Downsizing and want to sell antique furniture. Need Advice

P

petestan

Dryer sheet aficionado
Joined
Nov 19, 2015
Messages
27
Location
Boston
I am looking to downsize and would like to sell the antique furniture I have. I am talking about 8-12 pieces in total to include a sofa, chairs, end tables, coffee table, writing desk, couple of bureaus.

What would be the best way? Call an auction house, call some antique dealers, have an estate sale, etc? I want to make sure I am getting a fair price.

Will they also take the furniture or do I have to arrange to move it myself, which I do not want to do.

Looking for the best alternatives.

Thank you
 
From what I have seen here in tx is that the antique market is pretty dead. I have some pieces also but wont get enough for them to waste my time.
If you know who and what they are you can go to ebay under completed listings to see what they have sold for. Or join a antique forum and post pics and ask for a value from them.
 
The problem now is nobody wants a lot of that stuff, especially "collectibles".
Think good china, Wedgewood, Lladro, etc.
I am sorry that a lot of folks spent a lot of money on some of these items, and you may be lucky to get 10 cents on the dollar.
 
Souschef said:
The problem now is nobody wants a lot of that stuff, especially "collectibles".
Think good china, Wedgewood, Lladro, etc.
I am sorry that a lot of folks spent a lot of money on some of these items, and you may be lucky to get 10 cents on the dollar.
Click to expand...

A good friend is the local antique guru with three different stores.

He claims that the younger generation has zero interest in antiques or collectibles.

I had brought some stuff over (1920 era cameras, model T manuals, china, etc) for him to look at. He told me he had a barn full of that stuff. "It's worth something but in the $5-$10 range"

In the end we decided that rather than hang around waiting for someone from Craig's to come over and give us $25, it was, sadly just easier to chuck it.
 
We sold our traditional family home and decided to replace almost all the furniture. We had many antique wood pieces (dining table, chairs, sideboard, breakfront, end tables, etc.). We originally spent well into six figures for these items. We couldn't find anyone interested in buying them. Finally took them to a consignment shop specializiing in that stuff (they actually picked it up). Some things sold, the rest was donated to a charity thrift shop. We received pennies on the dollar.

We did have some Baker upholstered pieces recovered and moved to a different place.
 
petestan said:
I am looking to downsize and would like to sell the antique furniture I have. I am talking about 8-12 pieces in total to include a sofa, chairs, end tables, coffee table, writing desk, couple of bureaus.

What would be the best way? Call an auction house, call some antique dealers, have an estate sale, etc? I want to make sure I am getting a fair price.

Will they also take the furniture or do I have to arrange to move it myself, which I do not want to do.

Looking for the best alternatives.

Thank you
Click to expand...

If it’s really antiques (as in rare & valuable), then you’ll likely get good $$$ for it. But, if it’s just old but very nice stuff for which you paid good $$$ years ago (the more common case), then you will get pennies on the dollar for it. Probably sounds a bit harsh but, the posts above are accurate based on our experience.

We’ve moved quite a bit, and have been through this cycle several times; we also recently settled DM’s estate and had to sell all of her furniture & other stuff. My advice would be to have a professional service (estate sale, consignment shop, antiques/furniture dealer) handle it. You’ll get some $$$ but, more importantly, you will not have to deal with each & every piece; which, frankly in the end, is not likely worth your time. We used an estate sale company for DM’s stuff. They arranged everything, held the sale, and took 30% of the proceeds. the prices they could get were in the range of 10-30% of original prices.

Best of luck.
 
We sold my in-laws antique furniture to a dealer, but that was 10+ years ago. It was nice stuff, Eames, Herman Miller, Stickley, etc. We got money for it, but nothing like what they come up with on Antiques Roadshow. But if you're trying to downsize, I would think a dealer would take it off your hands more easily than any other way of disposing of it.
 
we are downsizing right now and have a few antiques. Some nice, some not that great. The local dealers are NOT interested in even looking at it, at any price. I think they are on the verge of going out of business. They say there just is no market.

We don't need any of our furniture, so we are giving it all away to kids, relatives, etc.

A lot of stuff like lawnmowers, snowblowers etc I've tried to sell on Craigslist, and unless you are selling stuff for 5 or 10 % of what it would cost new, there is little interest. I've even had a hard time giving stuff away. People say they are coming over to look at it, and never show up.
 
You will not get anywhere near what you think the items are worth. Find a good consignment store to handle. A couple of years ago we still had the parents mid-century modern furniture that needed to be sold. We even have the 1955 magazine that featured our dining room. Nobody was interested. It is all memories. A good consignment furniture store got the items sold for us. I kept the magazine to show people for a good laugh about the 1950's.
 
I did, since my post two posts ago, just sell a very nice $200 pressure cooker for $25.
Woot woot! At least I don't have to find a cupboard space for it.
 
HadEnuff said:
I did, since my post two posts ago, just sell a very nice $200 pressure cooker for $25.
Woot woot! At least I don't have to find a cupboard space for it.
Click to expand...

