The vast world of personal property (tangible assets) includes most of the things that are a part of our everyday life. If they are in our personal space, we see them, touch them, enjoy them when we wake up and look around our residence in the morning and probably at least glance at them up until we close our eyes for the night. We may have been given the items as gifts, bought them as travel souvenirs, or seriously collected them as a hobby, avocation, investment, or a hedge against inflation. Collecting can be great fun and some people even manage to make a buck or two as a reward for the adventure and risk that is often involved.

That last sentence brings me to the point of this short article. Over the years as accredited appraisers, the ValuePros team has examined, documented, and provided collectible appraisals on thousands of items – and if there is one constant in the fickle world of collecting, it is that casual, shoot-from-the-hip, uninformed purchases of vintage and antique items that are not properly researched more often than not are over-priced and surreptitiously over-valued by the seller. You know the mantra – “caveat emptor.”

Now, sometime later you may need a collectible appraisal, whether it is for charitable donation, insurance, marital dissolution, or just plain old curiosity. Our role at this point is to examine the items, gather all the important details of description, perform a market analysis, and based on this exercise and imbued with our nearly four decades experience and expertise provide that pot at the end of your anticipated rainbow. After all, you surmise, I paid $100.00 for that ‘widget’ ten years ago surely it is now worth at least ten times that.

Unfortunately, sometimes we must reveal that it is not as originally offered – it is a fake or reproduction; or, the market for that design, size, or color is no longer fashionable and is out of favor with the current generation; or……..and we could go on endlessly citing reasons why today’s independent collectible appraisal changed your smile into a disappointed glower.

There is a remedy to this perplexing situation – do your homework. Gather as much information as possible before the purchase, and thanks to the giant world of the internet, this is not only simple but inexpensively prudent.