Speaking of Antiquing – December 2014/January 2015

Every day, someone comes into Sterling Creek Antiques and shows me a picture or describes an item they hope I will appraise at a high value! Over the years, I’ve come to the realization that I’m just as happy teaching someone how to value their own items as charging them to do so. I refer to this sort of interest in value as the “Roadshow syndrome,” taken from the fascination with the wonderful PBS show, “Antiques Road Show.” I have to admit, I have it too! Everyone who watches Roadshow has hopes that they have one of those items just appraised for $25 grand.

As an appraiser, I’d sure love to be able to tell you that you have a one of a kind Tiffany lamp shade and that it’s worth $25,000. But more often than not, I’ll have to tell you it’s a reproduction and worth half what you paid for it.

So here’s the skinny. Go to Google and type-in a description of what you think you have. For instance, type, “pink vase with dogwood.” Use the IMAGES search function and then watch as the photos come up of pink vases with a dogwood pattern on them. You will see yours, or one very similar, and can start checking who’s is selling them on sites like Etsy, Ebay, replacements.com, Pinterest—there’s lots of sites offering who’s looking to purchase or acquire your item.

So get online…have fun hunting and when you need expert advice and help, come see me in person and I’ll do the hunting for you!