A couple of years ago, I helped my cousin put on a moving sale.  She was relocating to Manhattan, where her new apartment was only slightly larger than her old dining room table. I took the opportunity to sell some antiques and collectibles out of my stock, although I had no luck with a 1960’s vintage Knoll Saarinen Tulip side table I had priced at $175.   A potential buyer asked me to reduce the price because it had a nick on the base.

Contrary to my little voice, I was tempted, because I had dragged it all the way from Ohio, and had paid only $45 for it.  Still, I knew it was an original table from the 1960’s in excellent condition, designed by a name architect, and manufactured by a high quality furniture company.  I was pretty sure I could do better, so I schlepped it back to Ohio, and sold it on eBay a few months later for $700. 

Successful dealers will tell you that making money in this business has something to do with luck-being in the right place at the right time, but much more to do with knowledge.  Know what you have, especially when you’re selling, and especially if you’re selling high priced items.

This means you have to know everything possible about that specific item, not about something that’s sort of like it.  We’ve all been to sales where the seller wanted $30 for a planter that said RRPCo, Roseville on the bottom, pointing out that Roseville was a famous Ohio pottery that is now very collectible, and pieces go for hundreds and even thousands.  While all of this is true, The planter was made by Robinson Ransbottom Pottery Company in Roseville, Ohio, and is actually worth $1 or possibly $3 if it is very, very attractive, which they usually aren’t.

Once I found a small Rookwood bowl in a thrift shop for $1.  I exceeded the speed limit in my hurry to get home & research, dreaming about how I might spend my huge windfall.  The bowl, while very sweet, turned out to be the bottom part of a sugar bowl that was in turn part of a production cream and sugar set, and while definitely Rookwood, was in an unpopular color.  I might get $7 for it, if I’m lucky enough to find a buyer.  If I put it in a tag sale with a $20 price tag just because it’s Rookwood, it would still be there at the end of the sale.  While the bowl is just a single item, image a table full of over-priced, unsold items.  Now imagine the end of a grueling 3 days of setting up & selling, with full tables and an empty cashbox.

I’m not suggesting giving things away, unless the point of your sale is to empty your house of unwanted items. If you’re like most of us, and want to earn a remotely reasonable exchange for your time, energy, and possessions, you need to do your homework.