I was at an auction recently where I picked up a postcard advertising an upcoming Appraisal Day sponsored by the auction house. It was billed as a “Hunt for Treasure,” one of those events where you could bring your “is-it-worth-anything?” stuff and have its experts assess the value.
The cost was at $15 a pop (maximum of five items), with the proceeds going to a local museum. I’ve been to some of these appraisals, and they can be hit and miss – the expert for your item may not be among the ones who show up – but I recommend them because they give you a ball-park figure for little money. If your item has huge potential value, it may be your cue to pay for a real appraisal.
While this event will be a one-dayer, some auction houses have standing appraisal days where they’ll allow you to bring in an item for free or reduced price. You can find the location of auction houses in your town by using auctionzip.com. Just type in your zip code, and a list of auctions will come up. Go to the websites of the auction houses and find out whether they hold appraisal days or offer free or reduced-price appraisals. Also be sure to Google the auction house to check its reputation or stop by to meet the staff.
I thought about appraisal day as I was looking at some readers’ questions for today. I chose two of them that I thought were good candidates for such an event, because it may be hard to find information on some of them using the normal route I propose – the internet and eBay.
Question:
Cleaning out my mother’s house and found an Eclipse bread mixer and kneader. Last Pat. Sept 27, 1904. First Pat. Jan 14, 1902. Would anyone know what this might be worth? It does look a little different than the one above. Looks like it’s never been used or just a little.
Question:
I have a 1902 Manning Bowman bread machine. I’m wondering its value.
Answer:
At auction this year, I came across a Universal General No. 10 bread-making machine from the early part of the 20th century. I found some information on that machine but practically nothing on the Manning Bowman Eclipse.
The Universals were selling for less than $100 on eBay at the time. Checking recently, the highest price paid was $27.53. I could only find print ads for the Eclipse, not the item itself. So, I suspect that your vintage bread-maker is closer in value to the prices paid for the Universal on eBay, and is not a hot collectible item.
In researching, I wondered if there were kitchen-collectibles groups that could provide more information, but found none. There seemed to be groups focusing on specific kitchen items, but I found none with an interest in vintage bread-making machines.
Then I Googled “vintage kitchen collectibles” and found several sites that sell what was called kitchenalia (which I also used as a search term). You could check the owners of those sites – who are usually experts themselves – who may be able to help.
Question:
I have a necklace from Germany my father brought back from WW2. I was wondering if you may be able to tell me what I have and if it is worth anything.
Answer:
Please send photos. Many times readers will ask me to identify an item, but they forget to send photos. It’s kinda hard to research an item I can’t see.
Without photos or any other details, I’m answering blind here. It may be hard to find a necklace like yours because it could be one of a kind. I would suggest that you examine it carefully to see if it is marked. It’s easier to research an item if there’s a name attached to it.
You may also be able to research the necklace on the web by using keywords that describe it. Using the keywords “World War II necklace” turned up 176 related items on eBay. Yours may not be shown, but there may be something similar. By Googling, I also found several websites selling World War II jewelry.
Both resources will give you some idea of whether there are interested buyers and how much the items sold for, if at all.
You could also consider having a reputable jeweler to take a look at the necklace and offer a quick appraisal. Check local auction houses via auctionzip.com to see if they offer appraisal days, and take it there. Keep in mind, though, that some items are so obscure that the auction house may not have an expert who specializes in it.
I took some slave tokens to one of those appraisal days a couple months ago. The appraiser was able to give me some general information about them, but she wasn’t able to assess their value. I had already learned just as much by researching them myself on the web.
So, don’t get discouraged if you don’t get an answer on appraisal day. Use it as an incentive to dig further.
If you can offer other advice to these readers, please write your comments in the box below.
