Apr2

Bad news from the Lawrence Flea

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It is with deep regret that I must inform everyone that the Lawrence Flea will not be restarting this spring.
 
This has been a gradual but also sudden change of plans for me. I wish to save you my griveances, my intentions were to bootstrap this business myself. However, after my first bout of media attention I was contacted by the city planning department and was informed that the TeePee Junction location was to my surprise in the city limits. This meant that I must pay a large special event fee each time I was at that location. I tried moving the location last year, but also found that I would have to move it halfway thru the year to keep my permit fees low. I dont feel that this was is a good option. At the start, I wished to reinvest my profits to make each market better than the last. But it has been a slow start for the market and I can no longer float the excess expenses.
I believe I have given it a good start and would be happy to divulge further information to anyone who might be serious about taking over what I have started, including my blog, FB, Pintrest and Twitter accounts.

Many thanks for your support in the past two years,

Angela Longhurst

Apr14

Need help determining the price of your treasures?

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From a page inside this lovely book, Found, Free, and Flea by Tereasa Surratt:

Unless you happen to be in town when the Antiques Roadshow visits, most folks wont seek out professional appraisal services for their antiques.  The trend of online appraisals has been catching on for its convenience, speed, and affordability. Here are some of my favorite sites:

Whatsitworthtoyou.com offers a wide range of appraisal services, from cheap entry-level appraisals to deluxe and express services, plus resource directories, courses, and more. This site even offers a “collection appraisal” service, which comes with the era, description, condition, appraiser comments, current fair market value, and replacement costs. 

Antiqueappraisals.net offers a more costly approach, with fees starting at more than $120 per item, which gives you a detailed itemization of the value, how the appraiser reached the conclusion, and all the comparable items similar to your item that have been sold in the past based on the information in the site’s database.  It might not be the ideal site for the “found, free, or flea” items, but it’s good to have on hand when you find that uberspecial antique in Grandma’s attic. 

Oldandsold.com With a fee of ten bucks or so and less than four days’ turnaround, this site is hard to beat. And you can even search its past auctions for sold values.  This site offers a ton of information for nearly all aspects of collecting.