What Are My Antiques And Collectibiles Worth? By Larry Koon

Writing an antiques newspaper  column ,I get hundreds of letters and emails  every week from readers wanting to know what their antique or collectibiles  are  worth? Always remember  an antique or collectibile today  is only worth what  someone is actually willing to pay you for the item ,to get top dollar for your item  ,it must be up amongst hundreds of  buyers bidding on your item at auction,

Say for instance, you have a Beatles  record that a record price guide book tells you it's worth $2.000 in excellent condition today, , values in antique  price guide books  are usually values  based on what the item last sold for at auction, the item ever selling for that same price again is a 100.000dollar question? At a repeat  auction it  may sell for more or it might even sell for less,  Value depends on how bad someone is willing to pay to add it to their record collection,

Another thing you dont  consign a rare valuable Elvis or Beatles record to your local auction house and expect to receive much money for it, you consign your records  to an auction house who specializes in selling records ,people who attend record auctions are only there to buy records nothing else and are willing to out   bid hundreds of other buyers,  

Whats the difference between a local auction house and a specialized auction house ? 


A Local Auction House  deals with selling anything from furniture to household appliances, people who attend these auctions  are there to buy anything at a reasonable price, cant you imagine how much a Leonardo piece of art  would sell for at a local auction with as many as 25 people there   bidding on it ,

A Specialized Auction House is an auction House that specializes in selling certain items, such as old records, books, coins, stamps, baseball cards , and hundreds of other collectibiles from Ato Z, Today there are over  400 or more auction houses across the country that specialize in selling certain items, and have set world;s record in doing so.


So remember to get top dollar for any antique or collectibile today.  it must be up for bid amongst  hundreds of buyers  outbidding one another , the final auction bid is what  your item is worth to someone ,