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This text of this podcast content has been made accessible in a transcribed format thanks to  Transcriptlibrary.com

Opening Chant

Hello and welcome to episode 16 of the Auctionwally Show, it's been a while since my last episode, but let me assure you that I do have plans to increase the frequency of the shows in the near future. For this episode I'll be addressing the very important topic  "Selling Your Valuables in Tough Times". It's a subject that's created quite a lot of buzz lately and one that is critical to a lot of people. I've just published an eBook on it in fact. I've been predicting that this topic would be on the minds of just about everyone in a big way and started writing an ebook on this book months ago.  I've just finished it and it's available on my site as I speak, over at Auctionwally.com

Please be assured that although I have a few things to get out of the way first, there will be valuable tips and information contained in the podcast directly related to helping you sell your valuables in tough times. Please stick with me, I'll get to the meat and potatoes soon enough.

Before I start with the main topic of the show, here are a few things I've been up to. I'm excited to have just become a writer on
The Examiner.com as their online auction and antiques expert.  The Examiner is an online National Online Newspaper that's been about for quite a while. The Examiner has publications in all of the Major US cities. This is where the future of Newspapers is going and I'm happy to be part of such an organization. The Examiner presents the news in a no-nonsense way in a National or local format depending on the immediate needs of the user.
Then they have what they call specialist Examiners of which I am one. These Examiners are experts in a wide variety of fields who blog for this paper in educational and entertaining formats. Some of them are rubbing elbows with very important people and I'm amazed at how well this company has combined the traditional format of the newspaper with a website to make a wonderful reading experience. You can leave comments and questions without having to sign up or become a member, a big plus in my mind.

Did I mention my book yet:) I guess I did, didn't I? It's on my site if you didn't hear me.

I just held one of the largest appraisal days I've conducted at the Overlook Communities a Masonic facility in Charlton MA, you can see what some of those items were appraised at and the results of that event by clicking here.

I'm scheduled to do a large onsite Antiques Auction in Central MA of the contents of an 1830s farm house on May 24th. More details about that will be on the website as they develop.

I'm excited to have as an upcoming guest Daryle Lambert , an author, blogger and antiques expert of many years. He's a delightful  personality with tons of knowledge. This show is scheduled for Monday evening May 12, 8pm eastern time on Blogtalkradio. Anyone can call into the show with questions for Daryle or myself. I'll post a reminder and the phone number as we get closer to the date.

I'd also like to remind everyone that they can find the show at http://auctionwally.libsyn.com, subscribe to it on iTunes, find it on the Blubrry Podcast network and of course, on my website.

I want to announce that I'm having a contest and it will go like this. I have two ratings on iTunes so far. For the next 3 people who go to iTunes and rate the show, I'll send out a free download of my new eBook, "How to Sell Your Valuables in Tough Times". Simply go to iTunes, give the show an honest rating and then send me an email verification you've done so and I'll send you a free copy of the eBook. Now, no matter whether the rating is favorable, or unfavorable, I want to know what you think of the show, so just by being one of the next 3 people to rate me on iTunes, you'll win the book. A quick word about iTunes here. Many people are still under the assumption that it costs to listen to Podcasts and radio stations on iTunes and that's not true. After you download the iTunes software, you can listen to thousands of shows and radio stations all for free. You don't need to own an iPod and you never need to purchase anything. Of course if you wish to purchase music, songs are 99 cents a track, but this has nothing to do with the ability to download and listen to tons of free content. I actually use iTunes much more than my daugter who has an iPod.

Another thing I'm excited about is a new Podcast Transcription feature. I'm now having the Show transcribed by the Transcriptlibrary.com.  This is a wonderful service for the Deaf community or anyone else that has a use for the full text transcription of a podcast. I've had 4 of my shows transcribed so far and since then my Google Page Rank has jumped from a 2 to a 4!
Now I can't swear that it's because of this recent transcription activity, but these transcripts are full of rich content, relevant keywords and I have to believe that they give my site lots of Google Juice. In the interest of full disclosure, I'd like to say that my wife Shelly runs the Transcript Library. She's very familiar with the world of Podcasting through my shows and the many shows I listen to and blog about. She came up with the idea after realizing the huge market demand could not be effectively reached by foreign outsourcing agencies. Vocal translation to English from a foreigner's audio perspective is not always a reliable or efficient process. She's looking forward to growing the business and when the work gets too much for her alone, she plans to have help from US based stay at home moms and other freelancers. She can type like a banshee, I swear, I saw smoke coming out of her fingertips the other day, but if the business grows according to the market demand we believe is there, she'll need to take on some independent contractors. So if you're interested in learning more, please go check out the Transcriptlibrary.com after the show, and tell her Auctionwally sent you if you do stop by, I need the brownie points at the moment.

