You may be better off contacting a local auction house. I am not making a value judgement about your relative's antiques but Sotheby's tends to deal in the rarefied upper tier of antiques where individual pieces will often bring hammer prices of hundreds of thousands to millions per individual piece of furniture.

If you had things that they were really interested in, they would probably returned your inquiries immediately.

Look for a local auction house who deals in more typical quality antiques and estate finds.

If Sotheby's hasn't gotten back to you, why not contact someone else? I'd google "estate liquidation companies" in your area.

I've dealt with Sotheby's and, because what they saw in the photos, they called immediately. I'm guessing by their response that yours is less valuable. Try once more and ask they straight out should you use a local auction house. Good luck.

My relative kept clippings that go with many of the antiques regarding the sale of similar items. The chest of drawers that is an exact match auctioned off at over $500,000. Yayagal, you are right though, why haven't they contacted me if they are interested? I will contact a local person. Thanks all!

Why not try to sell them through a consignment store? Stuff like that has a big demand in our area.

If you really have a chest worth $500,000 I wouldn't go local as you need broader coverage. I was thinking local auction house/estate liquidator too until you mentioned the price.

See who else sells high end antiques and send them some pics. Google "high end antiques" and "your city" or "auction house" and see what you get. If it is worth that much I'd find the right place to sell it. And store it if you have to. That's a lot of money to rush to liquidate. There are tons of online auction houses also... check out auctionzip.com, or liveauctioneers.com, or proxibid.com to find other auction houses dealing with high end antiques.

From the below link:

Well known auction houses

These auction houses usually only deal in high end consignments.

Christies New York, New York
Sotheby�s New York, New York
Skinners � Bolton, Massachusetts
Doyle�s New York, New York
Bonham and Butterfield�s Los Angles, California
Heritage Dallas, Texas
Susanina�s Auctions Chicago, Illinois
DuMouchelle Auction Galleries Detroit, Michigan
Kruse Auction Auburn, Indiana

Up and coming auction houses

These auction houses are more of an all round auction houses. They handle a range of consignments from common to rare to high end items.

Bunte Auction Services Elgin, Illinois
Stanton�s Michigan
Tom Harris Marshall Town, Iowa
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers � Chicago, Illinois
LelandLittle Auction and Estate Sales � Hillsborough, North Carolina
John Moran Auctioneers Inc. � Altadena, CA
Priddy�s Auction Galleries � Denver, CO
Forsythes� Auctions, LLC � Cincinnati, Ohio

Here is a link that might be useful: Selling high end antiques.

Beeps, thanks for the link and all the info. We are in Connecticut. I contacted the Director of Sotheby's New England. He knows the time limit I have. I will check your link and see if anyone is interested. Thanks again. Nancy

Or use this site to get a furniture appraisal. Not trying to be rude, but did you miss a decimal point in that $500,000? I can't imagine what a half million dollar dresser would even look like! :) And I'd have that baby being guarded 24x7! =)

Here is a link that might be useful: Get an appraisal

Beeps, these are all things that have been told to me. I don't know the facts. I haven't seen the newspaper clipping that my mother put away. She has dementia right now and we are moving her to a facility on Wednesday. I will try to find the newspaper clipping that shows the auction and the sale price. I won't believe anything until I see the facts. Maybe it's just worth $2,000!! Who knows? My mother was extremely diligent about all of her record keeping so I tend to believe this is a high end antique! Here's the photo:

{{!gwi}}

Wow. Very pretty. But I wouldn't have a clue about worth. I used to have a dresser with that type of hardware from my gmother, my brother "borrowed" it at one point and I've never seen it again. I may have to snag it back for that type of money! ;) Of course, he would have treated it harshly whereas I'm easy on things. (Although my dogs aren't always! :)

Sorry about your mom. Sounds like a difficult time. My dad lives in an independent living facility now (mom passed away 3 years ago) and we had to liquidate everything in his house 2 years ago and then sell the house. A rather sad time as that was the home I was born and raised in. We just used a local place because he and mom didn't have pricey things. (Funny - but we contacted that place in Altadena on the above list because my parents house was in Pasadena, right next door to Altadena. He came to take a look but said my parents were not big enough pack rats for him to deal with the liquidation. He wanted more stuff. =)

But, we also made a few errors and let some things go at the local sale that we should have tried to sell ourselves. Good for you for looking into it now. And if you are going to have a local estate sale, maybe in addition to having some high end things handled by an auction house, don't throw anything away! We gave away literally 3 packed SUV-loads of fabric that my mom never got around to sewing and it would have been worth some money, as well as tons and tons of buttons. As I said we had an estate sale, but we cleaned out before it. A mistake. The stuff people buy - including the canned goods from the pantry.

Our estate sale person did sell some of the higher dollar jewelry on ebay and brought in higher prices than she would have gotten at the estate sale. I should have done that myself. Shoulda, woulda, coulda... oh well. I kept the silver and had fun sorting through that and determining prices before I sold it on ebay. I got more for my dad that way than I would have from an auction house because the auction houses take a bigger cut than ebay does.

Good luck with things! Oh, and if you need a local auction house this site is helpful too...

