1878 Scandinavian Small Valuables Box
GUEST:
It's from my husband's family. His great-grandfather brought it from Norway when they immigrated here in the late 1800s.
APPRAISER:
Well, what's wonderful about this particular box is the fact that it says "Norland,"which is the Northlands-- or Scandinavia-- and it's written right here. And then it says brought to "North America," so it really shows that it came from Scandinavia to North America. It also has the date of 1878 on it, so that's when they came and brought their treasure. And the box itself is pretty wonderful even if it didn't have all that great information on it. It's a beautiful dovetailed box, beautifully painted. And I'm going to tip this up so that you can see the bent-over nails. And this is what I love, too, is the handle mark where the handle has been hitting there for years, and also this wonderful decoration. Because of all the information on it and the wonderful paint, the wonderful decoration and its absolutely almost pristine condition, I would say is somewhere between $1,200 and $1,500.
GUEST:
Oh, my gosh. I think it'll get off the floor in the living room and get up high where the grandkids can't... sit on it and play. And my husband will be excited. It takes a little bit more for him to get excited about the old stuff that I love so much.
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
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