How to Price Antiques for Sale
Pricing an antique correctly is part research, part judgement, and part market awareness. Get it right and you sell quickly at a fair margin. Get it wrong and you either leave money on the table or watch your listing gather dust. This guide walks you through a repeatable, step-by-step pricing process you can apply to furniture, ceramics, glass, silver, jewellery, and collectibles.
Step 1: Identify Before You Price
You cannot price what you cannot name. Before thinking about numbers, confirm exactly what you have. Identification establishes the maker, material, period, style, and category — all of which directly affect value.
Start with the physical evidence on the piece itself:
- Marks and stamps: Check the base, back, underside, and inside surfaces for maker's marks, hallmarks, backstamps, impressed numbers, labels, or signatures.
- Construction: How is it built? Hand-cut dovetails, hand-blown glass, hand-painted decoration, and hand-forged hardware all indicate age and quality differently from machine-made equivalents.
- Materials: What is it made from? Solid mahogany behaves differently from mahogany veneer. Sterling silver weighs differently from silver plate. Porcelain transmits light; earthenware does not.
- Style: What period does the design belong to? Recognising whether something is Georgian, Victorian, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, or Mid-Century Modern immediately narrows the possibilities.
If you are unsure about identification, use an app like Trove to get a quick starting point. Photograph the piece from multiple angles — especially any marks — and let the app narrow down maker, period, and category before you move to pricing.
Step 2: Assess and Document Condition
Condition is the single most variable factor in antique pricing. Two pieces from the same maker, same period, and same design can differ in value by hundreds or even thousands of pounds based solely on condition.
Document condition systematically:
Structural Integrity
Is the piece structurally sound? Does a chair wobble? Does a table have stable legs? Are the joints tight or loose? Does a clock mechanism work? Structural problems reduce value significantly because they often require expensive professional repair.
Surface Condition
Look at the finish, glaze, patina, or plating. For furniture, is the original finish intact, or has it been stripped and refinished? For ceramics, are there chips, cracks, or crazing? For silver, is the plate worn through to reveal the base metal? For glass, are there scratches, cloudiness, or chips to the rim?
Completeness
Does the piece have all its original parts? A teapot without its lid, a desk with replaced handles, a clock without its pendulum, or a pair of candlesticks that has become a single — all of these reduce value. Original packaging, certificates, receipts, or documentation add value.
Repairs and Restoration
Has the piece been repaired? Professional, sympathetic restoration done with period-appropriate materials may preserve much of the value. Amateur repairs — glue visible on the surface, mismatched replacement parts, over-painting — can reduce value below what the piece would fetch in a damaged but unrepaired state.
Photographing Condition
Take clear, honest photographs of every flaw. This protects you as a seller (buyers cannot claim issues were hidden) and helps you make accurate comparisons to sold examples during the pricing stage.
Step 3: Gather Comparable Sales Data
With identification confirmed and condition documented, you are ready to research pricing. The goal is to find items as similar as possible to yours that have actually sold — not items that are currently listed but unsold.
Where to Find Comparables
- eBay sold listings: The most accessible source. Search for your item, then filter by "Completed Items" and look for listings in green (sold). Note the final price, condition, and listing quality.
- Auction results: Check the websites of major auction houses (Bonhams, Christie's, Sotheby's) and regional auctioneers. Most publish full results with photographs and hammer prices.
- Antique price databases: Worthpoint and similar services aggregate sold prices across multiple platforms, making it easier to find comparables for niche items.
- Dealer pricing: Browse established dealer websites and antique centre listings. These represent retail asking prices, which are typically higher than auction or private sale prices, but they establish an upper boundary.
How Many Comparables Do You Need?
Aim for at least five recent sold examples. More is better. A single comparable is not reliable — it might have been an outlier due to unusually strong bidding, a poorly written listing, or a damaged example that sold cheap. With five or more data points, you start to see patterns and can identify a realistic price range.
Adjusting for Differences
Your piece will rarely be identical to your comparables. Adjust mentally for each difference:
- Better condition than the comparable? Your price should be higher.
- Missing a component (lid, saucer, base)? Your price should be lower.
- Rarer colour, pattern, or variant? Your price can be higher — sometimes significantly.
- Larger or smaller than the comparable? Size affects value differently in different categories. Larger furniture is harder to sell; larger ceramics are often more desirable.
- Better provenance? Documented history adds premium.