MUSIC

Okay, well there's been a story in the news over that last few days concerning an influx of people selling their personal possessions via eBay, to antiques shops, at live auctions and more. In short, much of Middle America is now starting to do part-time what I've been doing for a living the last 25 years. Liquidating. Obviously, I felt I had some authority to weigh in on this subject, hence this show and my new ebook.

The story I read put a pretty rosy spin on this situation, by telling how delighted a mother was that she was able to get some extra cash by selling family items on eBay. Great, I'm all for folks simplifying and turning unwanted items into extra money. Or in many cases, not extra money, but much needed money. What the story did not talk about was the fact that so many people doing this are having very difficult times right now. Many of the people doing this are not hobby sellers looking for a few extra bucks for vacation this year, rather people selling valuable family heirlooms to come up with a mortgage payment shortfall, or in extreme cases for grocery and gas money! 

As an auctioneer I do a lot of buying from the general public, and I can tell you that people are worried, some of them are outright desperate. It breaks my heart when I go into a home and learn that they are selling family items because they don't have enough money for the basics. It's a double edge sword to be there. On the one hand it's very difficult to know that I'm there because these people are in a very bad financial situation and have no other options left. Then on the other hand, I have a chance to help, even if the help is only temporary. What a place to be in. Many times I'm torn by the facts that I have to make a low enough offer to be able to make a profit when I resell, versus putting enough money in their pockets to satisfy some immediate needs. You want to talk about disappointment and frustration coming crashing in. If I have to offer 30% of what they thought these items would bring, I can almost hear their hearts sink. On some occasions, I'm able to surprise them with an offer that's much better than they thought the items were worth and I get the undeserved adulation of a hero. 

Then there's the scenario that often comes up which is the ugliest part of my job, the one that keeps me up at night sometimes, the one, the one that inspired me to write my book, the one I wish I never had to do or say. This is when I have to tell the people that I'm can't buy what they're offering me. I have no use for it. Sometimes, if I have a few extra dollars, I'll purchase something just because I've been in that boat they're in. They've got children there with them and I KNOW they're not selling the maple dressers for crack money as so many pundits would have us believe of people in this situation. All too often they are the working poor, people with 2 or even 3 jobs, working so many hours that they rarely get to spend any time with their children other than at dinner and to tuck them in at night. Not all of the families I visit are in these types of situations, but too many are.

The eBook I wrote is for those people and many others who can't afford to take short money for their possessions. It's not for people who are looking to invest wealth they already have, it's for the desperate who NEED to sell, fast. Now some of you may be skeptical, I know I am, and may be asking yourself, "Walt, how can your book possibly help the people who have items you wouldn't buy if you visited their homes"?  Good question,  and this is a good segway into actually giving you tips and information to help right in this podcast.

You see, every auctioneer, reseller and antiques dealer has different needs and clientele. Many times I'll pass on items that are offered to me, that are completely salable but they are just not right for me. Because of market fluctuation, other external factors such as my current inventory of the types of items offered, I may have no interest in what is being offered to me that day. Does that mean those items are worthless? No, not at all. For example, in the spring of 2007 I purchased an entire antique/used book store inventory, as a result I have thousands of old books to sell. It would be very tough right now for anyone to try to get me to purchase a lot of decent books, unless there is an extremely rare first edition, I will probably pass on any big book lots offered to me for a while because of how much I have, even lots that I would have been very excited prior to my bookstore buyout.

What I'm trying to say is, there is a market for just about anything even if it's not the first market or buyer you approach. My goal with this show is to give you some good tips that will help you get the most money out of what you have as fast as possible.  I'm going to be honest, because I hate hidden agendas, bait and switch tactics and deceptive business practices, so I'm telling you that my goal is to get some of you to purchase my eBook. Some of you will, some of you won't, I hope that all of you get something of value out of this show whether you do or not. I've been around long enough to know that the the Karmic law of "what comes around, goes around" never fails and that the way to get what you need out of life is to help others get what they need.