Here is a link that might be useful: Estate Sales and Companies

With first period furniture and revival pieces provenance is what is the most important. A tall chest like yours that is all original, has all the original brasses and can be identified as to likely region and maker, might be worth a lot of money. A tall chest of relatively typical design that has been modified or is not very remarkable even if it is first period may not be worth all that much. A revival piece that is well made will vary a Lot by the market, even it if it is technically antique. I've seen nice antique revival sometimes go for more than an unremarkable first period piece, too.

I could be completely wrong, but this looks like a revival piece to me, and that will really depend on who is at the auction that day.

A month is not long enough to get everything in order. If the house is full of valuable antiques, it would be worth your while to hire a reputable antiques-mover to put all the relevant pieces into storage.

Before you put the items in storage, gather the paperwork and take photos. Make sure the photos include closeups of cornerjoints, hinges, pulls and maker's marks, if you find any.

Once the pieces are in storage, you can breathe easier, and deal with the auction houses at your leisure.

Thanks mclarke! I think that is what will have to be done. I'm not going to rush selling Mom's antiques! Thanks everyone for the input!

Good plan, Redsox. No sense stressing yourself during this already-stressful time.

Please stop back and let us know how it goes.

Redsox....we are going through the exact same thing, although we are just a few steps ahead. We recently inherited a Victorian in Cape May, NJ filled to the brim with the MIL's antiques. She was obsessed with dressers, sideboards, queen anne chairs and grandfather clocks, along with everything else you can imagine. We contacted Sotheby's and got a quote. We also contacted several antique appraisers (Cape May is saturated with liquidators and estate appraisers). All the quotes we received varied greatly...so now we are reassessing. It's a very time consuming process. We are trying to educate ourselves as best we can, prior to selling anything. Good Luck!

colorblind, thanks for the info. I will heed your advice. I have been researching the chest of drawers on line. It looks like it is a Rhode Island Chippendale Maple chest. I certainly don't see that it is worth what my mother thought. She cut out articles from Maine Antique Digest and I was reading how the prices were highly inflated in the 80's. So we will see what happens.

If you do put them in storage, don't forget to get them covered by insurance. I'm trying as much as I can to get the names of some of my mom's better things. Some days she remembers and others she has it on the tip of her tongue. I would love to do some e-bay items myself but have a hard time knowing what to search for and it sure is time consuming.

Redsox, I wish you the best in going through the process.

Don't expect quick action or smart judgments from geezers in the New England Sotheby's. They haven't successfully completed a Number Two since Carter was president. Call Skinner.

Are you close enough for Gentle Giant to move and store the stuff? Don't rush with anything fine.

Unfortunately depending on where you are the market is pretty soft for late 18th and early 19th century furniture right now. I was at an auction at Freeman's where there were nice pieces that didn't make reserve or even starting price. At one point the auctioneer actually said "oh come ON you couldn't even get something at IKEA at this price!"

That's a nice looking piece you show. I wouldn't rush the process, I would store it or cram my own house with it and take my time.

Redsox, at the risk of sounding harsh...articles from newspapers about items that are 'an exact match' are quite meaningless as far as what the ACTUAL value of your items may be. If you had written appraisals from experts that your mother had hired, and if those were in your hands, then you would indeed be able to have some confidence that your furniture was very valuable.

Hope you do find out good news, but I wouldn't get my hopes up about becoming fabulously wealthy based on some outdated clippings. Especially if a reputable place doesn't seem too interested; Sothebys and other high end dealers are highly trained in spotting the jewels in the junk so to speak. If you sent them a photo of a half million dollar chest, I'm sure someone would have responded to you VERY fast.

RedSox I am in NW CT and there are estate auctions and sales every weekend around here - we are on the "CT Antiques Trail" and I swear people from NYC will buy just about anything for just about any price in some of these shops (sorry NYC members). So you may want to look into Litchfield County area estate liquidators and etc. if you're anywhere nearby, you may get some good $$$ from them.

Runninginplace said essentially what I was going to say - my aunt did exactly the same thing, trying to convince herself that her things were fine when they were only good (and in one or two cases, not even that).

So for the things you think may have significant value, you might find that a paid appraisal is worth the cost. Then at the least you will know what you have, what you should be able to get for it, and to whom to consign it for auction or sale.

And remember, too, that you are often effectively selling wholesale, so the full retail value isn't likely to come to you.

If your moniker is an indication, and you're in the Boston area, I agree that Skinner may be your best bet.

Storage and thinking about it is a good idea to buy yourself some time, but the cost of storage can eventually eat away the entire value of the items.

Maybe post an enquiry on the Antiques and Collectibles forum to get some input on whether your items are really special or not. Also watch your local craigslist and browse some antique stores to get a feel for the market.

Stores that will consign items might be your best bet - you don't have to pay for storage, and they can take care of researching the pricing, among other advantages. But you should have some (realistic) idea going in of what your stuff is worth.

Karin L

Redsox,

I normally only lurk on this particular forum but have been round GW for many years. To the regulars, please excuse me for jumping in but I believe I have some info that will be useful for Redsox.

Redsox, my DH & I are antique collectors. I HIGHLY recommend you contact David Hillier at Antique Associates in West Townsend, MA. He's been our broker for nearly 20 years. He will know the value of your mother's piece(s). His number is on the website linked below.

BTW, I live in Mystic, CT so not in MA but still a Red Sox & Patriot fan! :)

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: Antique Associates at West Townsend, MA

Redsox,

If you'd like to email me through GW...I'll give you my name to give David as a reference.

/tricia