Monthly Archives: July 2006

Art market sales are surging worldwide thanks to interest from buyers in China and Russia. In just the first six months of 2006, Christie’s reports they made 2.1 billion dollars. Notable sales include the highest ever price paid for a painting, a Gustav Klimt portrait selling for $135 million.

This recent JMW Turner watercolor on paper sold for nearly 11 million, a record price for a painting on paper.

Lots of people ask me what the best antiques price guides are. There is no easy answer, as almost every specialty area of antiques have their own price guides. However, for general antiques reference, you can find some good information online, for free! IF you know where to look. Here are my favorite general, free, antiques online price guides, be sure to bookmark them!:

Kovel’s Price Guides – You probably have one of their many books, but this respected duo of the antiques and collectibles world also have a great website that includes a price guide covering hundreds of areas. Over 600,000 prices, though few pictures and little other information is provided. Requires free registration to access prices.

BBC Antiques Price Guide – This guide covers the 5000+ items that Antiques Roadshow UK has appraised over its long history. Includes pictures of the items, background info and valuations. Very handy! If you have trouble converting the prices to dollars, check out my favorite currency converter. This guide will be especially helpful if you have English or European antiques to price.

Collect.com – This site has a searchable price guide with prices for over 145,000 collectibles. Mostly modern items are covered here, so if you are pricing collectibles from the last century, this is a good place to start. Free registration is required.

There are many more price guides out there for various specialty areas, I’ll cover a few of the best in a future post. Happy antiquing!

The legendary silent film comedian’s trademark bowler hat and cane went for $139,250 at an auction June 25th. Other interesting items sold at the entertainment memorablia auction, at Bonham’s and Butterfields auction house in Los Angeles, included the two headed llama from the original 1967 Dr. Dolittle film with Rex Harrison. Here’s hoping both these items find their way to a museum to be enjoyed by classic film buffs.