Collectible Baby Carriages & Buggies

Antique Baby Carriages & Buggies

Antique baby carriages and buggies are unique collectible items This type of infant travel system gives insight into parenting during a bygone era before the car seat and jogging stroller. Some carriages and buggies can be enjoyed as works of art.

Older baby strollers and buggies are collectible commodities for a number of reasons. Several factors may figure into making a particular pram worth more than another in the eyes of an avid collector. These factors include:

• Age: Humans have been using baby strollers since the mid-1800's. The earliest baby strollers, which were essentially bassinets on wheels, are considered highly collectible items.
• Condition: Vintage strollers and prams in excellent condition are a rare find and thus very collectible. Depending on how much it was used, where it was stored, and how well it was originally built, an item could be in a mint or highly used condition.
• Construction: Vintage baby prams and strollers were constructed from a variety of different materials. Early prams were fashioned from materials such as wood, wicker, or canvas. As technology advanced, metals, rubber, and plastics were introduced. By noting the construction materials and condition, some collectors study the progression of baby carriages over the course of history.
• Special Factors: Occasionally, special factors figure into the collectible nature of a particular pram. For example, sentimental value may be a strong influencing factor for some buyers. Historical value, such as a pram that had once belonged to a famous person or a baby carriage from a specific year, may also be influential to some people.

If you want to know for sure that an item is an antique, you may need to do a little research. Start by looking for the item's maker's mark. This will be located somewhere underneath the carriage. You can use the information you find to search for the original manufacturing date of the product. As a general rule of thumb, an antique is at least 100 years old. However, items that are only a few decades old are often considered collectible as well.

While some antique carriages may still be operational, most collectors like to use them as decorations or set pieces. Many individuals pair their vintage prams with infant or toddler size dolls, vintage clothing, baby blankets, and original accessories. Additionally, antique child and baby transportation items and prams are often used as props in photographic or theatrical settings to create a sense of a long past era.