Two that deal with antiques are rec.antiques and rec.antiques.marketplace. The next time you log on to Usenet, all the current messages from subscribed newsgroups will be downloaded. Your software may allow downloading for off-line reading or may require you read messages while connected. Each message originates from someone interested in the newsgroup topic. You can read messages, reply to them, and originate your own messages.
Messages are disseminated so quickly, running conversations are almost possible.
If you get active in Usenet, check your software's options settings. You probably do not want messages to be automatically deleted from your computer as soon as read. They are not retrievable. On the other hand, some time frame for deleting old messages should be set to prevent the hard drive from filling up with dead material. A little more than a year ago, we sampled the antiques newsgroups and reported that there was some antiques traffic and a lot of collectibles.