Chi is exactly spot on. If you want to know an item's worth, you get an appraisal from an unbiased party, not from the reseller. I may be misunderstanding Debby's post, but certainly the reseller would not give the seller, in writing, a statement of what something is worth, that's what an impartial appraiser should provide. The research and homework should be done by the seller before attempting to sell, the responsibility is theirs to do so and then price it. Which is what Rosemary is doing here. It's not a reseller's responsibility to arrive at a value, then put the value in writing; but they can make an offer, as this man has done with his $1400 offer to Rosemary. It's up to the seller to find out a ballpark estimate of worth, not up to the buyer/reseller to provide that information, let alone put it in writing! The buyer merely states what HE is willing to pay, or he can counter to the seller's price, and then they negotiate. The buyer can either take or leave a buyer/reseller's counter offer. Rosemary, I have two points to make. One is to contact the auction firms already mentioned, such as Christie's, as they can probably give you a good idea of its worth and saleability. Also calling and then emailing photos to some local antique stores to get a better idea of what it might be worth in your area. With this information along with online research, you'll know whether to accept the $1400 offer. Secondly, I think $1400 sounds fair. I am an antique dealer and I know how hard beds are to sell, especially full size. I won't invest in one myself because they are so hard to sell and take up a lot of space and cost a lot of rent for the amt. of time they are in the booth. Other issues I'd consider are that it's been refinished, and also there might be a really small market for something that ornate. So I don't think, all in all, I would risk my money to buy something that iffy. If it were me, I'd probably take the $1400, but not until I'd further researched it and/or gotten an impartial appraisal. Also it is entirely possible that it may have more value in your part of the country than where I live. Antiques and collectibles really vary in value and popularity in different areas, as I'm sure you know. I don't mean to get off your point here, Rosemary, but I see some misunderstanding, even in this thread, and just want to share some information that I was unaware of myself before becoming a dealer. The reseller is taking the risk of what an item will fetch. Once in a great while I'll buy something I see at a garage sale, then come home and research it and find that it is worth far more than what I paid. So occasionally I make out nicely on an item. But more often than not, I have items that I either make a little on, break even, take a loss on, or do not sell at all. Believe me, I have lots of things to donate to Goodwill or put in a garage sale. LOL. Not to mention that I have overhead - rent to pay, gas to buy, supplies to buy to fix/shine things up, plus taking a loss on items that don't sell or that I have to mark down, or that get stolen or broken. Antique dealers are not getting rich. Bottom line is even the good, experienced ones are making below minimum wage in this economy. Another way to look at this is observing the chain of who makes what when an item is sold. #1 person is someone who decides to sell of some of their belongings at an estate sale. #2 person is the one conducting the estate sale. #3 person is the antique dealer who buys the item at the estate sale. #4 person is the owner of the antique mall. #5 person is the final consumer who buys the item at the antique mall. Ok, lets say person #3, the antique dealer, buys an item at the estate sale for $100. Person #2, who is conducting the estate sale, gets 30% which is $30. Person #1, the original owner, gets 70%, which is $70. Person #3, the antique dealer, puts it in her booth for $150. When it sells, assuming she hasn't had to drop the price, person #5, the final consumer/buyer pays $135 (plus tax) because the mall offers a 10% discount. And person #4, the mall owner, gets a cut of 13% of all sales, so that is $19.50. So that means that person #3, the antique dealer, realizes $115.50 minus the cost of the item, minus her booth rent, minus her gas to go to sales, minus any supplies to fix/clean up the item. And of course there's her time investment of going to the sale, cleaning/fixing/prepping the item for sale, researching the pricing, entering the info into her bookkeeping, making the price tag, and taking it to the booth and arranging it for display. All for a net of less than $10. Compare that to the estate sale lady, who made $30 (although she has business expenses, too) BUT she did not have to risk any of her own money in the deal. And how many of the five are risking their money? Only #3, the antique dealer. And it may not sell, may take a year (or longer) to sell, may have to drop the price, may have to donate it. Just wanted you to see how it really works. LOL. So you can see if an antique dealer is to make any money at all, they have to ask double what they paid (pay 100, price at 200, after the selling fees - realize 154 minus expenses which might be about 10 for a final net of $44. I'd need to make 454 like sales to make $20,000 annually. Most of us dealers could make more flipping burgers at the golden arches, but at least this is lots more fun! Best of luck with this, Rosemary, and I am so sorry for your father's passing and all the pain you've been through.

Not recovering from "walking pneumonia" and pink-eye. Not cooking for Thanksgiving. Swore off of it last year, then DH was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Back to the kitchen; he loves leftovers and I don't even like turkey! Finally getting an answer for DHs ongoing weight loss and nausea.

I don't have real compost but I do have leaf mulch that has really broken down over the couple of years it has been in a windrow out in my back yard. The town brought me 8 large trucks ( approximately 200 - 250 cubic yards) that had been vacuumed out of the gutters. I use it as mulch every time I plant something new in my gardens about 6-8" deep and my soil is easy to plant into now and the weeds are few and far between and easy to pull because they are only rooted in loose mulch. I like it so much that I'll probably e-mail the Superintendent of Public Works about November and ask for about 5 more truckloads to replace what I've used. I almost feel guilty about how easy it is.

Marilyn's no jackass ... but she gives some a good home. Plus some horses slated for slaughter. Go, Marilyn. As for me - for much of my working life I lived in an employer-owned house ... but knew that on the day that I got fired ... or retired ... I'd have to provide my own, so began an investing program to deal with the issue. Recently asked my banker if he could give me one good reason (or two or three poor ones) why I shouldn't take my money out oof his bank, dig a hole in the back yard, and bury it. He said that we need money for businesses to start new projects, for young ones to finance homes and other ideas to keep the economy going. I said that they guarantee to pay me the amount that I gave them, after two, three or five years, etc. - same deal as my cash in the hole in the back yard (of my rented house - which info I didn't feel it useful to share with him). The only difference is the rent that they pay me on the money, called "interest", at about 2.5%. Interest income is taxed at top rate, and if I'm in 25% tax rate, that .625% to the government (granted, to pay for roads, schools, healthcare, etc.) ... ... leaves 1.875% in my pocket. The other rat that eats my invested cheese is called "inflation" and that hits my "guaranteed" money in the bank and in the hole in the backyard equally. The official rate is around 2% ... but if you"ve visited a grocer or other business lately, you'll dispute it. As many governments owe huge, and increasing, debts, they have less than a smidgeon of interest in seeing interest rates rise any appreciable amount in the near future. If I buy shares in your bank, they pay about 4.5% dividends ... and, as you know, I pay a much lower tax rate on those dividends. I bought shares in a Canadian bank just over 50 years ago, for around $4.17 per share, paying about 10 - 12 cents/year dividend, at lower tax rate. In 2007, before the financial troubles, I could have sold them for about $110. and the annual divdend rate was $3.08. Big drop in share price after that, some said they'd cut dividend rate. They didn't - but no increase for four years. I figured that if I'd keep them a few more years, they'd pay each year the original price that I'd paid. They did - about four years ago. Annual rate $5.44 last Dec, now $5.60: 34% above original share price. But I have fewer shares. When I transfer shares to a charity, I receive a tax-deductible receipt for the full amount ... and avoid the usual tax at usual rate on half of the capital gain. The banker didn't really have much of an answer for me. ole joyfuelled