Okay, like any other type of business or financial practice, there are some key things you'll need to know and do to be successful, so let's start with those, because without them, your efforts will be pretty fruitless.

 As much as possible, try to learn about what you have. What's it's common trade name, what do the dealers and resellers refer to it as, what is the going market rate for it. The less you know about what you have, the more your at the mercy of your buyer. If you think you have a serious antique, then by all means get an appraisal. Getting an accurate appraisal is easier than ever due to  Internet access, just make sure the site your getting the appraisal from is reputable has adequate experience in appraising. There are a lot of "Johnny come latelies" that take advantage of the fact that it's easy to give the appearance of being an expert and are duping people out of money with shoddy appraisal work.  I provide a very inexpensive online appraisal service and as far as I know, mine is the only that guarantees my appraisals 100%.  Along with the guarantee of my work, I also promise that  your appraisal will be ready in  3 days or less.

Know whether or not you actually need an appraisal or an authentication. Let's say you have a cast iron bank that you know would sell for about $100 if you only knew it was an authentic antique. You don't need an appraisal for this, you need to have it authenticated. An authentication is much easier to do and should be much cheaper than an appraisal, in case your wondering if I provide that service, I do. Again, this service is guaranteed 100%, but instead of a 3 day wait, I'll have your authentication ready within 24 hours. Click here for information on my authentication services.  If you have a friend in the business, or even if you bring your item to a local dealer that is familiar with your type of item, they should be able to provide an authentication for most items free of charge.

Learn what market you need to place your item in. For example, in the auction world there are many different types of auctions. There are antiques auctions, general merchandise auctions and heavy equipment auctions, just to name a few. If you have a Tiffany Vase, would it sell in a general auction? Absolutely. Will it bring top dollar? No way. But if you put it in a high end antiques auction and it's well advertised, your going to get top dollar that the market will bear at the time.
The details of that statement above may be different for you, but you need to apply the same principles. If you have a few boxes of books, some used furniture and kids clothes, don't make the mistake of calling in  reseller for these items, you'll just be spinning your wheels. I know there are ads in the classified sections that state "We buy anything"! But trust me, when you get these folks on the phone, your going to find that they are usually only interested in antiques, collectibles and valuables. If you don't have antiques & collectibles to sell. Look for the ads and resellers that purchase they types of items you have, they may be harder to find, but there are some out there and you'll have better results when you do. If you have items that are not marketable to a reseller in your area, you'll have to consider other methods, IE: yard sale, flea market etc.

Don't be discouraged if you can't sell your item in one market! It may just be that your trying to market your valuable antique to someone that had little knowledge or appreciation for it. Some dealers are compassionate enough to explain that although item is not for them, it can be very salable to others, they may even have names and numbers of interested prospects if you ask.
And some dealers will look at the very same item and proclaim, "I don't buy that kind of junk". Thank them for their time, accidentally knock over that Cut Glass vase on the way out the door and move on to better things. I'm just kidding of course... you don't really have to thank them for their time.

Think like the buyer. This is one of the most reliable and often overlooked sales tools. Put yourself in the situation of the buyer, sure you have your own needs and agenda, and that's OK, but the key to getting what you need in life remember, is to help others get what they need. The better you understand this, the more money you'll make. At this point you may be saying, "But wait, I'm not a salesman, I just want to get rid of a few things for some extra cash." Like it or not, that makes you at that point in time, a salesman or woman, you might as well do a good job at it, who knows, you may love sales and find a new career.

Learn and practice some negotiation skills. In the secondary market, there is no more valuable skill you can learn than the art of negotiation. There are many tactics that can  be honed and developed. You don't need to know them all, but you should learn a couple. Here in detail are two common and very useful ones. They are the "meet me in the middle" and the "meet me at my end" tactics.

Let's start with the "Meet me in the Middle" closing tactic.

The "Meet Me in the Middle" close.

 Simply put, this is when one side offer's to meet in the middle of a price range. The indication here is that the person making an offer to meet in the middle is trying to be reasonable by "splitting the difference" betweeen and offer and a counter offer.

