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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: debodun on January 16, 2013, 08:44:03 AM
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I am trying to clean out a relative's home to settle an estate. There are bookcases, stands, beds, living room set and other typical home furnishings. I have contacted 4 local auctioneers and none are interested. They say furniture is too difficult to sell right now, only if it is a high-end antique. I also tried to have sales at the house and no one even looks at the furniture. Why is furniture so difficult to sell?
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Where is the house ? What region ?
Are these items modern ?
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Can you post some pics so we can see what kind you are referring to ??
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Yes, inquiring minds want to know!!!
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Think yourself lucky you are not over here...Avril and I saw a dining room table with 6 chairs and 2 British carvers...sell at auction...last Saturday...it was a repo...made of real wood....Beech as it happens...nice looking thing...it sold for £10..I knew the guy who bought it...and he told me..he was going to chop it up for kindling/firewood.....and sell it at £5 per bag...and that he,d make around £50....
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Where I am in Texas,, if you post a sign that says "Estate Sale" you wouldn`t have a matchstick left !! And believe me its all overpriced and not that great !!
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Well,Debodun....here,s a solution,ship all your stuff to Mart...she can hold the sale...take a %...and send you the $$$... ;D
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Put up signs advertising a "Moving Sale".
That will make the "bargain" hunters hungry.
Ya seldom get a "bargain" at an Estate Sale, ... and those are actually called "sleepers"
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Different strokes for different folks..over here this is a sleeper
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=wooden+sleepers&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Vwb3UPD2FIjK0QWOqYCQCw&sqi=2&ved=0CHEQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=651
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Funny Wully. If I said I needed a lift you would point me to the elevator.
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Funny Wully. If I said I needed a lift you would point me to the elevator.
Yep !! Thats our Wullie !!
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One of the auctions here gave up on selling furniture. It was either not selling or selling at a buck. Very few pieces were going for more. I have seen it come and go in the last year or so they were selling big at one and then they kind of dwindled down. There is one auctioneer around here that sells absolutely everything at huge prices! Decent furniture, good furniture and so forth. He never has a problem selling it to his followers. I agree with the others, maybe estate sign posted and you will probably get the crowds in. It is worth a go. :)
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Funny Wully. If I said I needed a lift you would point me to the elevator.
..Well!...it would actually be the other way round...as over here we call them lifts... ;D
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Funny Wully. If I said I needed a lift you would point me to the elevator.
Yep !! Thats our Wullie !!
yer nearly right...here,s my namesake from my home town....him and his pals...Fat Boab,..and Wee Eck...and Soapy Souter..are known the world over...along wi his neighbours the Broons...
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=oor+wullie&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=xnn3UNiDOfOb1AWnmYDgBg&ved=0CDkQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=651
btw..my email ad starts wi oor wullie.......
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Different strokes for different folks..over here this is a sleeper
(http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Gd7_n3rRic8/0.jpg)
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I am in upstate New York near Albany. Here are a few pics of the interior:
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Despite the "retro" craze among 30-somethings, 70s furniture like that lounger was mass produced and is virtually worthless.
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Well it certainly is a state.... :P
The dresser and etagere / book rest being the best bits i can see.
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I'll guess that the brass headboard is a lightweight reproduction. I can't see the bookstand too well. So far I can't see a single thing of value. Sad, considering how much they must have paid for these things back in the day.
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Possibly one reason it isn`t selling is how it is being presented !! That wallpaper behind the sofa automatically dates the entire room !! There are covers over furniture which does not help and in general just too much stuff !! Best items I can see is the bookstand and the Hitchcock type dining chairs !! What kind of prices were you looking for ??
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Why aren't people interested in estate furniture?
Good question, i dont know but suspect pretty much the same reasons period antique furniture is a difficult sale these days.
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Many are certainly hanging on to their dollars !! Yet I am seeing a bit of an increase in ebay on some items !!
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Well it certainly is a state.... :P
The dresser and etagere / book rest being the best bits i can see.
Not a very nice thing to say about..someone,s house... :o
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Estate - a state.
Just a joke but the decor is a bit....dolls housey.
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Yeah..i,d have to agree with the dolls house...look...in fact..come to think of it..it does remind me...of ..Music in a Dolls House.. ;D
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If the furniture were taken out of that house,, where people could look at it in a neutral setting, it would likely sell !! Where it is,, all you can think about is 70`s !! Most people just have no imagination !! They can`t look at a table and imagine what it would look like in their house,, they just see what it looks like there !!
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I attended an estate auction once where the bidding numbers cost $10...with the opportunity to get your $10 back if you purchased a "red tag" item. The only catch was that those red tag items were what you normally had to pay someone to haul to the landfill. But, at the end of the auction, every overstuffed chair and every box of plastic oleo tubs was being carted away. Amazing, how little it takes to change people's attitude towards the "unsaleable". ;)
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If I'm going to listen to music in a doll's house, it'll be with my FAMILY. ;D ;D
Whether that lounge chair is in that setting, or sitting on a platform made of pure gold, it's still not going to sell around here for more than $10.00.
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From the way I read it,, the problem is its not selling at all,, not the price !!
