How to Research the Value of Your Antiques, Collectibles and Memorabilia

As an on-line antique shop owner for over 7 years, I get 20 + emails a day from people asking me "what is this blue bowl worth." There is rarely a photo included with the email nor much of a description and frankly, my powers of ESP are pretty worthless so these emails usually end up getting deleted.

I have spent many years studying and researching antiques, collectibles and memorabilia items of all types. From furniture to 17th century porcelain, cracker jack prizes to masterpiece art. I love it all and part of the fun for me is the learning process. I have amassed a huge library of books on a variety of topics and I subscribe to most of the antique related publications on the market. This is my job and I feel that in order to do my very best for my customer's I need to provide them with as much information as I can.

Besides selling antiques I also have spent many hours compiling an antique marks and history section on my website. It does not contain every single mark and backstamp ever used but it is fairly comprehensive and I continually add to it. I have an antique forum where people can post photos and ask questions about their particular item and I am putting together another Antique Information Center. So here are 3 different resources that are available to the public to identify their items.

You cannot forget the value of the local public library. They are still a terrific source of information. They have antique marks books covering many titles and some of the larger libraries have old catalogs and magazines which I find to be amazing resources to aid in identifying china patterns as well as glassware patterns.

When it comes to determining the value or worth of an item there are several things that you need to take into consideration;
** Why do you want to know the value (personal knowledge, insurance purposes, to resell)
** If you are going to sell the item, where are you going to do so (on-line auction, antique shop, on-line antique shop, garage sale, estate sale)