For the collector, estate sales are a great way to find your favorite antique or collectible at dealer prices. Most estate sales are geared towards the dealer market so prices will typically be lower than those you will find in antique stores.
If you plan on hiring the services of a company that offer estate sales it is always a trade-off: time versus money. Professionals will research items to identify and value them, clean and organize your pieces, advertise and staff the sale. I know one company that even uses a television monitoring system to cut down on theft.
Most professionals will spend one to two weeks getting ready before they open the doors for even a modest sale. Since they are familiar with the antique market, they know that even the oddest, ugliest piece can mean serious dollars.
How often have you watched programs like the Antiques Roadshow where someone bought a piece at a garage sale for $5.00 that was worth thousands of dollars? You can be sure that the person that held the estate sale did not employ a professional service or even consult an appraiser.
If you plan on using an estate sale service, be sure to ask about the educational background of the individual. Ask about professional affiliations. While membership in an appraising organization is not an absolute indication of professionalism, it is a guarantee that the individual has undergone some type of formal training that qualifies them to help you settle the personal property portion of an estate.
Judith Harper of Harper Appraisal Services and Estate Sales has this to say about the subject:
“In the process of settling an estate, it is surprising how often property is thrown away or given away - without ever knowing the value of the items.
The fact is most people are not aware of the market value of common household items, let alone the fine art, jewelry, antiques and collectibles. We retrieved a picture from the trash that sold for $5,000 - a pile of old books that were to be given away sold for $1,500 – and an entire contents of a house that the executor was going to pay someone to cleanout gave the family enough money for repairs and to have the house painted inside and out before being sold.”
If you would like to see how a professional estate sale is run, follow the link to Harper Appraisal Services and Estate Sales and select Upcoming Sales from the menu option. Ms. Harper is having a sale the weekend of September 11th.
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