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I was asking $250 for the dining room set. That includes the Cushman round maple table with 2 leaves, pad, glass cover and tablecloth and 4 Hitchcock chairs. Here a photo of the table with the tablecloth, pad and glass cover removed:
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I was asking $250 for the dining room set. That includes the Cushman round maple table with 2 leaves, pad, glass cover and tablecloth and 4 Hitchcock chairs. Here a photo of the table with the tablecloth, pad and glass cover removed:
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Given the fact that the chairs don't "look right" with the table .... it will deter a lot of potential buyers,..... except a dealer, ..... from buying them as a "package" for $250.
Me thinkks if you split the "package" and offer the chairs for $100 and the table for $150 ..... they will sell.
Or, if you "strip" the chairs to Golden Oak. ;D ;D ;D ;D
BTW, ... if it is an old one, I think the table itself is worth $250.
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I don't think the table looks old at all. Maybe $50.00
Unless the chairs are from the 1820s (that's a joke BTW) then maybe $50.00 for them as well.
Maybe.
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I think separating them would be better !! Not everyone would want the package deal !! Chairs here,, about $20. each !! Table,, is newer and might bring $50. to $75. !! Texas sale prices !!
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Yep!
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Again, if old, like pre-1940, and refinished to original, .... a set of 4-matched chairs like that should be worth $100 to $125.
As singles or twos, ... $15 to $20 each.
Like I told once before, I watched a matched set of 4 sell, the auctioneer said take 1 or take all.
1st one sold for like $30, ...... and bidder took 1, leaving the other 3, which no one wanted 1 at that price. Auctioneer started bid again on other 3.
Same bidder got all 3 for like $5 each cause no one bid against him. ;D ;D ;D
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I think you guys are lucky in one respect...your prices for run of the mill items..such as this table and 4 chairs...appear to be holding a reasonable price....over here..you can pick them up for less than $25..for the set...this set here...went last week at Taylors Auction House in Montrose...for £10 + 20% commission.....ok.. its a repo..but..for a measly £10...its a cheap as chips way..to have something to eat your dinner off...and have a comfy carver to sit on...
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I get depressed every time you show pics like that !! Even if repro,, its a nice one !!!
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Its nuts over here at the moment...had Avril and I a dining room big enough..we would have bought this set...but...our house only has a dinette....which is just big enough for a small table/chairs...but i did contemplate...for a second or two....buying it for firewood..."yes" firewood...but as it would have meant a two trip pick up..and what with the high cost of fuel...i decided against it....but there are guys there that are buying enough "wood"..to fill a big van...and its all getting chopped up for kindling....its just a damn pity..that the cost of a container is so high....or else it would be on its way to you.... :D.
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I think someone is missing the boat ....... and I don't mean a "container" hauling boat.
Bigwull, you need a big storage building and a big pocketfull of "expendable" cash.
And that's cause you know very well that those auction prices for "secondhand" furniture are going to take a "BIG" jump .... later than sooner.
Especially if the "world economy" keeps heading toward the bottom of the "septic tank".
Each new generation "out-of-the-nest" ...... into a "nest" of their own, needs furniture, ya know.
And everytime a couple "splits up the seed corn" ... one of them usually has need for one or more pieces of furniture.
Most all furniture buyers, except dealers, buy their furniture because of a "spur-of-the-moment-need" ...... and if you got it when they need it they will buy it.
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I find places like "Freeman's Gallery" of Phila. has gotten very high end. They won't except hardly anything if it doesn't fit their criteria. The smaller places you might at least have a chance with the furniture, but if it's not really nice piece they'll give next to nothing for for it.
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It really galls me when I see shows like "American Pickers" and guys are paying fantastic prices for rusty old junk I wouldn't take if the owners paid me to and yet I can't sell fine housewares.
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Its getting that way everywhere !!
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Debodun, now don’t be getting frustrated about “market fluctuations” ….. and especially those “un-reality” TV programs.
First of all, between Thanksgiving and Easter is the worst time of year to try to sell used furniture or “collectables” of any kind for that matter, except for the “high dollar” ones. And this year (2012/13) especially, given the current economy with its ever increasing costs of consumer goods and the high unemployment.
Used furniture sells best after Easter because couples are paring up and getting married and/or people start moving to different apartments and houses. And used furniture sales pick back up again in August because people move just before school starts and college bound students need furniture for their dorms and apartments.
Collectibles start selling good from February on because people want to build up their “stock” for the upcoming Spring/Summer Garage Sales, Auctions and Flea Markets because that is when the public gets in a “buying mood”.
Now bear in mind, those “un-reality” TV programs are produced to “make money”, not to provide a “free service” to/for the viewing public. Just like the publishing of Antiques, Collectibles and Flea Market Price Guides. The public wants to know how much their “goodies” are worth so that they can brag about it and/or what other people are paying for said “goodies” …. thus said producers and publishers most always state the “highest” prices possible for their featured “items” ….. otherwise the public is not going to “buy” their TV shows or their Price Guides.
And ps, I don’t know if they are still doing it or not but if you want to see who is/was “buying that rusty old junk” then go to a Cracker Barrel Restaurant and look at their decorations.
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Its a decorating trend that may be here a while,,,or gone tomorrow !! Don`t forget tax time is hitting people too !!