The Ugly Vase and Mom said it was worth a lot.
The Challenges of Clearing an Estate
Going through the years of collections can be an exhausting experience, saturated by “Stuff”, memories, and the “don’t throw this out when I am gone” ringing through our ears.
Now you find yourself promising you will never do this to your kids, spouse, or siblings and go home to purge a closet or two.
The real question is was she right? Sometimes she was, but it does take a trained eye with experience and market experience to handle it quickly.
The real question now is do you want to ask your friend Sally who always wanted to do estate sales, your cousin Bob who dabbles on Ebay, or a professional? The easy answer would you let Sally fix your car because she has been able to change a tire? No. The right answer call a professional. Most will answer a question or two without charging. After that they may suggest you pay a reasonable fee for their input.
For those of us without terrible deep pockets, the internet offers many well-suited options. If used correctly there is a great wealth of information, but its time consuming. Here are some ideas to try.
eBay seems to be the standard go-to, but you have to make an effort to look at what the item sold for - not what the asking price is.
Take a picture of the item and use a Google search lens. The down side of this is you have to make sure the pictures are exact and the descriptions sound correct. Nothing is perfect, always try to match up a unique part of the piece, it can be a small and subtle difference, but that difference can make a huge difference in the value
Describing your item in words in a search engine is great also, review it through the search engine images and narrow it down through there. Remember anyone can ask any amount for an item it doesn’t mean they will get it, value is only what a person will pay.
