blue Yorktowne piece. While zooming in on ceramic teapots, he picks up a blue and gold piece with a $5 price tag. “This is Hall China, and it’s going to be from the 1940s,” he said, “and it looks like it’s in pretty good shape, so I think I’ll take it for that price.” His video also notes that vintage teapots are again becoming popular with collectors. Higby later compares two seemingly identical green McCoy frog ceramic planters and offers pointers on differentiating between authentic and reproduction pieces.   

In another video, The Antique Nomad shops at the Meeting Street Antique Mall and His House Ministries thrift shop in West Columbia, North Carolina. As he approaches a 1980s large wood chest and mirror in the thrift shop, Higby notes, “This is solid wood out of the early ’80s, but I don’t see a lot of call for this kind of furniture yet.” As his camera sweeps various framed limited-edition art pieces displayed on the wall, he says, “Most limited editions are just not worth a lot these days.” The last piece, however, is unique. “This is original Peggy Brown 1980; it’s a nicely done watercolor.”

At the antique mall, Higby scans his camera across a table filled with white ceramics and quickly picks up a vase. “This is a nice Kaiser vase,” he says. “Kaiser seems to do well; it’s a good quality porcelain bisque. Their designs are nice, and it seems they came on really well after the Second World War. And this is a Manfred Frey signature,” he says as he zooms in on the piece’s bottom mark, “and you can see his signature in the lower left.” He also notes that AK Kaiser vase designers often impressed their signatures at the bottom of pieces. 

Aging in a New Market

Within the last several years, antique and vintage selling has exploded in brick-and-mortar and online stores, driven mainly by younger buyers. A 2022 PR Newswire survey broke down the numbers, stating, “Almost three quarters (72 percent) of 25–34s buy vintage, followed by 71 percent of 35–44s, 57 percent of 45–54s, and 39 percent of those 55+.”

A 2021 story in Veranda magazine emphasized the change, featuring eight antique dealers under forty, noting, “These young dealers are dusting off their industry’s legacy of hunting and gathering, spotting and sourcing—and rewriting the (social) script as they go.” Veranda‘s dapper young dealers are polished and poised casually among high-end antique statues and furniture in social media-friendly photographs. “As the new millennium bloomed, the collecting world didn’t,” the story said. “Dealers grew older, shops grew fewer, and an inevitable cultural calcification set in around the edges.”

That might be true, but Higby’s popularity makes it clear that dispensing accurate knowledge—even without bells and whistles—is a sure way to continued success. Let’s not forget that older dealers grew up with today’s popular vintage pieces—don’t write them off just yet.

Higby took time from his travels to answer some questions for WorthPoint on his experience in the rapidly changing antiques and vintage market:

“Recognize the Connection Between People of All Ages”

WorthPoint: What are your thoughts on the younger generation of antique dealers now entering the scene? How do you handle the competition? 

Higby: “I am thrilled to see younger antique dealers finally entering the business and selling in all sorts of platforms, both online and real world. There’s increasing interest in vintage and antiques of late, but not enough dealers to replace all the experienced ones who are retiring. I feel like WorthPoint, my YouTube channel, and other places they can go to learn more about what we sell are really critical right now, so they have the background they need to evaluate and go forward in this business with knowledge.”

WP: What changes have you seen in the business over your last thirty-plus years? 

Higby: “When I started, the dealers were at the peak of a big wave, where baby boomers and their parents all wanted to buy back their pasts simultaneously. Then I watched eBay, 9/11, and the pandemic kept changing the game, and some things stopped selling. The advice I should’ve taken early in the game (and finally am now) is not to let your merchandise sit while you wait to sell it ‘in case the market goes up.’ Better to take a few losses with your many gains and not end up with a ‘death pile’ of things you’ll never get around to moving.”

WP: What buying trends are you seeing in the market? Are there any antiques that have fallen out of favor and are cycling back into popularity? 

Higby: “Art glass is very hot right now; all kinds and all eras seem to have adherents again! Pop culture gear is moving along with the times; Star Wars, Pokémon, and the like are nostalgia for forty-five-year-olds now, so expect those trends to continue. True antiques are still underappreciated, but we’re seeing the dawn of a return to more traditional antique furniture with young people who can get it cheap and have nostalgia for grandma’s house which was filled with collections from back when I started thirty years ago! So, it all comes around again. Better Hummels and Royal Doulton ladies are selling again—if you accept prices as they are now and aren’t holding on ‘in case the market goes up.’”

WP: Why do you feel your work is important? 

Higby: “It feels important to me that people see a reflection of who we are now in all the things left behind by our forebears. It also feels important to preserve these items so we don’t need to keep consuming new versions of the same. It’s worthwhile when you unite some cool vintage piece with someone who appreciates the style or see an antique chest get used again after years of dormancy. It makes me recognize the connection between people of all ages.”

Between excursions to hunt for antiques and vintage décor, Lynda Houston is busy restoring her 1950s cottage in Cincinnati, Ohio. She and her partner Dave Beck operate TheRustInPeaceShop on Etsy. 

WorthPoint—Discover. Value. Preserve.