Most folks have no idea about what’s hot and what’s not in the world of antiques and collectibles — so let us help you figure out what we want to buy most, and what we have to decline. We are always looking for hot collectibles and other items – the kinds of things that make buyers’ chests pound. Cruise this list, look for your best stuff, and contact us immediately if you’ve got items on the “hot” list!
Contact us if you’ve got something interesting that you don’t see on our lists, too. And if you’re looking to sell treasures that unfortunately fall into the “what’s not” list, well … we’ve gone fishing and won’t be available. We try to let folks down easy, so maybe these lists will be a public service that help us spare your feelings. Don’t forget that sentimental value doesn’t equal demand or financial value.
Keep in mind these lists are partial lists. No way to cover everything under the sun but we at least want to hit the highlights here. Some items flip from one category to the other seemingly overnight, so we’ll do our best to keep adding to this list and keep it fresh.
A-E: Old advertising pieces (beer signs, Coca-Cola signs, Coke machines, point-of-purchase displays, neon clocks, etc.); autographs (celebrities, Hollywood, political, historical, sports); vintage automobiles (worth $25,000 or more) and automobile collectibles such as vintage license plates; Black Americana; bronze sculptures; cameras (high-end and vintage); coins (pre-1965 American coins – dimes, quarters, half dollars and dollars; silver coins; gold coins; certain antique foreign coins); comic books (“golden age comics” and certain modern books); certain kinds of DVDs and Blu-ray discs;
F-Z: Fine art (antique oil on canvas paintings, etc.); CDs (rare discs made by Bear Family Records and others, longbox CDs); fountain pens (vintage Montblanc, Waterman); historical objects, jewelry (fine and costume); vintage IBM keyboards, vintage lunchboxes, stained glass lamps by Tiffany and others, etc.; memorabilia (historical, Hollywood, military, music, political, space/NASA, TV and many more); Mid-century modern furniture and Mid-century modern decor; military antiques; authentic Native American items; odd/bizarre items; petroliana (oil and gas collectibles like rare Pegasus signs); records (rare, older rock, jazz, blues), silver bars, sterling silver flatware and other sterling silver; space/NASA items; sports memorabilia; Swarovski glass figures (large animals/figures), tobacco-related collectibles (vintage lighters and more), vintage toys.
Just about everything else, with the caveat that there are sometimes exceptions to the rule. We do take care of all of these things when we’re providing our estate liquidation and cleanout service – but we don’t buy them. The value of most items follows the same path that cars do the moment you drive them off a dealer’s lot – the value plummets.
The “no thanks” items include but are not limited to:
Appliances; Beanie Babies, books (except for rare and higher value books), cassette tapes; china; Christmas décor and collectibles; clothing; collectible plates including Norman Rockwell; common household items; crystal (Waterford, etc.); diecast NASCAR cars; dolls (except for first-edition Barbies and other big-ticket pieces); (Mid-century modern furniture made in Scandinavia is the only furniture we buy);
grandfather clocks; lamps (except antique stained glass lamps by Tiffany and others, etc.); Life magazines and other similar periodicals; old newspapers from historical dates like the President Kennedy assassination; pool tables; prints including limited edition prints; records (showtunes, classical, country — see what’s hot above for the good records); limited edition anything else (remember, if it was made to be collectible, it’s not really collectible today); pottery selling for less than $100; stamps (unless extraordinary), VHS machines, VHS tapes.
Many objects are illegal to sell, exceptionally difficult to sell because of all the related laws, and morally challenging (for sellers and buyers). If you need to part ways with any of the following, contact us for advice before you even think about attempting to put them on the market. You can bring yourself a world of hurt with these and other items:
Ancient relics of unknown provenance; Confederate memorabilia; firearms; fur coats; ivory; KKK memorabilia; Nazi memorabilia; taxidermy — endangered species taxidermy is illegal to sell, and the laws of selling non-endangered animal taxidermy get complicated quickly.
And hey, there are some exceptions to the rules. Just because we run for cover with anyone calls us about Hummel figurines or Beanie Babies doesn’t mean there aren’t the rare few that are worth serious cash. If you know you’ve got the exception to a rule, we’re all ears.
- Check our Sell Us Your Stuff department for a variety of articles on the value of antiques and collectibles, and other ways of using us to sell your treasures including consignment and estate buyouts
- Peruse our Orion’s Attic Estate Liquidation and Downsizing Guide to find out everything else you need to know about liquidating estates and downsizing