Don't Call the Thrift Shop: What to Do With a Lifetime of Well-Loved Possessions

Anyone who has a lot of "stuff" needs this book, to read and to pass on to their family to use when the need arises to dispose of the accumulation.

Being an eBay Trading Assistant, I have been called upon to help people deal with evaluating and selling their possessions, whether it is to provide the client with much-needed extra income or just to sift through and reduce an inherited house full of items. This book condenses some of what I do (plus much more) into an easy to understand primer. It offers such advice as when to get an appraisal, how to clean ceramics and most important, where to sell or donate your items. Further, the author defines terms the average person may have heard of but never fully understood such as "provenance" and describes "grading" and the difference between pottery and porcelain. Perhaps the most useful information in this book is where to find information on your items, such as price guides and of course, the Internet. Many websites are provided. The book is written in a chatty conversational style and individual chapters are devoted to Furniture, Jewelry, Books, Coins, etc. I enjoyed the "Antiques Roadhouse" type of stories of discoveries of unknown valuables such as a Patek Philippe watch discovered in a bulk gold purchase. Although this book will help a layman identify different types of furniture, jewelry or glassware, it is meant as a starting reference point to show you where to get more in depth information. I think this book would be especially helpful to eBay sellers who dabble in a lot of different areas.