16th June 2012.






Only once or twice in my career that stretches nearly 50years have I upset some one with my valuation.

To day a nice couple from Standish Nr.Wigan rang up on the phone to say they where on there way with 10 boxes of there family possessions.

With in the hour the couple arrived with 10 boxes which contained over 200 items of their heirlooms and we are not talking Royal Albert "Heirloom" we are talking charity shop / car boot tat/ junk. Ranging from a chipped whiskey glass to an odd Shelley white coffee saucer.



They left the items with me and returned about 3 hours later.

The couple both said they did NOT know what they had and did NOT know there value.

To remove the embarrassment from the fact of what I had just handled. I asked them " You must have some idea what you want for the items " after about 2 or 3 minutes the lady admitted they expected to get a few hundred pounds. Thank God I thought to my self this makes it easy for me to say I do not want the items with out telling them they where junk. I said £200 WAS TOO MUCH FOR ME TO PAY, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. THEN MOVED TO LIFT ONE OF THE BOXES TO PUT IN THERE CAR, BY THE WAY I HAD REWRAPPED AND REPACKED ALL THE ITEMS. The lady then seemed to be annoyed with me because I was not going to buy her items. She then said she did not say £200. A Few hundred is two hundred I pointed out, She then said a few was £400.

I did not argue, I started to move the items towards the door. When she said we have been on the Internet and we know they are worth £400. I then gently spoke and said if theses items where on a car boot sale and I had bought them for £50 I would get home and think to my self. WHY DID I BUY THESES ITEMS.



After helping loading the items into the car, remembering I had grouped the items in the boxes according to value and pointing out what they could get if they did a car boot sale.

I know junk has a value, but believe me odd plates on a car boot sale bring only 20p.

If my approach had of been as THE ANTIQUE ROAD SHOW experts APROACH is. To say how lovely, how wonderful the items are and how they should be insured for some vast some of money, but are worth hundreds less, " I will never ever sell it " type conversation. The couple would have left happy as Larry.

But I told the truth............. but she still believed her old Aunt who probably told them that the TAT was VALUABLE.



When the couple left I said thank you all the best, safe journey home. The woman said to me, and this shocked me and the two customers in the shop, she said "I HOPE YOU DO NOT HAVE A SAFE JOURNEY HOME".

I felt so sad I closed the shop up immediately 3pm on a Saturday and went hope.



Please remember when you get a free appraisal on your house, or your car or your antiques it is not the appraisers fault the appraisal does not come up to the figure you you would like.

I hope you all have a nice day.

By the way Internet companies charge over £3 per item for valuation.
I do it free. Some appraisals work out at between 1% and 5%.

remember Qlocal posters - valuation is free.

PLEASE DO COMMENT ON THIS POST. I would like your opinion of how i handled the situation.

From going all nice nicey to her wishing I would be killed on the way home.

If you are a dealer, may be you have a similar story, or if you are a member of the public and have an interesting story how you believed something was valuable and then found out what your grandmother told you was not true.

you seem to have handled the situation well john.

one question - what her reaction based on emotion, was it too soon after her family member died to be given the news she didnt want to hear.

not your fault .

you might be taking it to heart a little too much though.

some people just go through there whole life completely disregarding logical opinion if it does not tie in with their beliefs, you should read a good psycology book john , it helps me understand people's actions.

You said and did the right thing John,be yourself and people will learn from you.

About 8 years ago I went to have a piece of jewellery valued that I knew had been bought for in excess of £1000 some years before.

I was given a figure that was that low I was truly gobsmacked.

It was not of emotional value to me.

The valuer could tell how shocked I was and said, in a nutshell, 'tough'.

This made me want to knock the bloke's lights out.

I understood and still do understand it is not his 'job' to be 'nice', but a little empathy would have been welcomed. It was however, not his item, therefore of no real consequence.
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I do not think John that anything you could have done would have appeased people who had come along with their own forgone conclusion they would be going home with this year's 'treat' in their pockets.

You handled the situation based on your own experience and your own instincts and manner of being.

Nothing more can be asked of a person.

Some people do not deserve space in another person's head. I hope they have now been evicted.

My mum says "people being people are all part of life's great tapestry. "

You like tapestries

It will all serve to form part of your autobiography

Or biography if I write it

I'm proud of you John--you could have just as easily said "Sorry, I don't waste my time on rubbish." and turned your back on her! I bet if she/they go anywhere else they won't be treated with such compassion.

I thank you all for your kind words.

Last Friday afternoon a young lady came into the shop from Eastern Europe looking for an inexpensive present to take back home.

She asked me if I had anything relating to our Queen Elizabeth, I pointed out about a dozen items ranging from a boxed 1953 coronation coach made by Brittain's for £900 to a corronation mug for £15. All where above the ladies budget. I asked her how much she wanted to spend. £5, was the answer. I thought for a minute and remembered I had a pair of mugs from Buckingham Palace which sells in the palace gift shop at £49.

As I had the item in stock for a while and the pair had cost me £10 I offered one mug to her for £5.

The next day she returned and asked could she buy the second one for £5.

I agreed and she was delighted. Now this was the Saturday lunch time.

On Monday morning the shop opens at 10am but I was late opening up. I was feeling a little down after the experience on the Saturday afternoon and not looking forward to the days work.

When I arrived at the shop there was a queue of 3 people, I opened the door and one of the people was the Eastern European lady. She handed me a present of a bar of Estonia Dark Chocolate. She thanked me for the time and the way I had looked after her. She gave me a kiss on the cheak and left.

Now that is the ups and downs of the antiques trade in a nut shell or should I say in a mug.