Editor's note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan Second Wave's On the Ground Battle Creek series.


BATTLE CREEK, MI — Treasure hunters who routinely scour the shelves and racks at thrift shops and resale stores or frequent estate or garage sales will get insider tips from a Chicago-based antiques and arts expert who will speak on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Battle Creek Regional History Museum (BCRHM).

The event, featuring Jack Girsbach, is a partnership between BCRHM and the Union City Society for Historic Preservation (UCSHP). It is also a fundraiser to benefit both organizations, with tickets priced at $6 each.

Girsbach’s visit is the result of a phone call he made to Bobbie Mathis, President of the UCSHP, to get more information about a folk-art painting he’d acquired that mentioned Union City.

“He wanted to know if it looked familiar to us,” Mathis says. “It didn’t really look like a landmark in our Union City, so I told him it was probably a different Union City.”
While this could have been the end of the conversation, it wasn’t.

“We got to talking and he told me what he did dealing with ceramics and art,” says Mathis, an art teacher at Lakeview High School since 2013. “He told me about some pieces he acquired.”

Not long after, she spoke with Michael Delaware, a board member with BCRHM who is also the organization’s Marketing Director, about her idea to have Girsbach speak. They agreed to hold it at BCHRM, which has the event space that UCSHP doesn’t have.

Delaware says those who attend the talk are encouraged to bring in pictures of items or the actual items that they want to learn more about.

“Jack’s going to be able to offer them insights on how to find antiques, how to research and find out the value of the items, and what to look for in pieces from other countries,” Delaware says.

“This is more like Jack talking about the pieces he’s collected and how to spot high-value items,” Mathis says, adding that he won’t be appraising items people bring in.
Girsbach says he will be bringing about 50 items from his own collection, which will include books, furniture, pottery, tiles, and jewelry. He will share stories about some of these items with attendees.

One of these items is a diary written by a teenager in 1932 at the height of the Depression that he purchased in the 1980s.

Jack Girsbach will be at the Battle Creek Regional History Museum on May 11 to offer tips on antique collecting.“She came from a prominent family. Her father was a songwriter. Every day, there was something different going on with her. She didn’t even realize that there was a Depression going on based on her diary entries,” Girsbach says.

The other item he plans to spend some time talking about is a sketch from the late 1800s featuring a gentleman in formal dress and a top hat with a lady who looks to be coming from a theater and a coachman ready to spirit them away. Girsbach says this is most likely a scene in England.

He purchased the sketch at an estate sale for $4 and says he hesitated about spending that amount of money.

“I got the sketch home and over time I realized it was by this famous person who was the President of the London Sketch Club in 1900,” Girsbach says.

But the sketch also presents a mystery that Girsbach wrote a book about.

“At the bottom of the sketch is a note written in pencil at the bottom that says, ‘To my friend, Mr. CIV’. Who is Mr. CIV?”

“Each thing has a unique story behind it, where I found it, what I paid for it, what the value is, and how people can find similar things,” Girsbach says. “I buy cheap, but I study a lot of books.”

This research serves him well as he sorts through items at yard sales, garage sales, antique fairs, and visits sites online. He recommends that people stick to a few things they really love and study them.

During a previous visit to an antiques mall in Battle Creek, he found a “little piece of pottery” he thought was made in France in the 1800s by an artist he collects.

“Sure enough, it was,” he says. “To see that there’s this piece I bought for $18 that’s been around for 120 years is amazing,” Girsbach says.

Among his other finds is a tile made in Holland that dates back to 1620. He purchased that tile for $5, and its actual worth at the time was between $400 and $500.

“You have to be out there looking and knowing and studying,” he says. “I take a lot of chances, but you do get those hits every so often that make it worthwhile. People sometimes have no idea what they’re even selling,”

He cites his purchase of a Peruvian cacao bag at an estate sale that appears to be about 2,500 years old. He is now working with the Peruvian government to repatriate this bag because it is of historical significance to that country.

What’s trending, what’s not

Mathis says social media is playing a bigger-than-ever role in how and what younger generations choose to collect or reject.

Through observing, she has seen a revival of interest in items like flip phones, vinyl records, old stereo consoles purchased and repurposed, and sweaters your grandmother wore. The latter, she says, is acceptable unless she’s wearing it.

“Uranium glass that glows in the dark is all the rage right now. Kids are collecting it like crazy,” Mathis says. “I used to be able to go into a Goodwill store, and there was a lot of it.”

This is no longer the case, she says.

“I’m in Goodwill all the time, and people have their phones out doing their research. An item that may have been a few dollars back in the day is now priced at $70 or $80.”

“Whatever is a niche item is what young people are interested in. They don’t want big furniture pieces like china hutches. A lot of adults will come to me and say, ‘Hey, nobody in my family wants this item, will you take it?’  You can tell when someone’s passed away because there will be a lot of similar items donated, like a collection of elephants. It’s sad because it has someone’s name on it. A lot of people kick themselves later. They don’t get a love of history until they’re older.”

Recently, there have been several stories written about the dilemma parents are facing because their kids have no interest in becoming the new keepers of items that their parents have collected or have been passed down from previous generations.

“Loving relationships define us and are infinitely more valuable than possessions. However, when a keepsake serves as a reminder of a treasured lost relative, it can be difficult to relinquish,” writes Janet K. Armstrong in a 2024 AARP (American Association of Retired People). “Our children may not want my gnome collection or yearbooks, but ultimately, it is their decision to make. They should not feel obligated to have an emotional connection to an object just because I do.”

She references an article in Forbes magazine titled “NOwnership, No Problem: An Updated Look At Why Millennials Value Experiences Over Owning Things,” which describes this lifestyle choice as 'skipping the mall for carpe diem.' Things are replaceable; life is not. Younger people seem to want to seize the moment and live joyously, unencumbered by a plethora of material possessions.”

Girsbach, who works in accounting and management operations in Chicago, says he has experienced this in his own family. He says this decline in interest is what led to the closure of half of Chicago’s antique stores in the last five years.

He says he developed an interest in art and antiques at a young age. His earliest memory is of a trip to the Chicago Institute of Art with his grandmother when he was five years old. He also had several family members who were prominent artists.

“We had grandparents who lived next door to us. When my grandma passed away, we had everything laid out from their house. Nobody wanted anything.”

But, Girsbach noticed a glass hand that was pointing. He was fairly certain that it was from one of the earliest Sears building in Chicago, and a British tobacco poster, both of which are now part of his personal collection. He is now focused on paring down that collection and plans to bring a few pieces to give away to those who attend his talk on Saturday. He will be accompanied by his son, who shares his father’s interest in art and antiques.

The thrill of the hunt remains and looks different from generation to generation, Mathis says.

Television shows like PBS's “Antiques Roadshow”  have helped to keep the “hunt” in the forefront.

“They see these items and are learning something they didn’t know. It’s that thrill of bringing that one item that you bought for $20 that turns out to be worth $7,000,” Mathis says. “There’s this dream scenario of striking it rich with something.”