Art & Antiques by Dr. Lori

Overlooked Antiques Worth a Fortune
With the economic issues facing Americans today like the mortgage crisis and sky high credit card debt, how can Americans afford to throw away valuable antiques? People say they cannot afford to lose money, but they are actually throwing it away on a daily basis. People are making costly decisions about what goes into the dumpster without help from an expert who is unbiased, highly educated, and has no interest in buying or selling your stuff.  Some people say that you “have at least $1,000 worth of valuable items in your house,” but I know and tell people that you have more, much more that $1,000 worth of valuable items in your house—easily 10 times more.

Listen to Suze:
I have to praise author and financial expert, Suze Orman for encouraging Americans to wake up when it comes to their getting their financial house in order. However, the irony in all of this is that Americans’ money is right inside America’s houses. The problem is that it goes overlooked. 
Most people rely on family members like a dumpster-crazed brother-in-law to evaluate grandma’s antiques. If grandma’s stuff wasn’t valuable why would there be so many people trying to get authority over it?  Everyone from antiques dealers and auction house reps to relatives and neighbors are all vying for grandma’s stuff. Without expert help, outsiders could reap the rewards from decades of your family’s hard work right from grandma’s trash pile.
In Your House:
I read many reports of people discovering a valuable antique or a work of art. Yet, rarely do I read reports of what was lost or the value of these lost objects. When I ask audiences at my public appraisal events nationwide if they have anything of value, they say “Oh, Dr. Lori, I don’t have anything valuable.” Let me tell you from experience, you have something of historic and monetary value in your home, right now.  There are lots of people who don’t want you to realize you have valuable stuff! Don’t be fooled.
I told an audience member at one of my antiques appraisal events that his great aunt’s Tiffany lamp was worth $500,000. He was shocked and saddened because he had trashed another one just like it because he didn’t really like it.
Trash Heap Treasure:
Near Rochester, NY, a trash-picking man cashed in on an Arts & Crafts high back chair by furniture designer, Charles Rolhfs (1853-1936) found on a neighbor’s trash heap. Signed and dated 1902, the man helped himself to his neighbor’s disposed of chair and sold it for a record breaking $198,000. How would you feel if you were the neighbor who unknowingly put that valuable chair out to the trash!?

For nearly a decade, I have urged you to realize that you may be losing valuable antiques.

Dr. Lori is a certified art and antiques appraiser, TV personality, and author with the Ph.D. in art history.  Visit www.DrLoriV.com or call (888) 431-1010.