To find the value of an antique, identify exactly what it is from its marks, materials and construction, then look up what the same item has actually sold for recently at auction or on eBay, not what sellers are asking. That sold figure is the value. As of late 2026, most antiques found in homes sell for roughly $20-300: a Victorian dresser often brings $50-500, an old mantel clock $50-200, a pressed glass bowl $5-30, a plated tea set $20-100. The exceptions are pieces by known makers and artists, early handmade work in original condition, and things collectors chase, and those can run to thousands.
Age alone does not make something valuable. A 150 year old chest of drawers can be worth less than a 1960s designer chair, because the market pays for maker, design, condition and demand. The steps below get you from "old thing" to a defensible number, and the links send you to our deeper guides for each kind of object.
Quick answer
- Identify first: marks, signatures, labels, materials and how the piece was made tell you maker and era.
- Value from sold comparables: auction results and eBay sold listings for the same maker, model, size and condition.
- Ignore asking prices; many sit unsold for years at two to ten times what things sell for.
- Most household antiques bring about $20-300. Known makers, early handmade work and collector favorites bring more.
- Pay an appraiser by the hour or item, never a percentage of value, and only when a written value is needed or a piece looks important.
How to find what an antique is worth, step by step
- Decide what kind of object it is. Furniture, painting or print, pottery and porcelain, glass, silver, clock, textile, tool or something else. Each has its own marks and its own market. If you are not sure what an object even is, start with our guide to identifying an unknown old object.
- Look for marks. Turn it over, open the drawers, look inside lids, on the back of frames and under bases. Note every stamp, label, signature, number and country name. Photograph them before you clean anything.
- Read the construction. How a thing was made dates it more reliably than how it looks. Hand-cut dovetails, wrought nails, pontil scars on glass and hand-stitched seams point early; machine dovetails, wire nails, Phillips screws, staples and plywood point later.
- Narrow the date. Combine the marks and construction into a date range. A country name on a piece of china, a design registration number or a patent date each give a "not before" date.
- Name it precisely. Write a one-line description a buyer would search: maker, model or pattern, material, size, date range. "Roseville Pinecone vase, blue, 8 inch, 1930s" finds prices; "old green vase" does not.
- Find sold comparables. Search completed sales on LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, eBay sold listings and WorthPoint for that description. Collect five or more sales of the same item in similar condition.
- Adjust for condition. Chips, cracks, repairs, refinishing, replaced parts, fading and missing pieces cut value, often by half or more.
- Decide the selling route. The same piece brings different prices at a local auction, a specialist auction, a dealer, a consignment shop and online. Your number should be what it would bring where you would actually sell it.
Clues that date an antique
| Clue | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Country of origin in English ("England", "Germany") | Generally after 1891, when US import rules required it |
| "Made in" before the country name | Usually 20th century |
| "Nippon" | Japanese export from about 1891 to 1921 |
| "Made in Occupied Japan" | 1947 to 1952 |
| British diamond-shaped registration mark | Design registered 1842 to 1883 |
| "Rd No" with a number | British design registered 1884 or later |
| Hand-cut dovetails, few and uneven | Furniture before about 1860 |
| Machine-cut, evenly spaced dovetails | Furniture after about 1860 to 1880 |
| Circular saw marks on hidden boards | Mid-19th century or later |
| Square cut nails | About 1790s to 1890s; wire nails after |
| Phillips head screws, staples, plywood, particleboard | 20th century, mostly after 1930 to 1940 |
| Rough pontil scar on the base of glass | Hand blown, usually before about 1900 |
| Mold seam running all the way to the lip of a bottle | Machine made, usually after about 1910 |
| "STERLING" or "925" on silver | Solid silver; "EPNS", "A1" or "Quadruple Plate" mean plated |
| Patent date or "Pat. Pend." | Made after that date, sometimes many years after |
A single clue can mislead; a piece can be built with old wood or carry a later label. When three or four clues agree, the date is solid.
What antiques typically sell for
These are typical sold ranges as of late 2026 for the ordinary pieces most families have, with the exceptions that bring more. Each row links to the guide that goes deeper.
| Type | Most common pieces sell for | What brings more |
|---|---|---|
| Furniture | About $50-500 for Victorian and early 20th century "brown furniture" | Signed makers such as Stickley, mid-century designers, early handmade pieces in original finish |
| Paintings and prints | About $20-200 for decorative pictures and prints | Known artists with auction records, gallery labels, early originals |
| Pottery and porcelain | About $5-50 a piece for marked factory ware | Art pottery, early factory marks, studio potters |
| Fine china sets | About $100-500 for a full dinner service | Prestige patterns, serving pieces, hand-painted early porcelain |
| Depression and pressed glass | About $5-30 a piece | Rare colors, pitchers, butter dishes, known rarities |
| Sterling flatware and hollowware | About $45-54 per troy ounce of sterling at $58 silver | Wanted patterns, makers such as Tiffany, Georg Jensen |
| Silver plate | About $10-60 a set | Little; a few designer pieces |
| Mantel and shelf clocks | About $50-200 | Fusee movements, tall case clocks, known makers |
| Quilts | About $100-400 | 19th century pieced and Amish wool quilts |
| Stoneware crocks | About $20-100 | Cobalt decoration, birds and animals |
| Hand tools | About $10-60 | Stanley rarities, infill planes, early molding planes |
Say you find a small oak dresser in a grandparent's spare room. Pull out a drawer: the dovetails are evenly spaced and machine cut, the drawer bottom is a single board with circular saw marks, and the screws on the back are slotted, not Phillips. There is a faded paper label reading "Grand Rapids" inside the top drawer. That combination points to about 1890 to 1920, factory made, American. Sold listings for similar unsigned oak dressers from that era, in clean original condition, run about $150-400, less if it has been refinished, and more only if the label names a sought-after maker. Asking prices for the same dressers run to $800 and up, and they sit unsold. Your honest value is the sold range, and our antique furniture identification guide shows how to read each of those clues in detail.
