Wintersewer

"However, even with an appraisal, it's basically worth what someone will give you for it."

Very true....of everything. I constantly see, on CL, that an item (usually a common old sewing machine) was appraised or "valued" at hundreds more than it would ever be sold for. I don't know about quilts, but I wonder if an appraiser ever offers to buy any item for, say 3/4th of what they claim it is worth. It seems to me that an appraiser who gets paid should stand by her/his opinion.

feline fanatic

Please keep in mind that most appraisals are done for insurance replacement value for items damaged or lost in shipping, from theft or loss due to fire or flooding, etc. This is especially true of show quilts that get shipped. I can pretty much assure you that those of us who have gotten appraisals (on quilts) for this reason would much rather have the quilt then be reimbursed for the appraised value even if it is in the thousands.

Even on Antiques Roadshow you will often hear the appraiser say for "insurance purposes" or "replacement value". Traditionally there are 3 appraisal values when it comes to antiques and artwork (antique or contemporary).
1. The highest appraisal which is the one for replacement value for insurance purposes and the value the owner should insure it for.
2. The retail resale value. This is traditionally the the 2nd highest value which is what you could expect to pay for a similar item in a retail environment
3. The auction value. This would be the lowest appraised value and also the most volatile and what the appraiser would expect the item to fetch in an auction setting. This value is usually given as a range (high/low number).

I honestly think if you see a lot of CL antiques where the seller is saying it was appraised at is either blowing smoke or using the insurance Appraisal value or they went on to e-bay and looked at asking price rather than selling price of similar items.

The truth is any item, no matter what it appraises at, is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it when it comes to selling, no matter how much you paid for it or think it is worth. But if you have no intention of ever parting with the item it could be priceless in your eyes.

cashs_mom

[QUOTE=Dodie;7799918]Have you ever sold one of the ones you had appraised? I'd be interested to see if the sale value agreed with the appraised value of the quilt.

JustAbitCrazy

With quilts, much of the value is determined by it's condition. (In real estate the three most important considerations are location, location, location. With quilts, the three most important considerations are condition, condition, condition.)
Other factors are the execution (skill of the quilter), pattern difficulty, rarity of fabrics used, etc.

Dodie

No I have not sold either one of my quilts that was appraised as I would never part with them they mean to much to me