Every now and then they have a "then and now" show.

it goes back to a 9 y.o. show and shows you an Item that they value at $4,500.00 to $5,500.00.

then the show you its value today as
$2,100. to $2,800.00

Could be worse. I used to work with a guy who owned a Hemi 'Cuda. Traded it in for something a little bit less memorable.

Every time I want to crank him up, all I have to do was say 'Hey, I was watching Barrett Jackson the other day...'

My mother loves to go to estate auctions (dad takes his iPad and tolerates them because he loves mom). She goes to the nice auctions like Ken Farmer in Virginia or Brunk in Asheville, both of whom have been on Antiques Roadshow. She has been going to for years and has gotten to know some of the folks at the various auction houses, and, according to them, the drop in prices is a generational thing.

I imagine that many people in my mom's generation are like her; she goes because she likes looking at the pretty things and she likes the auction action. She really doesn't need anything and doesn't buy very often. The younger generations simply aren't interested in old brown furniture, china, crystal, and silver. So the bottom has fallen out. Beautiful antiques simply don't command the prices they used to. I think it's sad, too.

I think cheesegrits is right. Of the many people I know in their 30's and mid-late 20's, if they have antique stuff in their house, it's for one of a very few reasons.

1) It's their grandma's place.

2) They're super hipsters looking for ironic pieces to do the perfect cyan blue chalk paint and tacked faux croc leather top piece that's going to get them a ton of likes and shares on Pinterest.

3) They have an innate curiosity for history and have a house full of historical items and could tell you a story about each one, and probably not a short one at that.

Examples I draw from my own sample set. Type 1 isn't buying antiques, type 2 is looking for cheaper stuff they can pack their ironic post-modern downtown loft apartment as they "customize it" leaving the good stuff for type 3, and there's not a ton of us out there, and we're not buying all the time. There's only so many pieces of furniture I need, etc.

trends come and go... certain styles of antiques are popular but many are down. americana, in general, I think is down. collectibles are down. midcentury stuff is still hot, though. I think deco is hot.

I think a big reason is that eclecticism is very big in interior design... juxtapositions of pieces from different eras, styles, or regions. sets are not hot and neither is having a bunch of the same type of stuff. so people are designing around a mixture of old and new.

My Dad is a picker, collector, and antique dealer. He likes much different stuff than I do. When I'm looking for a dresser, he tells me about this great tiger oak piece that I can't stand, but I run to the shop and find a gorgeous sleek solid MCM dresser that looks like what Ikea models some of their stuff from. But Dad has old butter churns and pie safes and moonshine jugs and other, more rustic/americana that I have very littl interest in. But a bow-front federal dresser or a round convex mirror? yes, please.