What most people don't realize about the "meet me in the middle" or the "split the difference" tactic is that it's best for you if you let the other person make the offer to split the difference first. Here's why. Let's say the dealer has offered $400 for your antique violin and you're asking $500. The dealer then offers to split the difference at $450. Effectively they've said they are willing to pay $450 so you can say, "you've just stated that you're willing to pay $450". That brings us to $50 difference. Why don't we make it $475 and we'll have a deal. By letting them make the first offer to meet in the middle, you get to do it as well,(only seems fair) and get a chance to up price to $475.

Let's say instead, you make the offer to split the difference at $450, they are likely to counter with $425. Do you see the value in letting the prospect make the offer to split the difference first?

"Meet me at my end"

This is a great multi-purpose tactic, but it takes a bit of thinking and skill. It's the opposite of the let's meet in the middle philosophy. Let's look again at how the "meet in the middle" tactic works. Let's say the prospect offers you $1,000 for your item and you were looking for $1,500. He'll likely to counter your offer with $1,250 offering to "meet you in the middle". Implying that he is trying to be very reasonable. At this point most sellers if they continue to haggle at all, will go to the halfway mark between  $1,250 and $1,500, at around $1,350. Try this instead - counter his offer with $1,475, a price very close to your end of the scale. When you make this counter, keep a poker face and take note of the expression on your counterpart's face.

This tactic is useful for more than just getting the price upped. It will tell you a lot about your buyer's negotiating strategy. You've already got $1,250 on the table as an offer, by halving the increments downward you'll get closer to a lower amount much quicker, but  by using the "meet me at my end" close, you will stay closer to the higher price while still giving the appearance of being willing to make the deal work. You should know that the average dealer will offer about 60-70% of what they are willing to pay. They do this because they expect people to haggle and if there's no serious haggling back and forth, then it's a discount of 30-40% off of what they would have paid. Do you want to just give away that money?

This is one technique that's good to practice if possible. If you can't find a partner to role-play it through with, then at least run it by in your head a few times.

As I said earlier, there are many negotiation techniques of which those are just two.


Have an ID on you when you sell anything, and require your buyer to do so, no matter how they pay.

Be prepared to write out a written receipt and or an affidavit stating that you are the rightful owner of the items your selling.

Be safe, meet in a public place.

Qualify your buyer first, make sure they have the ability to consummate the deal. There's nothing worse than coming to terms on a sale and having the buyer ask if you can hold a check, or if you'll take a deposit until the rest of the funds are raised.

In general, whomever turf you're on has the advantage. The reason being that time, gas and energy are invested when one party has to travel to the other's. Once any type of investment is made be it time, gas or energy, people will usually bend somewhat to get something out of that investment. No one wants to go out of their way to make a deal and then have it fall through. On the other hand if the deal has come to them with little or no effort, it's much easier to shrug off.

Be as human and as courteous as possible, it will come back to you.

Obviously, I've just scratched the surface here with ways to sell your items in tough times. Although I've spoken here mostly of selling directly to dealers and resellers, in my eBook I cover in detail how to sell in ANY market.  There are  lessons for experts as well as newbies. I walk you through selling online, offline, wholesale and retail. There are many more negotiation skills and tactics, some of the could be considered outright guerrilla marketing, but are still fair.
And as with all of my other products and services, "Selling Your Valuables in Tough Times" is 100% guaranteed with a no-hassle money back policy.

Well, I guess that's about it for this episode of the Auctionwally Show. I'd like to remind everyone of the contest I have for rating me on iTunes. Here's the link to find the show on iTunes.  Just click on the blue part of the screen and scroll down, you'll see the area to rate the show.

I also want to remind you to tune into the live call in show on Blogtalkradio at 8pm eastern time, Monday evening May 12th.

Thanks so much for listening, I hope you've enjoyed the show enough to link to it or tell a friend about it.

I'd like to leave you with a song by one of my favorite new artists, Dara Sheahan, I hope you enjoy it.

Th

For complete show notes go to Auctionwally.com

AW preaches Value Added First marketing.

The complete show notes for each show are at http://auctionwally.com
Check back episodes element for past shows.

This is from Auctionwally Radio that goes out live on Blogtalkradio and then immediately gets archived.

Find out all about my radio show and my antiques appraisal services at
http://auctionwally.com

This is a live call-in show that went out over the air on http://Blogtalkradio.com/auctionwally

If your not familiar with Blogtalk radio, take a look, it's an upcoming and important online radio venue that is growing rapidly.

