Faithful of Talos
An Elder Scrolls Online Guild
Trading
Set-Up
So you want to get into Antiquing. You'll need to do a little legwork first but it is rather simple to do. The first thing you will need is access to Western Skyrim. You can obtain that access in one of three ways,
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Purchase the Greymoor Chapter for 3500 crowns (You may be able to find someone to get it for you for in-game gold but you can expect to pay a hefty price. As this is being written the average exchange rate is 1500g to 1.c.
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Buy a full version of the Greymoor Chapter, or more recent, -- the current release is High Isle. This has the added benefit of giving you all of the previous chapters.
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Subscribe to ESO+. The cost is, at the time this was written, $15.99 (US) per month. The subscription gives you access to all but the newest chapter as well as all of the DLC Dungeons and a bottomless craft bag for all your crafting materials.
Now that you have access to Western Skyrim you will need to head over to Solitude and find the 'Antiquarian's College' which is located along the road from the Way-Shrine to the Blue Palace. Somewhere close to the Way-Shrine you should find an advertisement to get the quest-line started, but if not, just talk to the gal at the college to pick up your 'Antiquarian Eye' and learn to scry.
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Once you have completed the introductory quest for scrying you will want to add the Antiquarian Eye to your Quick Tool Circle. Open your Tools Collection (press [U] and click on the Tools Tab) find the Antiquarian Eye and drag it onto any empty slot on the Quick Tool Circle. If you think you will be doing a lot of scrying you may also want to place it on the Quick Action Circle. You can do this by pressing [T] to cycle the action circle until the one you want comes up and dragging the eye onto that one as well (I prefer to have it on the Quick Action Circle in the 9 o'clock position). Now you are all set to start finding antiques.
The Process
Now that you have opened up the Antiquities feature, it's time to go antiquing! So, get out there and find some leads.
Step 1: Find a Lead, any lead will do.
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Leads come in four (4) different colors - Green, Blue, Purple, and Gold - and can be found in almost every area of Tamriel through pretty much any activity you might care to do, including excavating Antequities but probably not PvP (I don't know about that one). Each of the four colors represent different difficulties for scrying and a different value of antique.
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There are two types of Green leads in the game...
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There is always 1 green lead available to scry, assuming you can scry the zone, and it never expires. This lead always yields low-value crap that isn't good for anything other than selling to a merchant. However, this lead can also yield a Blue lead so it's worth doing when you've nothing better to do.
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Sometimes you will find a Green lead while doing other activities. These leads usually yield something that can be sold through the Guild Merchant/Store, usually for a few thousand coin, or used by your character to improve their knowledge.
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Blue leads are the next step up from green and also come in two varieties.
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The first type generally comes from excavating green leads and opening treasure chest. It yields low-value treasure (generally in the 100 to 500gp range) but may also be a lead for a mythical item, especially if that item needs more than 5 parts to assemble.
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The second type can also be found by excavating antiquities but is usually found by engaging in more dangerous activities. These leads yield a moderate treasure (500 - 1000gp in value) but can also be a lead for a mythical item, as with the green lead mentioned above, or more commonly a Crafting Motif of some sort.
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Purple Leads are the third step in the chain and come in varying levels of scrying difficulty.
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Although it is not uncommon for Purple Leads to be part of a Mythical Item collection, they are more likely to yield high-value treasure (5k value). Although they can be, rarely, found by excavating a Blue Lead they are generally found during Dungeon and Trial expeditions.
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Gold Leads are the fourth, and final, step in the chain and also come in varying levels of scrying difficulty.
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These are the rarest of leads. They range across four (4) scrying difficulties and yield treasures, furnishing items, and are the most common form of Mythical Item Lead.
Step 2: Scry
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Navigate to the Antiquity Tab by opening you journal [J] and switching to the appropriate tab.
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Select the lead you want to track down and scry for it [E].
Step 3: Find the Dig Site
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Having scryed the general area of the dig site, you need to travel to that area and search for the actual site.
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Use the Antiquarian Eye to point the direction to the site (This is why we put the eye on your quick action circle). NOTE: Head in the direction the Tail points not the head.
Step 4: Dig up the Antique
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Once you find the dig site you will need to first locate the precise position of the item
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Now, carefully dig the item out. Digging too deep or detonating a fissure will damage and destroy the item causing you to start over at Step 3.
Rinse and repeat Steps 2 through 4 for each item you have a lead for.
The Rewards
Now that we've looked at the 'How' let's look at the 'Why', as in "Why should I spend time finding and excavating antiques?" Simply put, Antiquing offers many rewards that can benefit you in many areas of game-play.
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The first reward is the treasures you find. These treasures will range in value from 40gp up to 5000gp depending on the kind of lead you get them from (see above) and are meant to be sold to NPC Merchants.
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The second reward comes in the form of furnishing items for your in-game houses. Depending on the lead type, you can find many common and/or uncommon furnishing items which you can place in your homes. No, you cannot sell these items to merchants or other players (nor can you give them away). See the Housing page for a list of Free Inn Rooms you can aquire to house your spoils.
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Another valuable reward is 'Mythical Items'. These items range from pure cheddar to pieces of gear to help with PvP, Dungeon Delving, and/or questing. Mythical items always require you to find multiple leads (usually 5) from different zones to assemble into the final item. {trivia fact: Needing 15 different leads ranging from blue to gold, the Dwarven Wolf Mount requires the largest number of leads to assemble.}