What to Write on an Antique Price Tag
Published 2026-10-08 · Booth Vendors · Antique Partner
Quick answer: A tag with only a price on it answers one question and leaves four unasked. What to put on it, in what order, and why the tag is the only salesperson your booth has when you are not standing in it.
Booth Vendors
What to Write on an Antique Price Tag
By Nicolas · October 8, 2026 · 7 min read
In a mall with a hundred booths, you are not there. The tag is. It is the only thing in your space that can answer a question, and most tags answer exactly one: how much. That leaves the shopper holding an object they cannot identify, wondering whether the number is fair.
We list
1,873 antique malls
across the US and Canada. Walk any of them and the difference between the booths that sell and the ones that do not is visible on the tags before it is visible anywhere else.
A price alone asks the shopper to do your work
Somebody picks up a small brass dish marked $28. They do not know what it is, when it was made, what it was for, or whether $28 is a bargain or a chance. Those are four questions, and the only way to resolve them is to find a member of staff who does not know either, or to put it down.
Most people put it down. Not because $28 was wrong, but because buying something you cannot describe feels like a risk, and the tag gave them nothing to hold on to.
What belongs on it, in order
Line
Example
Why
What it is
English brass chamberstick
Names the object. Without this the shopper cannot want it, because they do not know what it is.
When
c. 1890
Turns a second-hand object into an antique. Use "c." when you are estimating and be honest about it.
The detail that justifies the price
original snuffer, unpolished
One fact only. The maker's mark, the completeness, the rarity, the thing you would say out loud if you were standing there.
Condition, if it matters
small dent to base
Naming a flaw builds more trust than hiding it, and stops the return conversation before it starts.
Price and booth number
$28 · Booth 14
The booth number is how the mall pays you, and how a shopper finds you again.
That is five short lines and about fifteen seconds of writing. It is also the entire difference between an object and a piece with a story, at no extra cost in stock.
What to leave off
"Rare" and "one of a kind" on their own.
Everybody writes it, so it reads as nothing. If a thing is genuinely uncommon, say why in four words: "only made two years".
"Antique" as the description.
It is the name of the building. It tells the shopper nothing they did not already assume.
Claims you cannot support.
A confident "Tiffany" on a piece that is unmarked is how you lose a knowledgeable customer permanently. "In the manner of" and "attributed to" are honest and still sell.
Anything you cannot read at arm's length.
A tag written small in biro, hanging face-down, is a blank tag.
The practical bits
Attach it so it faces out.
String tags rotate. A small piece of tape on the back of the tag, or hanging it from the front of a shelf edge rather than the object, keeps the writing visible.
Never write on the object.
Not in pen, not in pencil, and not on a sticker with permanent adhesive. Sticker residue on a ceramic base takes value off, and on paper or textile it is unrecoverable.
Keep your own copy.
A booth number and a stock number on the tag means you can reconcile a mall statement at the end of the month and know which pieces sold, which is how you learn what to buy next.
Price in round numbers you would accept.
$28 invites $25. $25 invites $20. If your floor is $25, mark it $28 and let them win.
The short version
Name it, date it, give one fact that earns the price, admit the flaw, and add your booth number. Leave off "rare", "antique" and anything you cannot prove. Make it readable from a step away and face it outward. The tag is your only salesperson, and it works every hour the building is open.
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