Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day from Garth’s Auctions

Congratulations! You’ve gotten so much done today!
Doesn’t it feel great to be productive?

“What did I do?” you may ask. Well, in addition to reconciling your checkbook, catching up the laundry, reviewing inventory, writing reports, filing, returning calls and any number of other to-do’s on your list, you have helped the environment.

Maybe you didn’t do it intentionally, but doesn’t that feel even better?

On earth day (and every day), those of us involved with buying, selling and collecting art and antiques can feel great about the impact we are having on the environment. Every time we buy or sell a table or chair, a painting, a lamp – we are 1) saving that object from a landfill and 2) reducing the demand for new, manufactured furnishings. Think of all of the energy we are saving, all of the forests, all of the wasted materials produced in the manufacturing process. We are also reducing the amounts of harmful chemicals that are evaporated into the air through off-gassing. Antiques and art have already released most (if not all) of any noxious chemicals they may have contained. Many objects, particularly those that pre-date the mid-19th Century, were made with all natural, organic materials. They have been safe from day one. And, as you and I know, the quality of construction leaves new furnishings in the (noxious) dust.

So, sit back, relax and browse an auction catalog…
make a toast to everything you have done to save the planet…
and, tell a friend about the benefits of buying green.

For a great article on the green side of antiques, see:

http://www.maineantiquedigest.com/stories/index.html?id=151

and an explanation of off-gassing,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outgassing