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Antique Trader, a newspaper published 40 times per year in Iola, Wis., has served the antiques and collectibles community since 1957. Founded by Babka Publishing Co., later to become the flagship of employee-owned Krause Publications’ Antiques division, Antique Trader built its reputation as the premier print vehicle for the buying and selling of antiques nationwide. Its loyal following includes antique dealers, antique show promoters, shop and mall operators, and collectors, some of whom have subscribed to the paper since its inception.

During its first 27 years of operation, Antique Trader was strictly an advertising newspaper that connected buyers and sellers of antique and collectible items. In 1972, the paper took on a new mantle of importance to the trade when it introduced industry and collecting news to its format. Under the direction of antiques expert Kyle Husfloen, who served as the publication’s editor for 20 years, Antique Trader prospered and rose to a position of undisputed dominance in its field.

The Antique Trader name, which had become synonymous with antiques and collecting in all its forms, served as the springboard for the annually produced Antique Trader Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide. An industry staple, the price guide remains a market leader, and is revised each year by Kyle Husfloen.

In 1992, Babka Publishing sold Antique Trader and its related entities to Landmark Corporation, which, in turn, resold the titles to Krause Publications seven years later. In 2002, Krause Publications was purchased by F+W Publications, a multinational company based in Cincinnati that prints more than 400 collector magazines, as well as books, educational materials and the highly respected Writer’s Digest. F+W also produces exhibitions, and owns and operates trade shows, including the world’s largest indoor antiques and vintage collectibles show, Atlantique City. The event operates under the aegis of Antique Trader and is held in March and October of each year at the Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, N.J.

Antique trade publications, as a whole, were challenged in the late 1990s as eBay rose to prominence and cut into a specialty marketplace that, up to that point, had been dominated by print media. With buyers and sellers no longer entirely reliant upon trade newspapers to connect with each other, F+W had to rethink its strategy for the new millennium. In 2005, sports collectibles and magazine publishing veteran Kevin Isaacson was enlisted to revive Antique Trader and resculpt it for a rapidly changing readership. “At one end of the spectrum was an ageing generation of baby boomers, who were experienced buyers with well-defined tastes,” Isaacson said. “But coming into the picture was an entirely new generation of buyers with its own set of collecting preferences. We knew we could not rest on our laurels and expect to survive without making some changes.”

Isaacson recrafted Antique Trader’s staff and, in March 2006, hired Catherine Saunders-Watson as editor. Saunders-Watson, a former antiques and collectibles columnist with the London Times Group newspapers and former editor-at-large with the (London) Daily Mail Group’s U.S.-based antiques trade paper, AntiqueWeek, left the staff in 2007 to pursue other interests. Isaacson resigned in September of 2007.

Today’s Antique Trader is known for its timely news coverage, collector profiles, indepth articles on general antiques topics, auction reviews and antique-show reports. Its staff of specialist writers is based in Iola, Wis.

In October 2006, Antique Trader launched an e-newsletter containing late-breaking news and features. Dispatched free of charge, the Antique Trader e-newsletter appears to be paving a solid course to the future for Antique Trader. Enthusiastically received by collectors and members of the trade, its subscriber numbers have increased substantially since its introduction.

January 19, 2008, Antique Trader launched a second free weekly e-newsletter focused on auction previews and highlights, which provides newsletter subscribers  with the most current antiques auction coverage available.