This show is an interview with Gary Hendrickson of http://theauctionrebel.com

Gary is an antiques expert and eBay authority and webmaster on his very useful and entertaining site.

For more about our show and to visit my antiques appraisal blog, go to

http://auctionwally.com

Hello and thanks for stopping buy, to learn more about Willie the Picker and the AuctionWally Show, stop by

Auctionwally.com

Hello there, I'm happy to have been on Blogtalkradio.com
with Danna Crawford of Powersellingmom.com

On this podcast I go over some of the points on how to purchase antiques in large collections, how to buy out of private homes and deal with people who are selling their antiques.


Also on this show I review Dana Crawford's site Powersellingmom.com.

Dana is an ebay Powerseller who has a show on Blogtalkradio that's all about eBay.  She also started the 'Traveling Lab Coat' charity Auction.

This is a wonderful auction where, when the winning bidder receives the Lab Coat, they apply their logo or business name to the coat and then re-auction it.

Each winning bidder donates the total winning bid amount to the charity of their choice, how cool is that? 

On her show, Dana gives her valuable advice and time in an entertaining and engaging way, check out her site.

A friend of hers that I got a great tool from is at eBwiz.com
On ebwiz, you can get extra exposure for your eBay auction as well as finding that very useful tool bar I'm talking about.

Here are some links to wonderful marketing sites I recommend.

10goldenrules.com

Sixpixelsofseperation.

Internetbusinessmastery.com

At the end of the show, I introduce some of my new products and services I'm excited about offering.

 These can be found at http://auctionwally.blogspot.com

Proving that anyone can do a podcast, I proceed to episode #4

Episode #4 of the Auctionwally show is on the air pretty much without edit, so bear with me as I learn this new venue. I'm having a lot of fun doing it, making friends and expanding my auction network base. I'm excited about this new show because I feel that because Podcasting is still pretty much cutting edge technology so there's a good chance to draw young people into the Antiques/Auctions business.

 There's been a buzz about the exodus of young collectors over the last 10 years and I feel this trend needs to reverse.


 Below are links the sites I've reviewed on the show.
 Gothicroseantiques.com

Iwantcollectibles.com

TenGoldenRules.com

 TheAuctionRebel.com

 How to Have a Successful Fundraising Auction

Auctiva.com

Hey there this is Willie The Picker and I just want to let you know you can find Auctionwally's free online anitques appraisal site at www.auctionwally.blogspot.com

Find out how to hire him, or get in touch with him directly at

www.auctionwally.com

Or just subsribe to the feed here at www.auctionwally.libsyn.com/rss

I guess he'll be back next show, that's a fine life ain't it?

Hey there this is Willie the Picker filling in for AuctionWally, I can't believe he's got me on the title as a guest host, I'm practically runin this dog & pony gig alone!

Anyway, I don't get paid any extra to chat here, so I'm gonna just give you the links to where you wanna go.            

 Here's  his home site if you want to find out how to get get in touch with AW www.auctionwally.com

Free online antiques appraisal site at auctionwally.blogspot.com

The feed here if you want to subscribe is auctionwally.libsyn.com/rss

Hey there this is auctionwally's blog for the auctionwally podcast show hosted at auctionwally.libsyn.com
And if you'd like to subscribe to the feed so that you automatically get my free show downloaded to your PC here's that link:
auctionwally.libsyn.com/rss

You can also find me at auctionwally.com or check out my free online antiques appraisal blog at auctionwally.blogspot.com

Here are the links to the sites in the auction news section of the podcast but is not reported here.

The interesting video trailer sent to me by Hannah Kang  who works for
Edelman Interactive Solutions is here: http://shopvictoriously.ebay.com/?section=7principles&deeplink=1
Auctionbytes.com - This is a wonderful e-magazine on the auction world online and off. It's run by Ina Steiner who has her own unique perspective on the the field. Her formats are, articles, forums, blogs and pod casts and if you ask me, she does a fine job covering them all. Stop by and give a visit and when you do, please tell her Auctionwally sent you.

The next site I mentioned in auction news but is also not included in the blog is a new site called auctioncommunity.com
This is a great new site that's popped up as a liaison between auctioneers and the auction going community. It also has an auctioneers only forum for licensed auctioneers who want to share trade secrets and support.
It too is a fantastic site with lots of promise for the future as it's run by the very capable and friendly Richard Romanus and Tammy Moore. Good Luck Guys and thanks for the great place to meet.



