Photo Credit: Harold Kahn, Via Clarke Auction Gallery

Always, always, always, find antiques and collectibles that are unique. If of an object, you are considering buying for resale you can say, “I have never seen anything like it” then that is precisely what you should buy for resale.

The antiques business has stuffed stores, malls, and showcases with the utterly mundane…you need to stand out, and to do so, there is nothing better than to present an object for sale, the likes of which is seldom seen.

Hey and While You’re at It: Please Offer Others Your Suggestions Below…

…Me? I am just grateful he left something for me to find…

Vintage Boyhood Ambition Money Clip – Please Note The “Junk” Wagon

I recently started following Mike Wolfe from American Pickers on Twitter here: @American Picker He said that he was in California, that he hadn’t picked here in awhile.

I thought, damn Mike! Can’t you stay in your own area – do you think we need any more competition – I mean, how many barns full of stuff do you think we have here in California?

The answer is we have plenty of barns and warehouses, and garages and old out of the way storage rooms full of stuff in California…we’re just like the rest of the country.

American Picker Side-note: Sue over at Vintage Rescue Squad is about the biggest fan of American Pickers I have come across in the blogosphere…Go Sue

Dim the lights – Here’s A Recent True Story

19th c. Bas-Relief marble Panels Sold at San Rafael Auction House for $4,250.00

A Garage Sales shopper making their rounds of all the little Mom and Pop Yards in the San Francisco Bay Area recently came across these Bas-Relief Marble Panels – there were 4 of them…he paid a grand sum total of $30.00 for all of them.

For the dealer or collector – The Deals are Still Out There!

For the Mom and Pops – Please do your Research!

A Side Note of Plenty: “Michelangelo” Found in Buffalo

Possibly Worth as Much as 300 Million! Read about it Here

What makes the American Pickers so effective is that they follow their hunches as much as they rely on their knowledge, and what backs it all up is that they are most definitely following their passions.

And that is key – If you want to make it in this business, in any aspect of it, you have to have a passion for it – at the end of the day what will keep you sane, engaged and on the prowl for the next big score is your love of what you are doing…

Her’s an article from our archive: Pick an Estate Sales Professional, or be Picked by a Pro!

Sign Me…an Estate Liquidator Who Loves His Job,

Martin Codina
CEO Fine Estate Sales and Estate Liquidation

As you might imagine I get at least a few questions about how to work for, or how to start an Estate Sales Business every week. People are looking for different ways to generate additional incomes as a side jobs or they’re looking to start whole new businesses…the following post is my answer.

Let Me Just Say: There are far easier paths to cash than to start your own Estate Sales Business

Starting in The Estate Sales Business Is Like Entering a Maze

It’s Complex, Sometimes Difficult, and Always Challenging…

Here Are The 4 Questions from our reader:

1. How do I go about working for an Estate Sales Company?
2. What are the jobs that may be available in the Estate Sales Business?
3. If I work with someone just starting, where online would we find free appraisals?
4. How much would a starting part time hourly wage be?

“How do I go about working for an Estate Sales Company?”

The Estate Sales Business is a trust business, all of it, from the first entrance into a home to set it up, to all of the customer interactions, All Of It Is Based On Trust.

Expect any job inquiry of an Estate Liquidator to be met with a bit of skepticism. If you want a job in the Estate Liquidation Industry, first develop a relationship with them. The best way to do this is to go their Estate Sales from week to week – have them get a chance to know you before asking if they need any help.

“What are the jobs that may be available in the Estate Sales Business?”

The least known job in the Estate Sales Business is that of the marketer – if you have experience as a marketer or experience as a PR Person – especially if you have a demonstrable track record – I imagine, you could pretty much get a job with an Estate Liquidator any day of the week.

Estate Sales Professionals Want…

More Business… If you can help them get more business – You can have a job!

To be Better… If you can show them how to be more effective – You can have a job!

Increase Incomes… If you can help an Estate Liquidator make money – You can have a job!

If you want a job in the Estate Sales Business, then prove to an Estate Liquidator that you can do the above.

Other Jobs In The Estate Sales Business: Set-Up Staff – On-Site Sales Staff – Outside Consultants – Cashiers….

If I work with someone just starting, where on-line would we find free appraisals?

Free Appraisals are only worth their cost: In other words to find out how much something is worth you are going to have to either pay for it, have the experience to know already, or you are going to have to invest your time.

Here are two places to conduct research – by the way there are others: Our Research Antiques and Collectibles Pages, and a site I use everyday – Prices4Antiques.Com – If you like Prices4Antiques.Com then click the link to find out about a discount code for them.

How much would a starting part time hourly wage be?

In the San Francisco Bay Area, we likely pay more per hour for our estate sales staffing then most places in the country – at Fine Estate Sales we pay our staff between $12.00 – $18.00 an hour.

But I feel certain that in other parts of the country you’ll likely find that wages for Estate Sales Staff are lower.

Sign Me: Grateful To The Estate Sales Industry,

Martin Codina
CEO Fine Estate Liquidation, Inc.
San Francisco Bay Area

Pair of 19th Century San Francisco Optician Trade Signs from Giannetti Home $2,100.00

Especially Antiques With Eye Appeal!

Antique Optician Trade Sign 1880′s Sold at Auction by Pook and Pook for $585.00

Massive Antique Iron and Glass Optician Trade Sign 57.5″ Wide Circa 1880′s

Collect and Sell Antiques with an Eye to the Future

Optician Trade Sign Milk Glass Globe sold by Dan Morphy Auctions for $877.00

Painted Milk Glass Optician Trade Sign Globe – Painted eye featured on both sides. 12″ Diameter

With an Eye for detail, You’ll Succeed!