Sold prices versus asking prices
This is the step that changes most people's numbers. An asking price is what a seller hopes for. A sold price is what a buyer paid. Online antique listings are full of items priced at several times what the same item sells for, and they stay listed for years, which makes them look like evidence. They are not.
- Use completed sales only. On eBay, filter by Sold Items. Auction aggregators such as LiveAuctioneers and Invaluable show past results; WorthPoint collects them for a subscription.
- Match carefully. Same maker, same model or pattern, same size, same condition. A 10 inch vase and an 8 inch vase of the same pattern can differ by a factor of two.
- Read the buyer's premium into auction results. Auction hammer prices plus the buyer's premium are what buyers paid; the seller receives the hammer price minus the seller's commission.
- Discount the highs. One record sale is not a market. Use the middle of five or more results.
Types of appraisal, and when you need one
An appraisal is a written opinion of value for a stated purpose, and the purpose changes the number.
| Purpose | Value used | Typical level |
|---|---|---|
| Insurance | Retail replacement value | Highest; what it would cost to buy again from a dealer |
| Estate, division among heirs, donations | Fair market value | What a willing buyer and seller would agree, usually close to auction results |
| Quick sale or liquidation | Marketable cash value | Lowest; what it brings sold quickly |
| Verbal or online estimate | An opinion, not a document | Helpful for deciding next steps |
A qualified personal property appraiser belongs to a society such as the American Society of Appraisers, the International Society of Appraisers or the Appraisers Association of America and works to USPAP, the professional standards. Fees are hourly, per item or flat; the ethical rule is that an appraiser never charges a percentage of the value. Expect a few hundred dollars for a short written appraisal of a handful of items. Auction houses will often give a verbal estimate of what an item would bring at their sale at no charge, which is useful if you plan to sell.
Common mistakes
- Using asking prices. The single most common reason people overvalue antiques.
- Assuming old means valuable. Plenty of 100 year old things were mass produced and survive in quantity.
- Cleaning, polishing or refinishing first. Original surface often matters more than shine, especially on furniture, bronze, coins and silver with patina.
- Trusting a mark alone. Famous marks have been copied for a century. The mark must agree with the materials and construction.
- Using an insurance appraisal to price a sale. It is a replacement figure, often well above what anything sells for.
- Selling the best piece in a lot with the rest. Identify the standouts before a house clearance takes everything for one price.
- Paying a percentage-based appraisal fee. It is a red flag; reputable appraisers do not.
How WorthPic reads antique photos
WorthPic runs on the newest and most capable AI model available, tuned for exactly this kind of identification. From clear photos of the whole object, its marks, its underside or back and its construction details, it reads what the object is, the maker's marks, signatures, labels and country names, and the construction clues that date it, such as dovetails, saw marks, screws, pontils and seams. It then gives an honest value range based on what comparable items sell for, not on asking prices, and says plainly when a piece is a common one. What it cannot know from photos is the weight of silver, hidden repairs, the true age of the wood under a finish, whether a signature is genuine, or how a piece feels and sounds in the hand. It identifies and estimates. It does not authenticate, grade or appraise, and for anything that looks important it points you to a specialist.
What to photograph
- The whole piece from the front, in daylight, straight on.
- Every mark, label, stamp and signature, close up and readable.
- The underside or back, where construction shows: drawer joints, back boards, the base of glass and pottery, the back of a canvas.
- Damage and repairs, honestly, close up.
- A ruler or tape measure beside the piece for size.
- Any paperwork: receipts, old auction tags, family notes.
When to get it looked at in person
For ordinary household pieces, sold comparables are all you need. Bring in an expert when a piece carries a signature or maker's mark with real auction records, when construction says it is early and handmade, when it is silver of significant weight, or when you need a written value for insurance, an estate or a donation. A regional auction house with a specialist department is the right first call for paintings, furniture, silver and decorative arts, and a member appraiser of the ASA, ISA or AAA for written appraisals. For silver specifically, see antique silverware value and sterling silver vs silver plate; for pictures, is this painting worth anything and how to identify an artist signature; for ceramics, how to read pottery marks and old china dishes; for glass, depression glass value; and for clocks, antique clock value.