            On the feature segment this week we'll talk about the authenticating case furniture antiques and the tools and methods to do that.

We'll end the show with a few quick tips and I'll read a couple of posts from my free online appraisal blog at auctionwally.blogspot.com
 
Don't forget if you want to contribute to the show in anyway whether you have a question, comments or just want to be part of this community and get a mention of your site and interests, send an email to walt@auctionwally.com.

I'll mention those emails in my next podcast, put a link to your site in the show notes, and mention your site on the air.

Let's move along.

Period antiques: There's sometimes a lot of confusion about the term PERIOD when it comes to antiques and there shouldn't be because the term has a very clear cut meaning. The term period simply means the original era an antique was originally made throughout.

Let's take for example the Gothic Period which originated in the 12th Century and lasted throughout the 16th. So that span in History would be the actual Gothic Period.

But the Gothic Style, like so many styles throughout history was copied many times after, so  a Gothic styled piece of furniture from the 1800s can be an antique, because the technical definition of an antique is anything over 100 years old, but that item cannot be a period piece. To sum up: All period items are antiques, but not all antiques are period items.

Antiques that are copies of early periods are often referred to as "revival" or in the style of etc.

The dollar value of a period piece will be many times more than it's revivalist cousins.

Often people will see something on the antiques roadshow and mistakenly say something like, "I have one of those, I never realized it was worth $15,000 dollars!" They think that the antique Chippendale Style chest of drawers they have is the same as the actual Chippendale Period Piece. After all theirs is an antique, it's been in the family for over 100 years.

It's tough sometimes when I have to tell them that what they have is certainly worth having, but it's really only worth about $300 dollars in a strong market.

If the person I'm relaying this information to is a prospective client, I'd better use some tact if I want to get the estate consignment.

Bringing people around on the real value of what they have is a big part of an auctioneers job and often very difficult, especially when expectations are dashed and the value is much less than they originally thought.

To be honest, some folks who just won't hear you out will often call in 2 or 3 auctioneers before they believe it.

Of course, the other side of that coin is the estate executor that thinks they were assigned to liquidate a house full of junk and it's my delight to inform them that they're actually in charge of a small fortune in antiques.(But somehow these folks aren't as hard to convince, and usually need only one auctioneer to tell them that. It's a true pleasure if that auctioneer is me!)


OK, well let's get this train back on track because this segment of the show is supposed to deal with authenticating antiques.
We went over the difference between a period antique and a antique, but in most cases what the average person wants to know, at least at first, is, is that the item in question really old or is it a reproduction, a fake, or a fantasy piece.

Was it made 100 years ago, or last week. While the answer to that may seem obvious, there are some pretty talented people out there churning out new antiques.

Before we get into the detective work of finding out whether something is old or not. Let's look at the categories above because they are not all equal, here are the differences.

A fake: A fake can fall into a few different categories, it can be a legitimate reproduction, that someone has taken the identifying marks off of to try to pass it off as old. It can be something that was manufactured with the intent of deceiving the buyer. It can be an old item that has been altered.

A reproduction: A reproduction is something that was made to look as close to the original as possible, but is signed or otherwise marked to let the buyer know that it is not old. It's not very high on the scale of collectiblity, but its several notches above a fake, and when the original isn't obtainable, it's a nice alternative.

A Fantasy Piece: A fantasy piece is something that is made to look old, but that actual item never really existed. Let's say for example a Coca-Cola tray of which never saw production originally, but was made in the 1980s with the surface adorning a flapper models. Coke has many legitimate licensed fantasy items and they're marked with the date of manufacture.

All of 3 of these exist in almost every category of antiques, from furniture to jewelry, which brings us to the feature of this show............authenticating what you have.

Authenticating an antique is very much detective work. When you have the piece in front of you there is just no better way to find out whether or not it's old than to use the simple but powerful skills of observation.

Let's begin with case furniture. That being any type of furniture that has a case or a box type main structure. Dressers, blanket chests, bookcases, chests of drawers, Secretaries, writing desks.

One of the most revealing elements of these pieces is the drawer. Pull it out carefully and inspect it all the way around. Are the runners on the bottom well worn? Have they been replaced or repaired? This would obviously indicate wear which usually indicates age.

