Random one this, but after the recent passing of my nan we’ve found ourselves with a house worth of antiques. It’s hard to describe how many items we have to deal with, it was my nan’s life work. From the first room we’ve filled our garage floor to ceiling.

We’re under no illusion that some items will be worth very little / nothing, members of the family are keen to throw it all in the skip but our side are looking to work through it all logically and sell what’s worth selling.

The real question is where, I guess some stuff will go to eBay but to list it all would be thousands of listings. Are there dedicated and active forums / websites for this stuff or are we best just to box the nice stuff and take it to our local shops?

Thanks in advance

I had a similar experience with some of my granddad’s chattels. I spent a couple of days on google and worked out roughly what things were and what they were worth.

There is a retro/antique furniture shop on facebook in Portobello, called Friday Street Seems they sell most stuff through facebook then people go down to the shop to collect. There’s quite a lot of interest in vintage furniture even if it isn’t strictly antique. People just seem to like quality and comfortable furniture, strange and unusual things.

Maybe you could set a page up?

It’s not easy getting market value for expensive antiques – The main issue is that dealers understandably won’t pay what it’s worth – But without their contacts it can prove difficult to source buyers – Auction houses – you’ve got fees then the gamble of getting decent bids – especially when your not in the business – Also transporting costs to reputable Auction houses can mount up – Case in point – looking to shift a cabinet that has been independently valued at 14k – Another valuer came to view and waved 5k cash and said he could take it that day – I bet he would for 5k – Quoted £600 to correctly package and ship to London auction house – Perhaps its easy to over value stuff – but then again it’s easy to get ripped off ..

Ask an auction house to come and have a look. They’ll tell you what is likely to sell, if not how much to expect. The rest could just go to charity shops.

Who is the Executor?

What type of things? Pottery/china?

If so most will have a name on the bottom and you can work out value pretty easily.

Dont skip it, charity shops would take it.

Thanks all for some good advice

There is some furniture and paintings that need proper valuation but the rest is mostly China and glassware. Anything named should be ok but the unnamed stuff may end up at the charity shop I feel

My feeling is getting an expert in to have a look through it all

Where are you? My mum is in the trade and would gladly look at some stuff for you. You could always email a few pictures of stuff with variable valuations that you have received to get an honest answer. Done many house clearances and back in the day worked very closely with sothebys on a big in house auction of where we used to live and mum worked. When I have to sort through all their stuff God forbid the day I’m going to be very very busy.

And don’t send stuff to charity because it’s unnamed. Local dealers love that stuff in charity shops and you could well be doing your family out of £££’s

Wrightyson, that’s very kind of you, I’ll send you an email later if that’s OK?

Pushing this back to the top. Popped over my parents this evening and the mountain is growing. I think I need to implement a quick fix to sell a few boxes worth. Anyone know any reputable antiques dealers within 100 miles of Staffordshire

Halls auctions in shrewsbury?

I’m going through similar with my mums house – did the mil’s last year.
I’ve decided to box things into lots and take them to a local auction house. There are no real gems, but there is value in some of it.
There is no easy solution,