An Antique Can Have Many Prices

If you listen closely to the appraisers on the Antique Roadshow, you’ll notice how some will qualify their appraisals with statements like: “If I saw this in a shop…” or “I’d expect this to go at auction for…” or “This should be insured for…”
The fact is that each antique has many values, depending not only on supply and demand, but also on how an item is sold. This is what makes pricing so challenging for antique dealers and causes ordinary people such confusion when they go to sell their things.
Dealers have to constantly watch the market by researching the Internet for auction and retail prices and, more importantly, checking out the prices in the antique shops in their region. You should do this, too, if you have things to sell.
The most common appraisal prices I give are retail showroom prices – what I would expect to see on a price tag in a good shop. It’s easy to work from there. Dealers usually pay about one-third of that. House and yard sales are about 30–40 percent, consignments these days are 50–60 percent and replacement or insurance values are about 20 percent over retail. Auctions are always a risk.
There was quite a crowd lining for appraisals at Teaberry Marketplace a couple of weeks ago. The photographs published with this column represent less than 50 percent of the items brought in. A special thanks to Sharon and Tom for keeping things so well organized. Some people shopped while they waited, while other lucky folks got a table to enjoy lunch at the in-house café. (I took my goodies to go.)
Places like Teaberry, and the 40 other antique, thrift and specialty shops here on the Cape are a great local resource. Make the rounds this fall, and start your holiday shopping early.
If you have some things you would like to have appraised this weekend, set your GPS for 981 Ye Greate Street, Greenwich. In about an hour you’ll arrive at the Lummis Library, one of the many 18th Century buildings in that town. I’ll be doing appraisals there Sept. 28 from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m. The occasion is the town’s annual Fall Artisan’s Faire, so there will be lots to see and do. Hope to see you there.
Arthur Schwerdt, a certified appraiser, is the author of “The Antique Story Book: Finding the Real Value of Old Things,” and co-owner of The August Farmhouse Antiques on Route 9 in Swainton. Send your comments, questions and appraisal requests to: aschwerdt@cmcherald.com.