Now look at the inside edges of the drawers are there several small overlaps of stain or finish indicating that it's been refinished a few times, or does it appear that there is no overlap of stain or an extremely faint amount, thus most likely indicating the item is in it's original finish.(Big points for this, if it is an antique item.)

Are there extra holes next to the posts for the handle pulls. If so the handles were replaced and are not original. Of course even if there are not a pair of offset holes, the handles could have been replaced with a pair that had the exact post set measurements as the original handles. The other way to tell if handles have been replaced is to look close at the finish around the handles, is there a faint outline in the finish or sub-finish from an old handle. (Again, big points for original handles and original hardware.)

Now let's have a look at the corners of the drawers, are they dovetailed? If so, this is quality construction.
Are the dovetails hand-cut or machined? Hand cut would probably indicate an antique, the piece could just be hand crafted, but not very likely. More about that later. For this section, we'll assume that hand-cut dovetails indicate antiques for the sake of moving along.

Hand cut dovetails usually have a very narrow tail offset by a very fat one. Machined dovetails are very uniform in construction. Most of the machined dovetails came out after the 1850s, so it is still possible for an antique to have these and many do. In fact many pieces of antique furniture were manufactured in whole or in part, in factories throughout the world.

Are the corners scalloped with dowels inside a half-circle pattern down the side in a mortise & tenon fashion. This system is usually only seen on furniture made from about 1850 to 1880 and usually country pine more than anything else.

Nailed together joints are usually on home made type furniture, or unimportant manufactured furniture. It can still be well constructed, especially when compared to today's pseudo wood anti-products, but it will never achieve the collectiblility of it's well crafted cousins.

You'll see a slot method on occasion also, this is a step above nailed joints, but below any dovetailing.

An important date for would be antiquers to remember is 1830. It's the date that many historians recognize as the breakout of the Industrial Revolution. The only true statement we can make from this is that most of what came before it was hand made, and much of what came after was not. It's not an absolute, but it's the best we can do.
 
Antique detecting is like crime detecting in that it's as much an art as it is a science.

So swell up and pat yourself on the other side all of you antiquers, not only are you kings & queens of the recyclable kingdom, but your an artists and scientists to boot.

Back to that drawer. So you've looked at the dovetails in the front of the drawer, but if it's dovetailed or mortised all the way around it's of better quality than those who use the method only on the front and leave the back joints to a slot method.

In a similar way, the feet or legs of a piece of case furniture will tell you the same thing. See, it was the common method to put the fancy ball and claw type feet or other fancy feet on the front, and straight feet on the back. The reason being that it often took a craftsman almost as much time to carve a great pair of feet as it would to construct the entire case, so the shortcut was to put straight legs on the back. Therefore the higher quality pieces would have the carved feet all the way around. If you've ever wondered why an auctioneer used the phrase ball & claw all the way around, that's the reason.

Now the feet, if the legs or feet are post types, they should be slightly more narrow on the very bottom due to shrinkage through the ages. There should be wear, especially on chairs, which are moved around more than other pieces of furniture. But we were talking about case furniture weren't we.

Look for signatures everywhere on the item. EVERYWHERE. With glass and china or other antiques, if there's a makers mark, it's common for the makers mark to be on the bottom, with case furniture, it could be on the bottom, the back or anywhere on the inside. I've found many pieces that were signed on the insides of drawers, bottoms of drawers, signed in pencil, carved,stamped and labeled. And unfortunately many pieces that are not signed. 

Woods: The most commonly used woods were oak, elm, chestnut,walnut,pine, cherry and mahogany. Much of the early Victorian Antique stock is made from Chestnut, but nothing after that. The reason for this is a Chestnut blight that came to the US about 1908 pretty much wiped out the widespread American Chestnut tree.

Much of what is sold as Oak is actually Elm the two are so similar in grain, texture and composition. Pine is generally associated more with Primitives and country antiques. The dark wood on the elegant and very refined pieces are usually Walnut and on later pieces Mahogany. You'll find Cherry on the better pieces as well, especially where a very hard wood is needed for construction.

On many of the Victorian Oak antiques, what is often referred to as carved, is actually an applied carving, which means a portion of piece is just a section of carving that was a applied or glued. A much easier and less costly process than actually carving the surface of the item. This is the reason you'll see so many of these beautiful old oak pieces with the same frame, but a different look. That being said, some of these are actually carved and if you look close you can see the difference and should know the difference for it affects the price.

