ANTIQUE APPRAISER COMING TO NEILLSVILLE
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 -- 9:56 AM
We?ve got a cool event to tell you about.Author and antiques appraiser [url=http://mark-moran.blogspot.com/]Mark Moran[/url] will be at the Neillsville Public Library on Monday from 4 to 7 p.m. Area residents can bring in items, find out what they are and see how much they're worth.
Moran has been featured on the wildly popular public television program The Antiques Road Show, and has held over a dozen of his own individual appraisal events.
"I've been involved in the antiques business for almost 40 years," Moran explains. "I launched my antiques appraisal events this summer, and the response has been great."
Moran has been a collector, a dealer, antique show producer and has written 27 books on antiques and collectibles.
Just like on The Antiques Road Show, Moran says some people bring items in just out of curiosity?maybe they have a family heirloom that?s become a mystery?while others are hoping they may have hit the jackpot with a garage sale purchase.
Back in August, Moran came across a bottle full of sand.
"The sand had been arranged in colors to create an amazing pattern," Moran remembers. He recognized the item as a piece of folk art created by Andrew Clemons, who lived in the 1850s in Iowa.
"That bottle today, which would have sold for about $7, today is worth about $6,000," he says.
At an event in Cable, Wis. a woman brought in a picture of a dresser she purchased at a garage sale for $75; Moran talked with a collector, who contacted the woman and purchased it for $5,000.
Moran is an expert in a lot of collectibles, but not everything.
Among the things he can appraise: fine art, furniture, ceramics and glassware, vintage photographs, advertising, folk art, toys, metalware and clocks.
Things he can't appraise include: weapons, coins and paper money, fine jewelry, watches and most musical instruments.
If you have an item you?d like appraised, you can set up an appointment by calling the library at 715-743-2558. There?s a $15 fee per item, with $5 staying with the library.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.