Antiques

When it comes to determining the value or worth of an item there are several things that you need to take into consideration;

A. Why do you want to know the value (personal knowledge, insurance purposes, to resell)
B. If you are going to sell the item, where are you going to do so (on-line auction, antique shop, on-line antique shop, garage sale, estate sale)

If you need the value for insurance purposes then you need to get a written appraisal and this needs to be done every year but at least every two years so that it is current in the event you ever need to use it. You can contact your insurance company for a referral or I do have resources
on my website for you to use to aid you in finding an appraiser.

If you want the value just for your personal knowledge, everyone’s instinct is to jump right to the antique price guides. Remember, these are “guides” and the prices listed come from a variety of resources one being auction houses which add an additional amount to the final sale price, therefore price guides might be better used to find the insurance replacement value. I recommend doing a search on-line for the same or similar item and see what items are selling for. You can also look at the “closed” auctions on the on-line auction sites and see what the item may have sold for. Visiting local antique shops is also a great way to see what your item may be worth and to learn and explore other antiques and collectibles.

You want the price to resell the item, if you are going to buy and sell antiques, collectibles and memorabilia on a regular basis please invest in some reference books. I don’t know how many people ask me the value of their items so that they can sell them on the on-line auctions. This somewhat puts me out, I am giving my expertise so that they can make money. I do offer appraisals but I am going to implement a mandatory “donation” for requests such as this, it is just getting way out of hand.

Back to the topic. You need to look at the venue where you will be selling your item and price it accordingly. If you are selling through an on-line auction research what the same or similar items have sold for, on-line antique shop or live antique shop use a formula based on what you paid for the item (mark it up 50%) but you should be continually studying the field and know what is selling at what price and what is currently not selling. Garage sales…. you can price yourself out of sales if you try to price items at antique shop prices. Estate sales can bear prices that are somewhat higher than garage sales but once again you need to know what the market is doing.

You cannot forget the value of the local public library. They are still a terrific source of information. They have antique marks books covering many titles and some of the larger libraries have old catalogs and magazines which I find to be amazing resources to aid in identifying china patterns as well as glassware patterns.

Most professional and amateur collectors frequently wonder how much their antiques and collectibles are worth, especially those items for home decoration. Putting a monetary value on most family hand-made and even purchased quilts, area rugs and furniture is usually a hassle. There are many ways that such a person can use to determine and ascribe a monetary value to such an item. These value appraisals are usually based on their current market selling price for each item.

Thousand of books are available to help an individual ascribe a value for specific antique items and collectibles. Such books give a person you a sense of what buyers can pay and are therefore suitable sources especially on when to sell, where and to whom. Prices are usually determined by the manufacturer, the place of origin, age and even the particular country in which a person may wish to sell.

A good example is an area rug. If a person has in his or her collection a rare type of area rug, determining its monetary value will be guided by certain specifics. The age of the item is crucial because certain area rugs made in the past decades are very expensive especially French, Italian and Asian rugs made in the 18th Century. The material will also determine the value because essentially Persian, Asian, African rugs among many others are distinctive by their materials. Color schemes and artwork displayed on the area rug also features largely in determining value of the antique piece especially when it comes to Japanese, American and Indian rugs.

Antiques and collectibles can also be valued based on their replacement and or insurance value set by private evaluators during the evaluation stage of a policy cover. Such evaluation usually sets the highest price that can guarantee the replacement of the item if lost during the policy duration. The appraisers always take into account the availability of a particular item against its cost in an outright current market purchase. That is why refinished furniture often loose value if it’s been refinished without maintaining the patina.

The value of an item can also be determined by its condition at the time of appraisal. A patched up rug or creaky chair looses on the price of a good item and that is why it is important to look over an antique before bidding for it during an auction. Such an appraisal especially for a rug involves checking for the nicks, the cracks, the hazing, the rips and the tears. The area rug can also be checked for stains, missing torn-off parts or other kinds of damage that underplays the original design and visual appeal.

Some other antique and collectible items are given more value when they are a part of the authentic original set. Others are priced higher only because they exist as a set piece of particular items hard to find as such. Many places and means are available for a collector to use as a reference guide to establish the value for any home decoration item in his or her possession. The value ascribed as the worth must be what a buyer is ready and willing to pay for the item.