How to Get an Antique Appraised

Video Transcript

"So you're looking to get a piece of antique furniture appraised and you're not quite sure who to call. I'm Blake Kennedy with Kennedy Brothers Estate Services and I'm here to help. Getting an antique appraised is not that difficult of a problem. You want to make sure that you call someone reputable, but there's two different reasons to get an appraisal done. One is a certified written appraisal, which is a certified document where you come in, they take their notes, their measurements, their photographs, and they come back home, and do the research at their office to find out exactly what the piece is, and they write it up and then turn it back over to you. There's also what they call a verbal appraisal. A verbal appraisal is where we come in and we take a look at the piece and tell you what we know about it at the time, the age of it of what we know, and about the price that you should expect for if that's what you're looking to do is get rid of it. But you want to make sure that you hire a certified appraiser. Some people just tend to call up the antique shops 'cause they think they know best, but the antique shops are interested in buying it, 'cause that's what they do, they sell these items. So you want to find somebody that has the right designations, the right person - you might want to call your attorney and say hey, who do you use as an appraiser for content? But just make sure they're certified, licensed, and have the right designations to write up a certified appraisal. They'll tell you exactly what it's worth, and you should get things appraised about every ten years, 'cause some things come up and things go down, you know, the market bears differently all the time, so, get your item appraised about every ten years. I hope that helped. I'm Blake Kennedy."