Antiques

[MacBean]

I usually search eBay with the word vintage, but today chose "antique", and was surprised by what I found:

An Irish kilt outfit (under women's clothing, but clearly a child's)http://cgi.ebay.com/Antique-Irish-Ou...item20b427d262

Seal sporran with scribed cantlehttp://cgi.ebay.com/Antique-Silver-P...item255dcf7e9d

[Danwell]

I saw that sporran too yesterday.............is that a realistic price?

[artificer]

I saw that sporran too yesterday.............is that a realistic price?

For a NEW hallmarked silver one, that's about right based on a few websites I checked. For an antique in need of some repair and without verifying that it is solid silver rather than plated silver, it seems like a bit steep of a B.I.N. price, to me at least.

If anyone knows better, I'd love to be corrected and learn WHY it might be worth that much.

[BEEDEE]

I would be wary if the cantle is not marked. For sterling silver the hall marks have to be visible, not hidden under a crest. Seems to be priced only on the provenance and we have only the seller's word for that. Caveat emptor.

Brian

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

The sporran has a silver plated cantle and is worth about $250-$300 in it's present condition. If you are one of the lucky dozen or so people who have as their crest a demi-lion holding in it's dexter paw a mullet, then it might be worth a bit of a premium, say something around 10%.

The seller is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over optimistic as to value.

[artificer]

The sporran has a silver plated cantle and is worth about $250-$300 in it's present condition. If you are one of the lucky dozen or so people who have as their crest a demi-lion holding in it's dexter paw a mullet, then it might be worth a bit of a premium, say something around 10%.

The seller is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over optimistic as to value.

Again, we are indebted to you, MoR. You are a veritable font of useful knowledge.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Again, we are indebted to you, MoR. You are a veritable font of useful knowledge.

Do you mind if I share this with my wife? She seems to hold a contrary opinion...

[Downunder Kilt]

I don't know if you guys ever saw an iconic Australian film called "The Castle"
where the head of the family was an avid Trading Post (a newspaper version of ebay) scrounger, whose favourite saying when hearing the price of an object he favoured was "Tell him he's dreaming"

Seems pretty apt for this seller

[artificer]

Do you mind if I share this with my wife? She seems to hold a contrary opinion...

You are welcome to do so, but I'm not sure of the mileage you will get from it

I don't know if you guys ever saw an iconic Australian film called "The Castle"
where the head of the family was a was an avid Trading Post (a newspaper version of ebay) scrounger, whose favourite saying when hearing the price of an object he favoured was "Tell him he's dreaming"

Seems pretty apt for this seller

Good call!
I've not seen it, but it sounds dead on in this case.

[CDNSushi]

It's likely that the seller (and many others like that) have had their items appraised by some crazy outfit like Antiques Roadshow or Pawn Stars, who may give a value for the item what it "might fetch at auction on a good day." Unfortunately, the law of selective hearing dictates that "might fetch at auction on a good day" equals "is worth at least that much and not a penny less."

No one likes to think or be told that their old junk is worth less than what they would like it to be, and they probably honestly think that they'll get their asking price when they put it up on eBay or similar places.