Congrats! Guess that takes the pressure off of you! :LOL:
 
I had some luck selling my parents' antiquey stuff on Craigslist. It may have been because that they lived in Princeton, NJ, where a lot of arts/craftsy rich folk hang out (it seems to me, anyway). I really blew it once with an antique wine press from 1904 or thereabouts. A crazy collector type offered me $450 cash on the spot and I turned him down, since I hadn't adequately researched its alleged value. He had lost interest in it when I contacted him later, but referred me to someone else who gave me $300 for it. A lot of stuff sold after months of being listed, when finally one person shows up who pays full asking price. Had to give away a lot due to zero response from Craigslist. One guy gave me $55 for an old Regulator wall clock that I was only asking $45 for.
 
hopefullyoneday said:
From what I have seen here in tx is that the antique market is pretty dead. I have some pieces also but wont get enough for them to waste my time.
Click to expand...

My understanding is that antique FURNITURE in particular is getting hammered when sold. Guess the kids don't like it. Too bad-usually very well made of solid woods. Take a walk through IKEA and you will see what the current tastes are (cheap).

Your best bet is Craigslist, in my opinion. Yeah, yeah, safety issues. But we have sold quite a bit of furniture on craigs and not had a problem. Advise moving it in your garage, and having more than one person home when showing it. If you don't want to move it to your garage-OK. We have sold both ways but prefer not having people walking through our house.
 
HadEnuff said:
A lot of stuff like lawnmowers, snowblowers etc I've tried to sell on Craigslist, and unless you are selling stuff for 5 or 10 % of what it would cost new, there is little interest. I've even had a hard time giving stuff away. People say they are coming over to look at it, and never show up.
Click to expand...
Yep, no shows happen. But you are home anyway-no loss!
 
I sold an Eastlake Bed from 1860 for $250 on CL. It was beautiful and in perfect shape. I first sold a few antiques on an auction house but after they took their cut it was not much $ at all. Plus we had to drive it there. Kids don't like antiques. Our shops are going out of business.
 
marko said:
A good friend is the local antique guru with three different stores.

He claims that the younger generation has zero interest in antiques or collectibles.

I had brought some stuff over (1920 era cameras, model T manuals, china, etc) for him to look at. He told me he had a barn full of that stuff. "It's worth something but in the $5-$10 range"

In the end we decided that rather than hang around waiting for someone from Craig's to come over and give us $25, it was, sadly just easier to chuck it.
Click to expand...

Interesting point regarding the younger generation and there may be something to it. I've recently taken a renewed interest in Breweriana (particularly beer cans), which I collected as a teenager.

It has been enjoyable to revisit the hobby and see some of the items I recall from collecting in the 70's. But also cannot help but to notice the lack of younger people at the breweriana shows/events. Almost non-existent.

Which is surprising in a way given the rise of new breweries/micro-brews in the US, many of which involve millennials in some capacity. But their interest in brewing does not seem to carry over to brewing history or breweriana.

The younger generation seems to prefer to "travel light", and may view collecting and antiques as something that would tie them down, for lack of a better phrase. Just a thought.
 
we have a 5300 sq ft house full of antiques, about half inherited the other half collected, including lots of rugs

DW was thinking about trying to sell some of it so we could downsize but it looks like we will just have to live with them
 
BIL's wife has an estate liquidation business in San Antonio, Texas. She has pretty much closed up and only does certain sales. She has a leased warehouse busting at the seams with antiques and good furniture. She said this will be her last year in business as she has a hard time selling anything of value. Hurricane Harvey helped her business this last year as a lot of people were replacing damaged furniture.

Her home looks like a museum as it is full of antiques. Like others mentioned, no younger people want this stuff and us older folks (including yours truly) are stuck with our own load of it.
 
We had some antiques in our last house. We put them up for sale on Craigslist when we moved. They all eventually sold, but nowhere near the pricing we originally thought. In the end we were happy to just get rid of them. If you can use them, hold onto them. The value is so marginal.
 
We’ve also found this to be the case with high-end modern furniture. We aren’t into antiques, but we have sold a lot of very nice, originally expensive, furniture and our experience is very similar - lucky to get 20 cents on the dollar, many pieces don’t sell at all or sell for less than 10 cents on the dollar.
 
Some of this is just the nature of selling used furniture. It has always been a pennies on the dollar proposition because it is used, it is heavy, and you do not have showroom traffic

Having said that, it is great to get rid of stuff and get money if you can.

Flipside is that buying used stuff is a huge bargain, as my millennial son can tell you.

But antiques? Not so much. We encountered this with my stepdad's small house, which was full of antiques and collectibles as he was once a dealer. We used an auctioneer who we knew and got it all sold but far far less than expected in terms of proceeds. Made us a little sad but mainly happy many of these pieces found new homes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

N
Wisdom needed- Downsizing Renting vs Buying
Replies
15
Views
877
meleana
M
S
Do you want to manage it?
2
Replies
31
Views
2K
djsander
D
Qs Laptop
When Friends Claim They Need to Keep Working...and You are Doubtful
2 3
Replies
59
Views
4K
TheWizard
TheWizard
Tranquility Base
Borrowing Against Investment Portfolio For Home Purchase
Replies
15
Views
545
pb4uski
pb4uski
Tranquility Base
When to Sell Positions With Unrealized Gains
2
Replies
38
Views
2K
TheWizard
TheWizard

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom