The relationship between culture and economy has attracted increasing attention in the social sciences over the past three decades. Approaches emphasizing that cultural production is not merely an aesthetic or symbolic activity but is also directly linked to employment, income generation, and regional development have positioned the cultural economy as an independent field of analysis. Reports by international institutions such as UNESCO, the OECD, and the European Union highlight the strategic role of cultural and creative sectors in local development, social cohesion, and sustainable growth. Within this framework, cultural economy is defined as a multidimensional field that examines the reciprocal interaction between cultural value production and economic value creation.

The cultural economy literature has predominantly focused on creative industries, cultural tourism, heritage sites, and art markets. However, the everyday and local forms of cultural production—particularly informal or semi-formal market structures—remain relatively underexplored. In this respect, antique auctions constitute distinctive cultural-economic spaces where second-hand cultural objects circulate, symbolic meanings are reproduced, and social interaction intensifies. Antique auctions are not merely commercial arenas for buying and selling but also public stages in which cultural memory, historical narratives, and aesthetic values are negotiated.

This study aims to analyze antique auctions organized in Kütahya from a cultural economy perspective. With its historical depth, accumulated cultural heritage, and strong artisanal tradition—particularly in ceramics—Kütahya provides a unique cultural ecosystem in which cultural heritage enters economic circulation and local identity is continuously reproduced. The research examines the position, functioning, and structural challenges of antique auctions within the cultural economy through a multi-level analytical framework encompassing macro, meso, and micro dimensions. Accordingly, macro-level factors such as public policies and legal frameworks; meso-level dynamics including market structures, digitalization, and cultural representation; and micro-level processes such as individual motivations, social networks, and collecting practices are analyzed in an integrated manner.

Findings derived from in-depth qualitative interviews reveal that antique auctions function not only as economic activities but also as multi-layered spaces of cultural value production, social interaction, and intergenerational transmission. In this sense, the study contributes to the cultural economy literature by providing fieldwork-based insights into local and everyday cultural markets. Moreover, based on empirical findings, the study develops policy and institutional design recommendations aimed at establishing a balanced and sustainable governance model that reconciles cultural heritage preservation with economic value creation.