How do you find out if something is valuable?

[wallet]

My grandparents recently passed away and I'm in charge of their estate. I went into their attic and it's overwhelming. There is so much stuff up there and I don't know what to do with it. My first thought was just to have someone come in and take everything out, since most of it looks like junk, but i really don't know much about antiques. I would hate to throw out something that might be worth something, especially since a lot of the stuff is old. On the other hand, I don't want to spend a ton of money getting things appraised that are worthless. Are there any inexpensive ways to find out what things are worth and how valuable something is?

[97guns]

i always look on ebay, you can search the listings that have ended and see what stuff sold for

[wallet]

Thank you for the suggestion. I thought about that, but there is so much stuff that I'm not sure that would be a good way to spend my time. Plus a lot of the stuff I have no idea what it even is so it might be hard to find it that way.

[scfr]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

There are companies that specialize in estate sales. For a share of the take, they will sell off everything in the house. They should be knowledgeable about what things are worth. If you want to clear things out quickly so that you can sell the house, or if the beneficiaries are pushing you to settle the estate quickly, that may be the way to go.

If you decide that you are willing to put some time in to researching and selling items yourself, beyond the items that obviously may have value (fine art, sterling silver, precious jewelry) this article talks about some items that may have a higher value than you expect:

http://www.oprah.com/home/How-to-Care-for-Valuables-in-the-Home-What-Are-Your-Possessions-Wor

If your grandparents have a lot of one or two categories of valuable things, think about selling those items on eBay (or similar) and having a DIY estate or garage sale for the rest.

Of course, check with family members first to make sure there isn't anything they want to keep.

[shaggy]

I'm sorry for your loss.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the vast majority of the time you'll end up paying someone to take things away. As the Boomer generation downsizes, they're offloading their stuff and so there is a glut of used household goods on the market. The current generation that would be buying those items is far smaller in number, plus their tastes have changed and they're less likely to be interested in antiques. All of my nieces want mid-century modern.

Most antique furniture isn't worth anything. The bottom dropped out of that market a while ago and hasn't been moving up at all, only down (my brother-in-law is an auctioneer and that is his assessment). Anything you're looking to sell must be in excellent condition; nothing broken will sell. Evidence of repairs will damage the value of even high-end antiques. If your grandparents used "Lemon Pledge" on the furniture, there will be silicone permeation that makes it impossible to refinish the piece. Furniture is a hard sell any way you look at it.

Jewelry will have intrinsic value if it's made of 12k or better gold, but styles have changed and unless a piece is from a highly-desired period (Art Nouveau, e.g.) it's likely to be sold for the melt value.

China, silverware, and other housewares are worth little. People don't entertain the way they used to. You're likely to only get scrap value on sterling flatware, unless it is an outstanding brand like Tiffany or Ricci Argentieri. Nicknacks like Hummels and Lladros are almost always not worth selling.

If you find anything with a brand name, do a quick Web search to see if you find a collector's group or other folks who may be able to give you an assessment. If you live in an area where there are frequent estate sales, often an auctioneer will come through and give you a quick assessment. We did that when my father died and got an assessment in under an hour.

Good luck.

[shaggy]

Wallet, here is an article that might give you some idea what to sell/not sell:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/downsizing-boomers-looking-to-sell-their-stuff-1301517395843

[FrugalFish]

I'm so sorry for your recent losses.

When my grandparents house needed to be cleaned out, my mother had an antiques/consignment dealer come to the house. He walked through and was able to spot many, many things that had value- some better than others obviously. He sells through a store, and also on ebay. He took the items he deemed salable, and has slowly sold them at his store and online, sending checks every month or two as items sell. I'm not sure there are a lot of people who do this, but it may be worth calling around and asking. He works on a commission basis, and I don't believe he charged anything when he came out to look around- he could tell pretty quickly whether the estate was worth his while. He also hauled the items away at his expense, even larger pieces of furniture.

Most of what my grandparents had, after the dealer was done, was stuff that needed to be hauled to the dump, and charities got the rest.

Good luck to you.

[wallet]

Thank you for the suggestions. I'm leaning on trying to find a consignment dealer to come through and take a look at it all.

[snafu]

Sorry for your loss.

If you've teens in the family, you could hire them to sort items in the attics and take photos to e-mail or fax to antique dealers. They can help bring items down to main level, it will need to be done sooner or later and expensed to the estate. Are there family members or friends who would like token remembrances or old furniture? We were surprised by items selected by family to remember our late mother. It had nothing to do with monetary value, it was all about memories.

In our community many people contract with one of the auctioneers to cart of contents to be sold at auction. They keep 35% of sale value and charge for packing and transporting stuff. You will have to decide if grand folks were likely to put items of value in out-of-the-way places like money between pages of books, jewelry behind/back of bureau drawers or in canisters.

It's a huge job and anyone who has been an executor of an estate sympathizes with all the work and decisions that lay ahead.