About John Reinhart
Welcome to Antique Furniture.US my name is John Reinhart. I am the owner and webmaster of Antique Furniture.US. If you have looked around my website? You probably already know that Antique Furniture.US as the name implies features American antique furniture. I first built this website to promote the elegant antique American furniture that I bought and hauled into the Atlanta, Georgia markplace to sell at Cumming, GA antique furniture auctions. If you visited Atlanta's antique shows or upscale antique malls after 1996? You have possibly admired pieces of elegant American antique furniture that I am responsible for bringing into the Atlanta antique marketplace. My best guess is that between 1996 and 2008 this antique furniture may number well over 50,000 individual pieces?
Over the years I have attended thousands of auctions. First as a young boy with my Father in the 1950's. As a teenager during the 1960's I would buy box lots containing watches. Generally not paying more than 10 cents for any of these boxes containing several wristwatches. My first memory of bidding on a piece of antique furniture was when I was about 16 years old. I bid 25 cents on a nice Hoosier cabinet in varnish. However after bidding I experienced my first taste of buyer's remorse! In my heart I knew my that my Dad was not going to be happy with me as we only had our car to haul the kitchen cabinet home with. Luckily after what seemed like an eternity someone else bid. Wow I was of the hook though as I now look back to those simpler times. What a truly great buy getting that Hoosier cabinet at an Ohio onsite estate auction for 25 cents would have been!
During in the early 1970's I started buying antique furniture in earnest. Attending as many local Ohio estate auctions as possible in search of antique oak furniture. At that time there were several antique dealers from California who hauled semi tractor trailer loads of "Turn of the Century" oak from Ohio to California on a monthly basis. Once in California this antique oak furniture would be sold either at antique auctions or at local antique shops.
During the mid 1970's I traveled to California to visit antique shops and attend a couple large antique furniture auctions in the Los Angeles area. Turn of the century antique oak furniture was still quite plentiful in the Midwest and I was considering hauling antique furniture to California rather than wholesale it in Ohio. I was quite surprised (shocked) at the difference in furniture prices that I found! Many pieces of quality Turn of the Century oak furniture were selling for about five times as much in California as Ohio. An example would be an oak serpentine dresser with mirror that wholesaled in Ohio for about $50 was commanding $250 at auction in California.
In the mid 1970's gasoline was quite cheaply priced compared to today. If I remember correctly gasoline sold for about 33 cents a gallon. So the cost of fuel wasn't a major issue in my decision to haul antique furniture. However I learned that the auction company that I was considering hauling to had a problem paying their haulers for their consignments. With one antique furniture hauler threatening to drive his rig through the auction house if he wasn't paid. Well that was the end of my wanting to haul antique furniture to California!
Sadly not being paid for antique consignments by an auction company owner is not all that uncommon! It's a problem that I have experienced several times over the years that I have hauled antiques and antique furniture out of state. I remember when I breifly hauled antique furniture from Ohio to Chicago. One of the owners of the auction company that I dealt with couldn't be found when it came time to pay me for my antique furniture consignment. After lots of phone calls I finally located his partner who did his best to make it right with me. Though I ended up having to take some of his personal antique furniture as partial payment. Luckly in that instance I was able to recover most of what was owed me!
In late 1995 I started buying and hauling antique furniture to Georgia. Driving about 700,000 mile over the next 10 years. Attending auctions and hauling the antiques and antique furniture I bought back to Georgia on a weekly basis.
Partially based on Dr Hleap's recommendation that I limit my driving because of health risks. During 2005 I arranged for and financed the shipment of semi loads of antique furniture from PA to Cumming, GA. Which continued on a twice monthly basis through early 2008 when without advance notice or full repayment of my $30,000 loan our antique furniture shipper quit.
Needing a reliable source of quality antique furniture for future antique auctions. I decided to buy a larger box truck and return to hauling American antique furniture from the Northern United States. However on October 5, 2008 much to my shock and utter disbelief! I was informed that I would no longer "be allowed" to haul to or attend the Cumming, GA antique auctions that I had suggested starting, named, promoted and supplied since 1996. By the next day I found myself locked out of the AuctionZip.com account that I had created. As well as denied access to the customer email list that I had built and paid for over the previous years.
Deeply hurt emotionally, in debt from building what I thought was my future and with no feasible way to make a living. My only avenue left was to turn to prayer! Based on an AuctionZip.com auction listing I had seen online. I decided to call Connie Morris owner of 129S Antiques & More Auction. Later I learned that I was not the only one praying. As Connie was looking for a hauler to supply antiques & antique furniture for a monthly antique furniture auction at her Cleveland, GA auction gallery location.
John Reinhart's New Year's Day 2011 Antique Auction
As bleak as my life first appeared on that October 2008 day. I was very blessed by God to have found an auction company owner and true friend who shares my goal of building the best possible antique auction in North Georgia based on hard work, honesty and integreity! With the belief of treating each consigner and customer as we would want to be treated! Amazingly everything that was taken from me that fateful 2008 day I now have back! Connie allowed me access to her AuctionZip account so that I could feature each of my antique auctions. The second time I met her she gave me a key to her modern 129S Antiques & More Auction gallery. After several years of building our antique auction clientele I will once again be featuring antique furniture auctions on the first Saturday of each month. Oh and I even have "my" antique auction email list back thanks to a good friend!
Our regularly scheduled monthly antique auctions are now held on the 1st & 3rd Saturday nights of each month. Except for the month of December when we only feature antiques on the 1st Saturday. Since 1996 I have tried to make each January & July antique furniture auction that I was associated with extra special! Such as the 2005 New Year's Day auction that featured the Martha Estelle Peacock Patton Estate of Barnesville, Georgia. As such our January 7, 2012 antique furniture auction will feature a large selection of elegant antique mahogany & walnut furniture. Plus many smaller primitives which are quite popular in North Georgia.
If you haven't already done so please consider becoming a Facebook fan of 129S Antiques & More Auction! It's a great way to learn about our future antique auctions. Plus we feature lots of behind the scenes auction related photos on Facebook that you will not see anywhere else! Such as my photo at the top of this page which was taken at an onsite estate auction located near Canton, Georgia.
