How Much Is My Antique Worth?

The true worth of an antique or collectible is always exactly what the marketplace will pay. As you walk through an antique store or collectibles show looking at all of the interesting offerings, if you happen to see an eggbeater with a price tag listing the item as a 1940's version for $22.50, this price does not make your 1940's eggbeater worth anything at all. Many factors go into pricing an antique. That $22.50 eggbeater at the antique show includes a mark-up for booth rental, transportation costs, and lunch.

How much is my antique worth?

Antiques are items that are over 100 years old. However, all ages of antiques and collectibles are priced in the same general way. Prices of recently sold items that are identical to the piece in question are averaged together for a suggested value. This process varies depending upon the size of your item, your location, and how saturated the marketplace is with identical items to the one that you own.

Size: Ten years ago the size of your antique did not average into the value of the item. The Internet has altered the way that antiques and collectible are changing hands today. Our globe has become a very small place and all easily shippable items are now valued at their worth on the global marketplace.

The Internet has become a powerful tool in the antique industry. As an example of how antique or collectible prices are regulated by global Internet sales, a few years ago, Japan started paying extremely high prices for Fire King Jadeite restaurant dishes.

In America, these dishes were still available at yard sales for a dollar or two each. The result is that America shipped, and the global prices skyrocketed on Fire King Jadeite. Next, the prices came back down by about half. Fire King Jadeite was mass produced, and when the dishes flooded the marketplace, dealers started dropping their prices to make sales.

Location: For furniture pieces and larger items, the location that the item is sitting in will often direct price. For out-of-state or out-of-country buyers to purchase a larger sized item, transportation costs and the chance of damages during transportation must be considered.
There is a popular television show on today that will give out prices on furniture pieces for all listeners to consider.

Listen closely. Those outrageously high prices are being given as examples of what the item is worth if it could be in an exclusive high-priced auction house. These values are not always realistic.

Location can determine the bottom-line worth of your antique furniture pieces. For a ballpark figure, a general worth price can be taken from an average between identical items that were recently sold at a local auction, those sold at an upper-end auction and the prices showing inside of a current antique furniture price guide book that is borrowed from your local library.

Question: How much is my antique worth?
Answer: As much as the buyer will pay.

About the Author

Kay Davenport writes for Antiquesfurniture.org , her personal hobby blog focused on experiences related to antique furniture restoration. She helps her family and friends to learn how to restore and evaluate their antique pieces.