One of the great joys of writing this column for the past 21 years has been hearing from you, the readers. Your calls and messages have afforded me the opportunity to work with you in understanding the value of your collections and, in a number of cases, to assist you with liquidation.
Several times a week I receive an e-mail with a picture of an item accompanied by the question, “what is this worth?” To an appraiser this means an assessment of the insurable value of a piece. However, in nine cases out of ten, what the owner is really asking is “what can I get this for if I sell it?” These are two entirely different questions.
When we are looking for the value of an item there are several different forms of assessment. The three most common are: 1. Replacement Value – This is the amount you would hope to recover should your item be involved in an insurance claim. 2. Fair Market Value – This is the price you would see on your item at a shop or antique mall. 3. Liquidation Value – the amount you could hope to receive from the sale of your item.
If you want to sell your items you will want to establish their liquidation value. Here are a few tips to assist you in doing that.
First, make certain that you match the value of the item to the venue you will be using for liquidation. eBay is an excellent source for pricing IF you are selling on eBay. This is a national/international marketplace and as such realized prices will tend to run higher on many things than they do in our local market. If you are wanting to eBay and shopping its pages to see what your item has sold for, then make certain you doing it correctly. First, type in an accurate description of what you have. Second, select completed auctions, and third, narrow your search to “items sold.” If you find several completed auctions with varying prices, take an average of the middle three. This should give you a fair price to ask for the piece you are trying to sell.
Not wanting to take the time to box and ship? Then you might want to try one of the many online sources such as the Facebook neighborhood sale pages. To sell there, you need to determine a fair market value for greater Indianapolis. One of the easiest ways to do this is by checking out some local auctions.
Antique and vintage auctions are both fun to attend and a wonderful barometer of what things are selling for in the current area market. To select an auction that best suits your needs, visit the Web sites of auctions in your area, where you can view pictures of the items they are offering and the dates of their sales. To obtain a list of auctions around Indiana go to www.auctionzip.com
For high end and rare items there are publications available that can both help you identify what you have and also to understand values. Antiqueweek, Antique Trader and The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles are all well respected publications that can usually be found on sale at your local antique malls.
If you need help in identifying your items there are a number of reference books available through amazon.com. The prices listed in these are insurance replacement prices and are NOT recommended for establishing liquidation value. They are, however, a great way to understand exactly what you have. There are general books like Schroeder’s, which covers 100+ items, and also specialty books covering one specific collectible. Until next time . . . Linda
Linda Kennett is a professional liquidation consultant specializing in down-sizing for seniors and the liquidation of estates and may be reached at 317-258-7835 or lkennett@indy.rr.com
