I don’t … 
My violin probably scrapes into your qualification, mainly due to the exchange rate 
Anyway, it’s German, 1911, Wolff Brothers (like that means anything to anyone 
)…but no respectable violinist regards any violin as an antique. Antiques are something to be treasured, protected, stored, admired. Violins are functional tools.
Anywayyyy…it was a good investment (for my parents )…it works out as something like 15-18% appreciation per annum.
An old Omega watch that was appraised at 5 G’s back in the 80’s.
My mother has some Russian and French bronzes (19th century) I suspect are worth a pretty penny; some Japanese lithographs (Hiroshige and Gekko), and two very old oil miniatures I imagine are Quite Important Indeed.
I have a few things inherited from the grandparents that might clear five grand (or, maybe not): two bronze and silver vases, and a 1918 bronze art nouveau calling-card recepticle which I use to hold my hairpins.
I also know a 93-year-old silent movie star; she might bring in $5,000 as “movie memorabilia.”
The coolest old thing I own is a 1958 7up soda machine VMC V-81.
The 7up is what makes it rare.
It is the kind of machine that has the glass door on the side and you push down on a silver lever to get it to release your pop.
I restored it and it is worth aprox. $10,000.
I keep it in the house and my kids friends think it is the coolest thing ever.
The best part is I bought it for about $280 15 years ago.
my car meets the criteria of the OP … and that’s pretty darn frightening!
A bunch of early 1950’s baseball cards. +/- $10,000.
Various Native American artifacts.
A Civil War sword and some pictures from that era.
Some seriously old books that my great-grandmother bought as antiques in the early 1900’s. I don’t have any idea what those are worth.
These sorts of things are troublesome. Sell them? Wait to lose them in a theft or fire? Will them to children that, not knowing the value, sell them for fifty cents each at a yard sale?
The baseball cards are the only things I know the approxamate value of. Is getting stuff like this appraised a good idea?
What do some of the others here intend to do with such items?
A 7-ft, 6-in Grandfather Clock, about 70 years old or more, in perfect operating condition. Ticking every second and chiming every day, inherited from family who hated it so much they didn’t want it in any room, or even in the same county. Was offered $10,000 for it, turned it down.
Now, if I was offered $25,000…
Honestly, they’re probably not worth much unless they’re very old, very rare, or have hand-drawn illustrations or something like that. You could Google the titles to see if anything pops up-- if it’s important or valuable, you’ll start finding information quickly. If you have to do really deep research, chances are, the book isn’t worth much, and honestly, most aren’t. Books from the Victorian era, for example, are for the most part a-dime-a-dozen.
I suggest putting a note inside them (written on acid-free paper in pencil) identifying the book as part of great-grandmother’s collection. Try keeping them together as much as possible, and pass them down as family heirlooms in a set. Take good care of them-- keep them out of the light as much as possible, and in a stable environment. (Keep the temperature regular and the humidity stable.)
If you don’t want to leave them to your children, you could try your local historical society. Gather together as many of her things as possible-- letters, diaries if you have them, photographs, biographical information, clothing, etc, and donate them as a collection. I work in a museum and we love getting collections like these. They can tell us so much about a person.
Thanks, Lissa! It never occurred to me to google on the titles. :smack:
Now I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow.
Unfortunately, the sword and photos are probably not worth much either. Civil War swords are fairly plentiful, and generally fetch in the area of $500 - which is not exactly chump change, but is a far cry from the OP’s $5,000. The photos, depending on their subject and photographer, are probably worth under $20 apiece (and I’ve seen many Civil War-era cabinet cards languishing in antiques stores for $1 a pop, unsold) - unless they’re original prints by Brady himself, or otherwise of extreme historical significance.
And for my part…
Although Gunslinger and I have furnished our home to a large extent with antiques, they’re all of the everday variety - little useful cheap things made between 1930 and 1960 - none of them worth more than $50 and most under $10. The most valuable items we have are a 1971 Chevy Nova that blue-books around $2,500, and a 1950 Pacemaker Speed Graphic press camera that, if you include the camera, flash, film holders, and entire associated kit, would probably be worth about $1,000. (The Nova’s ostensibly for sale, if anybody wants it; the camera is most decidedly not, as it’s one of Gun’s primary working cameras.)
