Before Covid-19, there was no question as to how appraisals were performed. An appraiser visited the site where the items of appraisal are located, did their work, then wrote up a report and submitted it to the person for whom the appraisal report was prepared. Enter the pandemic and a world under lockdown. Online appraisals…
Once upon a time, long long ago I lived in a duplex in a logging town lodged in a remote area of British Columbia. The other side of the duplex was occupied by my landlady, who snowbirded off to Mexico every winter. I had access to her duplex to do laundry and check that everything…
In recent months, I’ve had many discussions about the relevance of antiques in the 21st century. Some people grump that millennials only care about IKEA furniture and the latest smartphone; others see antiques as fusty, useless dust-collectors. Even worse, some see them as garbage and treat them as such. Yet I see millennials visiting flea…
Ah, the joys of coming in to work at an auction house on unboxing day! Boxes and totes full of potential goodies from a fresh batch of consignors are wheeled into the unboxing area. You reach for your boxcutter, slice through the tape on top of a generic brown box, part the flaps and find……..
The time I spent working for a multi-generational auction house that handles mostly estates and household goods was an eye opener. It helped cement my desire to become an appraiser. Say the word ‘auction’ and many people immediately envision a large hall, packed with people and bidders, with a stage and an auctioneer doing the…
Ah, good old Antiques Roadshow! One of my favourite binges, AR is basically the very first reality show. It has been around for over 20 years now and has some unique factors going for it. Before I go into on-the-spot ‘appraisals’, here are a few little nuggets about the show. Fun fact #1: The appraisers…