Here’s What to Consider Before Disposing of That Priceless Family Heirloom

Ten tips to making sure you don’t sell the farm without getting your money’s worth.

Being an executor is stressful. Especially when you consider that part of the job includes valuing the assets and keeping them safe. That painting you sold for $25 at the estate sale? No executor wants that to show up on Antiques Roadshow valued at $150,000.

To spare you that embarrassment, here are ten tips to making sure you don’t sell the farm without getting your money’s worth.

1. Online resources are an easy way to help determine value

For some things, the sentimental value will far outweigh the item’s actual value. For everything else, there’s the internet. eBay is especially helpful. I started with books. Enter a book’s title, author, publisher and copyright date to find other, similar books and their selling prices. My books’ values ranged from $2 to $1200. Keep in mind that first editions and the book’s condition (Mint to poor) add or detract from its value.

If you aren’t sure if that vase is a Chihuly or not, look it up. My mother had an antique vase about which we knew nothing. Online, I was able to find an exact match among other vases for sale, plus a bit of information about it, and a $400 asking price.

2. Consider consignment

Some of my mother’s clothing and jewelry items were too valuable to donate. For some of those items, we found consignment shops. While there’s no ‘seasonality’ for jewelry or other items, clothing is very seasonal. Winter clothes won’t be accepted in the spring, for example. Also, it may be months before you are compensated.

3. Ask an appraiser or your local auction house

Online appraisers are another source. For a small fee, I was able to submit photos of a piece that my mother had picked up in a Paris flea market for $25. It’s value? Still $25.

If you’re lucky enough to have friends who know appraisers, tap that source. Our family has Civil War memorabilia with extensive provenance and historical value. One appraiser, a friend of a friend and a frequent expert on Antiques Roadshow, was able to advise us to keep our collection together and established a value estimate of $75,000 for our items.

Periodically, auction houses have free appraisal weekends. Look in your local paper or online for schedules. Bring your item or detailed pictures of the item, plus any supporting documents, to the auction house. There may be appraisers for several categories, including books, glassware, jewelry, paintings and furniture. They can give you a rough estimate of value and may even make you an offer for your item on-the-spot.

4. Consider donating to museums

In addition to the pieces of Civil War significance, my mother also had artwork and native craft works purchased during her travels. I made contact with docents at several museums who expressed interest in things we thought were unimportant. While seemingly insignificant, many of our mother’s items were important to the study of indigenous peoples. Works by specific artists are particularly important and can augment museum collections. One docent, when told he couldn’t have a piece I was keeping, gave me some helpful tips on what I needed to do to preserve it . This included putting the item in the freezer every three months to kill any bugs. I quickly donated the item to the museum. The museums were grateful and our family can go online to ‘visit’ the donated items any time we get nostalgic. We also have the peace of mind that comes with knowing these pieces will be well taken care of and available to all.

5. Where there’s a squabble, there’s a way

Both sides of my family wanted the hand-painted Civil War record that had hung prominently in our family home for over 60 years. While its distribution had been discussed casually over the years, nothing was mentioned in my parents’ or grandmother’s wills. When it was clear we were heading for a family feud, my siblings and I decided to donate all our Civil War items to another museum. I arranged with the museum to have the artwork professionally photographed. The images were then sent to a high-end printer. Now, all family members have a life-size copy. I had mine handsomely framed and I can’t tell the difference between that and the original that hung in our home.

6. Know the difference between an estate sale and garage sale

An estate sale is usually run by an estate sale company. They are very knowledgeable about both pricing and value. They provide an on-site manager who arranges set up, staging, advertising and clean up. They have a network of buyers and will turn down a client if they don’t find enough value in the estate. We made an arrangement with our estate sale company to do the first day for their network so their buyers would get first pick. The remaining two days were open to all. Tools, yard implements, even the last logs from our woodpile were snapped up. Mattresses, headboards, bedding, sofas and tableware, not so much. Our estate sales agent had contacts everywhere and could arrange sales of some items with online replacement resellers.

7. Don’t be afraid to leave stuff behind

Some items remained, even after both the estate and garage sales concluded; in particular, three large oriental rugs. These normally have an excellent resale value, but the market was hugely depressed and retailers wouldn’t take them even on consignment. Since we beneficiaries couldn’t agree on how to distribute these, we offered them to the home buyer for an additional sum. They agreed to purchase them.

8. Costs and other considerations

Luckily, I had a lot of time to do research. While I didn’t research everything, most of what I did was fun and I was surprised every day. I also learned many things which helped me make better decisions:

· It helps — a lot — to have an estate lawyer. They can do most of the paperwork for you, guide you, save you time and help you avoid costly mistakes.

· Informal appraisals are not binding and cannot be used for insurance purposes. Formal appraisals require paying for the research and documentation. Depending on the value of an object, you may need to purchase insurance for it. That will increase the value of the estate, which may have tax or probate consequences in your state.

· There are now limits on donation deductions. Museums may be willing to purchase items from you. Again, a formal appraisal may be necessary and know the tax and probate implications.

· Using an estate sales company will cost you a percentage of your estate sale profits. You can negotiate that percentage. They will maximize the prices you’re paid for your items. Stay out of their way; Good ones know their stuff and they will not look kindly upon you if you get in the way of their profit margin.

· If you don’t have time to sell items on eBay, there are people who will do that for you. eBay Valet is one such service and there are other, independent sellers. They’ll take a percentage (as high as 50%) of net profit.

· Trust, but verify. The old rule applies: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Take your time to verify value, buyers and vendors before selling items or signing contracts.

9. Plan ahead!

Short of a séance, it’s unlikely you’ll get answers from the deceased once they’ve passed. Which is why if you know you’ll be an executor, start planning and asking questions now, and document these discussions.

My mother had created a binder which included a picture of her valuable or sentimental items, the bill of sale or value estimate, and the item’s provenance. She had me and my siblings go through the binder and place Post-It Notes on the items we wanted. I think she relished watching us pretend to fight over objects, but I can tell you that having that binder not only helped me establish the value of the estate for probate, it also ensured fair distribution among the beneficiaries.

The binder also is good for insurance purposes. A picture and accompanying supporting paperwork makes filing for stolen or damaged items a smoother process.

I now have a binder of my own and look forward to the time when my husband and I can invite our kids to squabble over our possessions. At the very least, they’ll have an idea of an item’s value and won’t use a museum-quality Oaxacan rug as a beach towel.

10. You don’t have to part with everything right now

Give yourself permission to delay parting with some items. You have a lot of responsibility; you are also grieving. If you’re not comfortable with something, take time to think things through. Bring items home or place them in storage until you’re more comfortable dealing with them. With time and reflection, the right answers will come to you.