People often ask what an item might be worth, and indeed TV shows like Antiques Road Show or similar make it seem very easy to answer that question. Frankly, I doubt that anyone has ever checked the prices they quote. Bear in mind that literally anyone can give someone else a completely made-up price on TV or the internet, as no one can check it anyway.
Before online marketplaces like eBay and later Ruby Lane etc. started to disrupt the collectibles market, the value of an item was basically what a certain group of (local) people or members of a certain (collector) group agreed on. Printed material was used to publish these values, hence the term "book value": the value of a particular item was based on what was written in certain reference books. However, on one scale this created different market/price structures, as a given item was not always freely available at the point of sale, e.g. an original Meissen centrepiece was easier to find (and therefore cheaper) in Germany than in, say, New Zealand, and of course the book values were different in these different areas. On another scale, certain items were priced differently on the west coast of the US than on the east coast, simply based on supply/demand, just as Longhorn cattle are cheaper in Texas than in New York.
What people don't understand - or simply don't want to understand - is that since eBay and other sources began to weld together their international sales platform(s), people suddenly began to see that, for example, their "rare" and/or "valuable" heirloom was, in fact, a cheap, mass-produced item that was freely available elsewhere if only one cared to look over the rim of one's personal soup bowl. In addition, other grossly overvalued items were suddenly brought into reality, as many scammers/cheaters were suddenly in trouble, as information previously restricted to (overvalued) reference books or collectors' groups suddenly became a tool that anyone could use. It is fair to say that in the five years since eBay's inception in 1995, many collections have collapsed or dramatically lost value; overall, prices in all areas have simply undergone a reality check.
The recalibration of prices has, of course, had a major impact on other markets, such as insurance. A common trend is that insurance companies like to charge rates for (old) book values, but only pay the much lower local street prices in case of damage or loss. A well-known example is the case of people who have been paying premiums for years for a US$ 137,000 cover, only to find that their collection of figures was only given a replacement value of 62,000 (!) after it was completely destroyed in a house fire in 2003. Therefore, people should check their insurance policies themselves to make sure that the insurer isn't pulling a fast one on them; a re-evaluation every two years should be a must, depending on the collection and coverage.
What remains is the more or less current value. How can people expect to get a reliable price or estimate when prices themselves change in less than 24 hours, depending on location, condition, shipping costs, etc.? An item may have sold for $100 on eBay one week, but another (even in better condition) may remain unsold for days before it ends up at a measly $25, even if some old reference book claims the item is "worth" around $400. Staying with this example, the item may cost one person just that plus a few dollars for postage, but someone else may have to pay much more for transport plus additional insurance, taxes and customs fees. So what is the real "value" or what is an item really "worth"? This is a question that people should ask themselves before trying to nail down a collector, expert or appraiser, because there is no way they are going to get a correct answer.
Knowing all this helps to understand why appraisers are often called "professional liars with legal cover": you are actually paying for a quote that even the appraiser does not believe in, because he knows all the above. And if you try to go back on his estimate after you have fallen on your face, you will be pointed to the small print which states that there is no guarantee whatsoever on estimates.
No one can guarantee a trustworthy estimate, simply because, by definition, there is no such thing, especially these days. If you need a price range, take a particular item and check closed sales on various available websites. Why closed sales? Well, closed sales prices are (more or less) realistic, whereas running sales or auctions are often just a made-up fantasy price and are therefore unreliable.
In any case, wait a week and try again, repeating the cycle for a larger range if necessary. The result in changing values, the market fluctuation, is due to changes in supply and demand, sometimes even on one platform only (depending on the overall sell-through rate, e.g. Ruby Lane is generally slower than eBay).
And always remember: a value is simply what a person is willing to pay for a particular item, at a particular time and place, not what people "think" it is worth...
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