Charlee

I got this email from Worthpoint today, and wanted to share it here...I think it answers a lot of questions about what those vintage WHATEVERS are worth! ;)

http://www.worthpoint.com/blog-entry...eid=156b1afb28

craftybear

thanks

suzee

Thanks for sharing this, Charlee. I think he's 'dead on.' I love the vintage machines, but recognize that their resale value may be a variable; therefore I am only willing to pay what a machine is worth to ME, not 'what the same machine is listed for on e-bay'! This article underscores that something is only worth as much as somebody is willing to pay for it. That being said, did you see the recent post about some crazy lady paying $10,000.00 for invisible art? Sheesh!

mom-6

Very interesting.
Made me think of a conversation awhile back about the difference between 'hand made' and 'home made'.

BrendaY

I'm an antique doll collector/dealer and am amazed at times how folks value some raggedy old doll so little... Some are real treasures! I once appraised a huge collection in a tiny farmhouse. The old couple had bought and sold at flea markets for many years. There were dolls under the beds, under the dressers, under the stairs... every time I would think that was all, they would take me to another room that appeared to be almost empty of dolls... then they'd start pulling them out. THEN, there was a basement that I hadn't known about! It took 3 days to dig out all of those dolls, and there were many, many wonderful antique dolls - plus just as many dolls that were antique but had been made carelessly and by the thousands..these had minimal value....

Ramona Byrd

I get the magazine from the Antiques Roadshow, and it says more or less the same thing.

My Grandma had some nice things, such as the big windup record player about waist high, but she had worked so hard all her life that as each new thing came around and her kids would buy it for her, she either gave the old one away, or more often, stuck it in the back of the barn (OUCH!!!)

Would I pay a thousand dollars for an old sewing machine? No, of course not, when they go for 500 down to 5 dollars, which is what they were worth to their owners. What they or it may be worth to me or you is something else entirely.

Would I buy a pile of old fabrics that look like the feed sacks from my childhood? Yup, in a new york minute, especially if it had my childhood beloved little red roosters on it. A sunflower on a feed sack, no, but someone else might fight me for it.

sueisallaboutquilts

Charlee, that was a good article. Puts it in perspective.

hazeljane

So much of the value in some of these items is sentimental, not in $$. The problem is that our society doesn't value sentiment as much, which is sad. or maybe we value trends more as a society.

I have had green Fire-King dishes for the past 25 years. 25 years ago, they were dirt cheap and I found them at garage sales, and under elderly relatives' plants in the living room. And loved them for the color and durablity. 14 years or so ago, Martha Stewart 'discovered' and started collecting them. The monetary value skyrocketed. They were the new "hot" collectible. That has faded some, and still, they are on my table. Why? Because for me, they are the same beloved dishes that hold up, are a pretty color and were made to be used by middle class folks like me, way back when. Their relative monetary value notwithstanding, they are MY dishes.

OK. Rant over.