As long-time antiques collectors and dealers, we have seen first-hand as antique hunting ("antiquing") moved from visiting shops to going online. Ebay, of course, was the initial way in which collectors and dealers became hooked on using the Internet. We saw the hand-writing on the wall and created the Baker & Co. Antiques website in 1999 as one of the first independent American country and folk art websites. As collectors began using their fingers to walk the Web instead of walking through the shop door, we closed our shop in 2003 to concentrate on web sales and quality shows focused on our market.

Now, there are many wonderful websites offering quality country and folk art antiques and fewer quality antique shops still open. A search on Google or Yahoo will bring up thousands of pages - most of which are filled with "fluff" and not quality antiques. Country and folk art collectors have been forced to sift through individual antique sites and many non-antique sites looking for their next acquisition. This is time-consuming and frustrating.

Dig Antiques focuses specifically on country and folk art antiques. Our search engine only indexes websites that we have personally visited and verified are truely antique sites focused on country and folk art. No reproductions are included. Dig Antiques brings you Real Stuff without the Fluff.

But the search engine is really just the start of our vision. We also wanted a way to unite our market into a vibrant, national community. We envision a lively and active community that shares knowledge, helps to educate newbies and old timers and spreads a love of antiques to a larger group of people. The Internet is a perfect place to foster and grow community. Join our Dig Antiques Community, post your questions and comments, and most importantly, respond to other user postings. You can make a difference and share you knowledge and passion.

Lastly, many of you may know us as promoters of the California Country Antique and Folk Art Show. We see our antiques show as a great "meet-up" (to use the latest buzz term) for country and folk art lovers. We hear from show attendees and dealers how wonderful it is to spend a day or two surrounded by quality antiques and other people that share our passion. That's why we think of promoting our show as "throwing a party for a thousand plus". Whether it's our show or one of the other quality antique shows, there is nothing like being able to look at and touch antiques and make personal contact. So we envision Dig Antiques as the online community that keeps us all in touch in-between antique shows.

We hope you participate in the Dig Antiques Community and find our search engine valuable. Please spread the word. If you find an item through Dig Antiques, please let the dealer you purchase it from know that's how you found it. Thank you for visiting us and we hope to meet you online and maybe even in person!

Tom & Sheila Baker