Antique Optometrist Trade Sign sold by Pook and Pook
for $2,300.00

A cast metal optician trade sign, circa 1900, with reverse painted glass panels of an eye – 29″ High

Keep Your Eyes Open To Buying Opportunities

Antique Optician Trade Sign sold by Eldreds Auction for $1,610.00

An unusual antique carved wood trade sign in the form of gilt-framed spectacles with painted eyes. Supported by a wrought iron bar. 13″ High 56″ Across

Don’t Close your Eyes To Bargains!

Optician Trade Sign Milk Glass sold by Julia Auctions for $540.00

Hanging milk glass optometrist trade sign light fixture. 12″ Diameter

Love What You Do! Make Antiques The Apple of Your Eye!

Antique Iron Opticians Shop Sign sold by Christie’s for £1,063

Painted Iron Optician Shop Sign Early 20th Century 35″ Wide

Keep Your Eyes On The Prize!

Antique Optometrist Trade Sign sold by Eldreds for $431.00

Painted and Lithographed Glass Optometrist Sign 10″ Diameter

Additional Resources:

Prices4Antiques

Eye Antiques

Phisick’s Ophthalmology Page

The value of gold and silver as pegged to the precious metals spot market price is now often times higher than the value of the gold or silver as an object of utility.

The Gold and Silver Rush Is On…

Today the spot price of Gold and Silver is at or almost at historic highs. This means three things:

1. If you are an Antiques Dealer, some of the items in your case or within your online store are worth more as precious metals, than for their perceived value as objects.Take care, many savvy dealers and pickers are buying the undervalued gold and silver that they are finding online or in antiques stores, and reselling those items to metals dealers. How do I know this? Because these pickers are coming to my estate sales with scales.

   By the way, I don’t see anything wrong with this, it’s just the nature of the business.

2. If you are an Antiques Collector, you are going to pay more for gold and silver objects that you collect now. It’s also likely that you are going to be buying less, and selling more.

   Now is the perfect time to cull through and refine your collection. One of the distresses of times like these, is that a whole lot of antique, and vintage gold and silver is now on its way to the smelters.

   This does have a silver lining though, if you pardon the pun – it will have the future effect of making Antique, and Vintage gold and silver objects of jewelry, flatware and hollow ware far more scarce, and hence more valuable.

   But that’s the future, for today, exercise caution.

3. If you are trying to sell your gold or silver, than take heart, you are finally going to do well, because the gold and silver market is finally on your side. Today you can expect to be paid much higher prices than ever before.

How Much Are Gold and Silver Objects Worth?

There are two basic ways to figure the value of gold and silver…

1. Object Value
2. Precious Metals Spot Market Value

Object Value: As I stated above the spot metals market values for gold and silver is in many cases exceeding the perceived value of gold and silver as objects of utility, beauty, jewelry and so on.

But, and this is a big ol’ warning. This is not always the case. There are still many items of gold and silver that have object value many times worth their weight in gold and silver, notwithstanding the price of gold and silver today.

So take heed, do your homework . Tiffany, Shreve and Co., as well as objects of gold and silver by makers too numerous to list, have values as objects many times in excess of their value as gold or silver.

Precious Metals Spot Market Value: The first thing to know about selling gold or silver on the open market to a gold or silver metals dealer, is that there are two kinds of “Ounces.”

• Avoirdupois Ounce = 28.34 Grams
• Troy Ounce = 31.10 Grams

So when you pop your gold and silver objects onto a gram scale, make sure you weigh them using the Troy Ounce system to figure out how many grams they actually weigh.

All Gold and Silver Is Weighed In Troy Ounces!

Here is a way to put this into perspective…

When weighing gold the following formulas apply.

24k Gold (.999) = 31.1 Pure Grams Of Gold Per Weighed Ounce.

22k Gold (.916) = 28.48 Pure Grams Of Gold Per Weighed Ounce.

18k Gold (.750) =  23.32 Pure Grams Of Gold Per Weighed Ounce.

14k Gold (.585) =  18.19 Pure Grams Of Gold Per Weighed Ounce.

10k Gold (.416) = 12.93 Pure Grams Of Gold Per Weighed Ounce.

When weighing Silver the following formulas apply.

Pure Silver = 31.1 Pure Grams of Silver Per Weighed Ounce.

.950 = Pure Grams of Silver Per Weighed Ounce.

.935 = 29.54 Pure Grams of Silver Per Weighed Ounce.

.925 Silver = 28.76 Pure Grams of Silver Per Weighed Ounce.

.916 Silver = 28.48 Pure Grams of Silver Per Weighed Ounce.

.900 Silver = 27.99 Pure Grams of Silver Per Weighed Ounce.

.800 Silver = 24.88 Pure Grams of Silver Per Weighed Ounce.

So what can you sell your gold and silver for today?

The per gram price for 14k gold today is – $22.57

The per gram price for sterling (.925) today is – .56 cents

But that’s not what a precious metals dealer will pay you. You can expect them to pay within the range of between 70% and 85% of the spot metal price for your gold and 65% to 75% for your silver.

I have seen many people sell their gold jewelry for as little as 50% of spot metals market prices, especially when they sell to national metals buyers they have found through T.V., Radio, and Print media. As well as by those who attend those nifty Gold and Silver parties at friends homes.

I am always in the market for collections of sterling, be they English, European, Mexican, Russian or American – Jewelry or Other Objects of Sterling.

Good Luck!

Martin Codina

415-235-7238

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