I have an artifact that (I think) may be worth tens of thousands of dollars. Or it may be only worth a couple hundred. I can’t get a straight answer, and the sports memorabilia boards I tried were full of crap like “Go Pistons!” “Pistons Suck!” etc.
Anyway, I have a ticket to a Illinois vs. Michigan football game in the 1920’s. I don’t remember the exact date, but the game in question is considered one of the most important games in the history of college football. The ticket is autographed by Red Grange (apparently he and my great-grandfather were the best of friends back in The Day).
A ticket for the madien voyage of the Titanic. My sister has one, too. Whoever survives longest gets the other one.
I dunno if we have anything of that value, but more importantly, WHO pays this kinda money for these items? I only see the line to the left on the Antiques roadshow…that’s the line of people with the potentially valuable antiques. The camera never shows the line of people on the right…the ones with handfulls of cold hard cash.
That’s why they play 'em. A collectibles market is monstrously unpredictable.
We have a few items that might qualify.
An old antique dresser from the mid-1800s. The damn thing is a pain in the butt to move. I think that’s why mom offhandedly said ‘Oh, you can take that if you want.’
A set of diaries from a Union soldier whose post was a confederate prison camp during the war.
An old clock that Lady Chance got from her g’grandfather by way of her mother a few years ago. Old as sin and would take $100 of tuning up to make work. Right now it’s just decoration.
A printers cabinet from God knows when still intact with all the drawers still in place. But I shouldn’t get credit for that as I BOUGHT it. No real value to be gained there.
Ooooh, if you find the used-book store that’s selling Victorian books for a dime a dozen, will you please give me the address? Even I could afford that!
Around here, you can find scads of them at yard sales. I used to buy 'em by the box when I was a kid. I’d wait 'till the end of the sale, then offer between one and five dollars for the lot, and most of the time walk away with about twenty of them.
Flea markets and junky antique stores are another good place to find them. Often, you’ll find a box in one of those stores shoved back against a wall. The owners generally despair of ever selling them, so you can usually get them for next to nothing.
Of course, I live in a very reading-unfriendly area. Books have very little value here, even less if they’re old. I imagine in a market where people actually like books, things might be a bit different.
Lissa’s antiques:
– A perfume bottle souvineer made during the first release of Gone With the Wind. It’s called “Scarlett” and is shaped like a woman in a hoop skirt. I have no idea of the value, because the only examples I have ever seen have been empty, while mine is still full. And the perfume actualy still smells good! With it, I have one of the opening night programs, and a third edition of the book, along with a bunch of other little things. Taken together, it might be worth five grand.
–A set of beautiful oak bedroom furniture bought at auction. It’s so extraordinarily heavy that I have to hire professional movers each time it needs to be taken to another location. It’s wonderfully carved, and has hardware that looks like lace. The auctioneer said that it came from an estate sale of an old plantation house in Georgia.
– My house! I just bought it: a Colonial Revival built in the 1930s in immaculate condition. (I don’t even have to paint before I move in!)
Possibly.
There’s the antique clock. It still has the winding keys, but hasn’t worked in years.
There’s also a small bronze statuette that may be authentic Olmec. It was picked up at a garage sale for a dollar. This was back in the olden days before the net, so for years I wasn’t sure what it was. Then, I went to an exhibit of Olmec artifacts. The hilt’s of several ceremonial daggers were statues of the same figure. I’m still not sure whether the piece is authentic. It could easily be a souvenir or a replica sold to tourists. It could just as easily be an authentic artifact sold to tourists.
I doubt it. I’ve got a fair sized camera collection, but I’d wouldn’t imagine any of them are worth more than $500–let alone $5000. I have some very old projectors that might get up to $2000 with the right kind of buyer.
I’ve got signed photos of a few silent stars (Mary Pickford, Buddy Rogers, Gloria Swanson, and Clara Bow–actually signed, not stamped), but, while they’re valuable to me, I doubt you’d get more than $20 each. The most I paid for any of them was $66 (for Mary Pickford, signed on the set of Coquette, made out to one of the extras).
Books. I’ve got more books than the town library. Around here, they’re worthless. I don’t know if they’d sell better in a more literary location. This year alone I’ve collected 380, all free (stores have given up trying to sell them). They’re all hardcover, printed between 1860 and 1935, most in good condition, some excellent, some poor. The majority are first editions. Somewhere they’d sell, they might be worth over $5000, if you count the whole collection.