As an antique dealer, I am frequently asked questions about the values of the pottery and glassware that we carry. How do your price your antiques and collectibles? What makes an antique or collectible valuable?

How do we price antiques and collectibles?

Our pricing on antique value depends on four factors.

1. The first factor is how much money we spent purchasing the piece.
   

2. The second factor is book pricing. We spend a lot of time researching book values on the antiques and collectibles that we offer.
   

3. The third factor is what we think the market will bear. If a piece is unusual or rare, we are going to price it as close to book value as we think we can get away with. The more common the piece is, the lower it is going to be below list price.
   

4. If all else fails, we do what you would do. We guess, although we try to tell ourselves that we are making an “educated” guess.

What makes an antique or collectible valuable?

There are a lot of factors that go into making a piece valuable.

1. Age can have an influence on the value of a piece. Sometimes the older the piece, the more value it has. However, this is not always the case. For example, Hull Pottery’s early art, a line of stoneware and semi-porcelain vases and jardinières manufactured during the 1920’s, is significantly less valuable today than their Continental line from the 1950’s.
   

2. Scarcity can factor into the selling price. The logic is that the scarcer the piece is, the more money it will command.
   

3. Location can be related to scarcity. An antique or collectible may be more expensive in one region than another simply because it is harder to find.
   

4. Fashion may be the largest factor that influences market pricing. While there will always be collectors who will continue to buy regardless of trends, fashion and popularity do influence the value of antiques and collectibles. For example, the shabby chic look has been pervasive for the last few years in some of the markets where we sell, forcing pieces without the look to go down and pushing the price of shabby-chic-looking pieces up.

I usually advise buyers to be aware of antique values when they collect, but to also collect what they enjoy, because the values may change over time, either up or, perhaps, down.

A teenage girl, after looking over our merchandise at the Peddler’s Faire in Cayucos, California, turned to me and asked me if we would not make more money selling our merchandise at a pawn shop. I looked at her blankly for a moment, realized that she probably meant an antique shop, and explained why pawn shops would not work for us. Another step towards educating a future collector!