Media headlines and the rising popularity of antique appraisal television shows have prompted many to wonder whether they have “cash” in their own closets. Armed with a searchlight, magnifier, and often a dust mask, Dallas resident Chris Miller and ChrisComm Estate Solutions help families identify and find new homes for timeworn items. In Miller’s words,…
 …One Man’s Trash…
My advice to families, particularly those breaking up a home, is to get a fair assessment of what they have. I have seen too many dumpsters next to homes with items that are of value in the marketplace. As I waited to get into an estate sale years ago, there sat a dumpster piled high with stuff that the estate sale people just tossed. I looked in and saw a bag of old “paper.” I pulled the bag out, and inside were 170-year-old, wax-sealed, postal letters and un-weathered newspapers from the early 19th century. Research showed that much of it was from Palmyra, New York, the hometown of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon faith. Inevitably, the head of the Mormon Church library flew in and acquired photocopies of many of these postal letters for its archives.
Old things represent a connection to another lifetime. Marketing philosophy suggests that selling a product is really the result of a “spark” or “memory” of an earlier happy experience or emotion between the buyer and a product. Antique buying can be the case study. What do vintage Coke memorabilia items represent to a buyer?
Many people absolutely believe their item has significant value and will not budge to the realities of the marketplace. They may be lifelong collectors who have a fixed price in their heads from a 10- to 30-year-old retail book, someone who was handed down an item and told, “This is worth $10,000” or a dealer tells them their pottery is worth $3,500, and, “add a zero next year.”
I sold a Colonial-era Americana item at an important Sotheby’s auction a while back. It sold for 50 times what that family paid for it in the 1950s. A tidy investment to any trader, but the matriarch was told by someone who visited her years back that it was worth twice that much. The kids were elated with the sale price; the mother, not as much.
Buy What You Love
If you roam around yard sales, you should buy what you will enjoy or collect. Collecting is a passion, and if it is built on a passion, that passion will fuel your ability to learn more about that genre of collecting.
It often helps if an item has a marking somewhere. These types of clues can lead to research about the object and its possible value. Sterling, or .925, indicates an object is made of sterling silver- 92.5% silver, the rest, another metal. “Plated” means a layer of silver is applied over another metal. Plated objects are plentiful, though typically worth little.
What Do Appraisals Tell You?
Most owners who search out values for their property expect as high a stated value as they can for the item. They want the highest replacement dollar if they lose or damage this item.
When someone receives an appraisal for insurance purposes, this stated value often does not reflect “resale” true market value. It is difficult to explain fair market value to people who are only familiar with retail replacement value.
“General rule for ‘fair market value’ is approximately 1/3-1/5 of retail value (depending on how high or low it was actually appraised, and what year),” said Dana Ehrman, G.G., associate director, Fine Jewelry and Timepieces Department, Bonhams & Butterfields, Los Angeles.
Using cars as an example, some are more desirable than others and at different times. When a car is on the lot and you don’t have the keys or title in your hand yet, it is retail value. However, the minute those items are transferred to you, it becomes a used car at a used car value.
Many factors influence value on an object, including recent publicity, appraised values, creative ability of the seller, time of year, condition of the object, and the history and story behind the object.
In speaking of creativity, Ebay® has transformed the way commerce is driven, and there is no better example in the vintage and antique world. This online marketplace has allowed truly indigenous, hard-to-find objects to reach an international marketplace. Ebay shoppers are always looking for the best bargains. If a dozen Syracuse china platters are up for sale in one week, buyers can be choosy. Prices may be low for these items. Ebay is also a buying venue for re-sellers, like antique shop dealers looking for inventory.
“I can’t put my toys in the cellar or attic?”
When you visit some seaside beaches, you will see posters illustrating that fishing line will survive for thousands of years if littered into the ocean. Soda pull tabs and diapers survive for hundreds of years.
Items dear to your heart–like heirlooms–don’t have that kind of shelf life unless you care for them. Antiques made of bone, wood, wax, paper, textiles, and leather were once living matter, and they react to the natural elements of light, humidity, water spills, and changes in temperature.
If you suddenly relocate a wood “raised” in a humid climate to an air-conditioned environment, the result might be a warping of the veneer. Paper, in humid environments (your basement or attic), will misform. In a dry place, it will lose water and become brittle. There are many different kinds of wood and many grades of paper. A cheap, wood pulp paper can break down much more easily than a higher-grade paper created from purer linen rag material. Low-grade paper is more acidic and needs to be protected against restoration mounting material.
Silica gel packets in an enclosed display case can help absorb humidity. Keeping the items with no more than a 5% variation in environment is ideal. Dehumidifiers (or humidifiers) are very useful. Shelter your item from direct natural or artificial light. Keep dust and dirt off. Touching a polished metal can leave acid, triggering the tarnishing process. Leaving your polished metal in newsprint will leave stains. Bubble wrap creates its own climate, also marking your item. And, exhaust fumes from traffic or industrial sources can affect the surface of outdoor architectural items.
ChrisComm Estate Solutions provides appraisal services and facilitates sales of personal property (estate tag sales, special auction sales, private sales) on behalf of homeowners, executors, estate attorneys, and private collectors.
Chris Miller is a USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice) credentialed member of the American Society of Appraisers and can be reached at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or 570) 675-4933.
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