Antique appraisal events are big business, expert says

That antique tucked away in your attic just might be more valuable than you think.

Traveling with his “one-man antique roadshow” for the past seven months, Mark Moran has helped people make surprising discoveries.

“The odds of someone having something really valuable is about 1,000 to 1, but it happens every single day,” said Moran, of Mark F. Moran Appraisals of Antiques & Fine Art (mark-moran.blogspot.com). “You just never know.”

Moran, who has conducted antique appraisal events throughout the upper-Midwest, recently brought his show to the Home and Garden Expo in Hampshire. Another local event is scheduled for 1 p.m. April 21 at Johnsburg Public Library, 3000 N. Johnsburg Road.

An author of dozens of antiques reference guides, Moran, of Iola, Wis., began collecting antiques in the 1970s.

He became an antique dealer in the 1980s and later an editor for antiques and collectibles books with Krause Publications.

He struck out on his own last year to offer appraising services.

“Boy, it was an idea whose time had come, at least to this part of the world,” he said. “The response has just been amazing.”

With a goal of having at least 40 items available for appraising at each event, he said he’s booked up to 80 at a time.

Here’s more of what he had to say about the discoveries and his antique appraising business.

Why do you think the events have been so popular?

“Everybody has something they’re curious about, even people who don’t necessarily care about antiques or arts. They’ve got something passed down into the family or given as a gift or found at a rummage sale that they’re curious about. That curiosity has helped to propel the popularity of the program. That and antique road shows are so popular.

It just really piques people’s curiosity to find out what they have. The funny thing is most people don’t care about the value. They want to know the history, the back-story, the origin, when it was made, the design influence. If they find out it’s a particularly valuable item, that’s icing on the cake.

Do you ever end up buying anything?

I never offer to buy or arrange a sale on a commission. That would be a conflict of interest for me to tell them what it’s worth and turn around and offer them money for it.

There are people who do... Their motivation is to find items they can turn around and sell. There’s nothing wrong with that, but in my case, because I’m there just as an appraiser and educator and entertainer, I never offer to buy or sell on commission. There are times when I have wanted to.

How has the economy influenced the antique appraisal business?

I think the wider economy has had an effect. In the last 10 years the market for collecting has declined. Part of that is the economy. Part of that is the quality of the reproductions are so good. If somebody just wants a look and is not concerned with age or origin or the designers, if they just want something that looks good in their home, they can go to a million places online... or many other outlets to get something they want to surround themselves with. That’s what we do. We surround ourselves with stuff that makes us feel good...

There’s been a big, general shift in how people view antiques and collectibles. I wish I could say it’s a pendulum swing one way and it’s going to swing back, but I really don’t think the antique trade will ever be what it was 20 years ago.

What are some things people can look for when going through their attics or homes to know if an item is valuable?

It terms of artwork, original works I know it can be difficult to tell if it’s a painting, a print or a drawing. I get a lot of artwork at the program. Oftentimes people think they’re original works of art when in fact, they are later copies or prints or someone recreating a famous painting.

I would say key is to examine very closely and look for signs it’s an original work. In the case of the painting, if you see brush strokes. If its a print, see if there’s a fine dot pattern in the print. If there is, it’s a photo reproductions.

With ceramics and glassware, there are just so many different kinds. You have to train your eye to spot a good design influence... It’s a matter of training your eyt to spot quality and that just takes tie.

What are some of the most interesting items you’ve seen?

One the most valuable pieces I’ve ever seen was some Chinese Cloisone elephant figurines, just beautiful.The owner thought they might be 18th century. It turns out they are 19th century. Those could be worth 10s of thousands of dollars. In fact, they’re going to be sold at auction quite shortly. We’re still waiting to find out what the market thinks of them.

On the other end of the scale, there was a couple who brought in a funeral urn they found in a dumpster, a copper urn. Not know what it was, they opened it up and dumped out the contents. But the found it in the dumpster so someone else didn’t think too much of it either. It was a very plain copper urn. When they told me they had dumped out the contents, I said, ‘Jeez, you could have dumped out Uncle Harry.’”

Any interesting discoveries at your recent show in Hampshire?

There was one fantastic piece there. There were several very nice pieces, but there was one pice that stood out. And that was a book of original watercolors and pen and ink drawings that a gentleman had bought at an auction and he felt it had been under-described. People weren’t really aware of what it was.

These were drawings of watercolor, monocrhomatic, not really colorful, in shades of black and brown and gray, illustrations of architectural details from many historical sites in England, possibly on the continent of Europe.

These were created in the 1830s and 40s and had all been placed in this book. We really couldn’t figured out the artist’s name. There were 150 of these drawings and paintings...

He paid $1,200 for this whole book and I think the average value of the artworks in it were $100 apiece. If there were 100 paintings and drawings in there, that’s $10,000.

I think he was pleased with the information he got. He knew that he had picked up a sleeper, I good item. I encouraged him to do some more research.