Step 4: Choose the Right Sales Channel
Where you sell directly affects the price you can achieve. Each channel has different buyer profiles, fee structures, and expectations:
Online Auction (eBay)
Enormous reach and a deep pool of buyers. Works well for items with strong search terms — named makers, recognisable styles, popular categories. Fees typically run ten to fifteen percent of the sale price plus payment processing. Shipping costs and logistics are your responsibility. Best for items in the fifty to five hundred pound range with broad appeal.
Specialist Auction House
Best for rare, high-value, or niche items. The auction house provides expert cataloguing, a targeted buyer audience, and marketing. Seller's commission typically ranges from ten to twenty-five percent. Items benefit from professional photography and descriptions. The process is slower — cataloguing, preview, sale day — but often achieves stronger prices for the right pieces.
Antique Fairs and Markets
Direct contact with buyers. No shipping hassles. You can negotiate in person and build relationships with repeat customers. Stand fees vary but are a fixed cost, so higher-value sales improve your margin. Best for dealers with established stock and regular selling schedules.
Etsy
Strong for vintage decor, smaller collectibles, and items with visual appeal. Etsy's audience skews toward buyers who are looking for something with character, so presentation and photography matter enormously. Fees are generally lower than eBay. Works well for items with a decorative or gift-worthy quality.
Direct to Dealer
Fastest route to cash. Dealers buy at wholesale — typically forty to sixty percent of retail — so your price will be lower. But there are no fees, no shipping, no listing work, and no waiting. This makes sense for bulk clearances, lower-value items, or when you need cash quickly.
Step 5: Set Your Price Tiers
Based on your research, establish three price levels:
- Quick-sale price: The price at which the item sells within days. Typically at or slightly below the low end of your comparables. Use this when you need to move stock, free up capital, or clear space.
- Target price: The price you expect to achieve with a well-written listing, good photographs, and a reasonable timeframe (two to six weeks). This sits in the middle of your comparable range.
- Premium price: Achievable through the right venue, at the right time, or to the right buyer. Do not expect this every time, but do not leave it off your radar for special pieces.
Having these three tiers gives you negotiation range and helps you make rational decisions about when to accept an offer and when to hold.
Advanced Pricing Strategies
Bundling and Lotting
For lower-value items, selling individually may not be worth the effort once you account for photography, listing time, packaging, and shipping. Grouping related items into lots — a set of six plates, a collection of brooches, a box of assorted china — can increase the total sale value and reduce your handling time per item.
Seasonal Timing
Certain items sell better at certain times of year. Christmas decorations and silver serving pieces peak before the holidays. Garden ornaments and outdoor furniture sell best in spring. Back-to-school season drives demand for desks and storage. Time your listings to match seasonal demand where possible.
International Selling
Some items have stronger markets abroad. American buyers collect English ceramics. Japanese buyers collect European art glass. Opening your listings to international buyers expands your audience but adds complexity with shipping, customs, and returns.
Reserve Prices
If selling at auction, consider whether a reserve price is appropriate. A reserve protects you from selling below your minimum acceptable price, but it can also discourage bidding. For items where you are confident in demand, an unreserved listing can generate excitement and competitive bidding that pushes the price above what a reserved lot might achieve.
Writing Listings That Support Your Price
A well-researched price needs a well-written listing to back it up. Buyers pay more when they understand what they are buying:
- Title: Include maker, object type, period, and key material. "Royal Worcester Blush Ivory Ewer, Dated 1897" not "Pretty Old Jug."
- Description: State the maker, date, dimensions, materials, pattern or design name, condition details, and any provenance. Use the specific terminology collectors search for.
- Photographs: Ten or more clear images showing every angle, every mark, and every flaw. Good photography is the single most cost-effective way to improve sale prices.
- Measurements: Always include height, width, depth, and weight where relevant. Buyers need to know if it will fit their space.
Getting Quick Price Estimates With Trove
When you are working through a large collection, sourcing at a market, or making quick buying decisions, there is not always time for full comparable research on every item. This is where Trove helps most — snap a photo, get an identification and estimated value range in seconds, and decide whether the item warrants deeper research or a quick pass.
This triage approach is particularly valuable for estate clearances, antique fair sourcing runs, and charity shop browsing, where you may evaluate dozens of items in an hour and need to make fast, informed decisions about what to buy and what to leave.