Another common method that is confused for carving is the 'pressed' look. This is when a section of a piece, usually chairs, have a design,machine pressed right into them. The chairs that adorn this method are very popular, but still, they are not carved. Probably the most valuable and famous of these chairs is a Larkin #1. Larkin co. out of Buffalo New York was a famous furniture and soap company. The company sold a great many of it's items through the Sears & Roebuck catalog at the turn of the century. At the time your could order a sideboard for about 20 dollars and a complete dining room set for just under or just over $100 dollars depending on the options.

Another style you'll see on the old country pieces or cottage pieces as they're sometimes referred to is, grain painting. This is when the wood, always pine as far as I know, is painted to simulate the grain of a more expensive and exotic wood. Grain painting a practice that was once shunned by purists is now revered for it's Folksiness. Let that be a lesson, if you go against the experts, you'll often be in front of the pack. Just make sure if your buying for resale that you haven't gone so far outside of the box that your unable to sell what you've purchased.

And last we move onto tips and a couple of blog posts from auctionwally.blogspot.com

Here are a few tips on new, reproduction furniture.
There's a lot of fine looking furniture coming out of South Pacific countries (fine at first glance that is) that is really of very poor quality and craftsmanship. You've probably seen it.

There are lots of Chippendale copies, usually in an exotic dark finish. This is actually something called PU PU wood or some kind of foolishness. It's very brittle and practically breaks if you talk to loud next to it. I don't know how it makes it over here on the containers in one piece, but it does. I've actually seen runners break pieces just moving them before.
 
As I said these appear to be great until you get a close look. Be warned though, these have hand cut dovetails and are even handcrafted.
I'm told this PuPu wood is actually a weed in the Philippines, and that they carve it when wet, then run it through a drying process.

Also note, the edges and ends of new furniture will be sharp and straight, old furniture will shrink and round at the edges with age.

Ultra-Shiny reproduction brass hardware on authentic antique Victorian furniture will actually bring down the price at auction. If you don't have suitable pulls for an item, your better off to leave it bare than to don that garish clink.

Victorians painted their furniture very often, but original painting was always ornamental in nature and never had a solid coat. If you've got a solid color painted Victorian piece of furniture, it was defiantly painted years later.

A 'marriage' in the antiques world is when two different parts are pieced together to make a complete unit.  It used to be that this was an abomination to antiquers, but they came around to accepting it when the 'shabby chic' set started buying married pieces. Ahhh....nothing says, "I can live with that" quicker than a good healthy profit.

In most cases, never plan on re-finishing a piece for re-sale. In fact if your not a pro, make that never, you just won't get your money back out of the process.

Learn 10 times more about the people in the business than you do the merchandise and your will be an antiques rock star!


..........................those are the quick tips for today, and now I'm going to read a couple of posts from my free online antiques appraisal blog at auctionwally.blogspot.com. Just click on over there after reading and get your own free appraisal.

If your reading this blog instead of listening to the podcast you can go to http://auctionwally.blogspot.com/2007/11/appraisal-for-1-royal-doulton-common.html to see the blog post on Toby Mugs.

and the second  post http://auctionwally.blogspot.com/2007/10/appraisal-for-unusual-eastlake-inlaid.html is on an appraisal of 2 Victorian Eastlake Chairs.

I've finished the show on that note, so please attend an auction this week because, buying low and selling high is just as sweet as apple pie.

Leave comments, appraisal requests and suggestions at walt@auctionwally.com

Peace.

AW

Hello there,

I'm Walt Kolenda aka Auctionwally, welcome to my first episode of the Auctionwally show.

You can find my web site at Auctionwally.com

I also run a free online antiques appraisal blog at auctionwally.blogspot.com

I welcome all comments, suggestions and questions, you can email me at

walt@auctionwally.com

If you like the show, tell a friend and email me with a comment or suggestion.

You can leave the URL to your website or blog, I'll post a link to it in the next week's show notes.

Each show will include auction, marketing and branding news, (online and off) a featured story or interview and I'll end with quick tips.

Since I know how plans change especially here on the web, I'll be using the ever popular auctioneers clause to "change anything at anytime".