Suit YourselfTM International

Suit Yourself^TM International, Inc.

^{Fine Frivolity For Fastidious Folks.}

^{Purveyors Of Foreign Paraphernalia To The Trade Since 1978.}

120 Pendleton Point, Islesboro Island, Maine USA 04848
EMAIL: suityou@suityourself.org All Content is Copyright

Many of you write us asking for more information about something you have. We appreciate your concerns about the pieces you own. We are always happy to hear from people interested in our expertise, and we read all the email we receive from people interested in buying our items. Please excuse this automated reply to your request to research the value of some item for you to determine its worth. We're glad you're curious enough to ask further questions and we hope this FAQ is helpful to you.

Yes, we do share our expertise; we have a limited amount of time available to assist others with evaluating pieces. We do, however, charge for our services; our expertise took us a lifetime to acquire, cost us a fortune and it's very rare.

Click here for information on our APPRAISAL SERVICES.

Our representation of the pieces we sell is available for every item on its listing sale page. Each listing sale page includes descriptions of the work which represent our professional evaluation of its authorship, quality, merits, and provenance, above and beyond the ways in which the work speaks for itself.

The majority of the items we sell are "one of a kind" items. The art we sell is original art that has been manually created by an individual, passed through a number of generations of hands, and finally, typically after decades or even centuries of display and/or storage, has found its way into our hands. We do not sell recent replicas of anything, nor do we sell modern copies made in China. We do our best to describe the condition of our items, including what we know of the provenance, and to specifically point out by word and photograph anything we (in our professional opinion) consider unusual or untoward about an item.

WHAT IF I KNOW LITTLE OR NOTHING ABOUT ANTIQUES?

Even if you know nothing about art or antiques, there is something you can do on your own that is absolutely guaranteed to increase your ability to understand a piece that you have in your possession.

There are lots of reasons to make the effort to understand what you have:

You'll know how to research value for yourself, instead of taking some expert's word for it,

You won't pay a lot of money for a value estimate only to find out later that the information is out of date,

You will know how much you can get, and how long it will take to get it,

You won't be cheated when you do decide to sell,

You may discover other finds now that you know what to look for.

WHY SHOULD I BOTHER WITH ALL THIS?

If you want the most money for what you have, and you want that money soon, then take the time to do your own research and sell the item yourself. Most experts such as ourselves and most major auction houses (for example Sotheby's and Christie's)will occasionally give concise free evaluations and estimates on pieces but only when determining whether or not to accept the piece on consignment (meaning we think we can sell it and you've agree to let us do so for you). Once you've consigned a piece, the seller takes a cut of the sale (usually 45% or more) and you may have to wait quite awhile for the seller to sell it. With major auction houses, the wait is often as long as a year or more.

HOW TO RESEARCH VALUE

Use a checklist. You'll get the most accurate Value Research information if you can eventually answer ALL these questions about what you have, even if you only know 1 thing when you start: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.
Assuming you have some item you want to sell, ask yourself:

WHAT Is This Thing? A chair? A necklace? A pot? A pet?

If you don't know or can't figure out what it is, or what to call it, that's OK too --- you can still research it by its size and what it's made from (metal, wood, plastic, etc.)

If you can figure out What it is made of, even generally, you can start researching value:

Is it a metal chair? A wood chair? A plastic chair?

Is it a metal necklace? A beaded necklace? A plastic necklace?

Is it a metal pot? A clay or ceramic or porcelain pot? A plastic pot?

Ask yourself How Could This Thing Be Used?

Can you sit on it, or stand on it, or hide under it?

Can you wear it or not?

Can you cook in it? Can you plant in it? Can you drink from it or is it too big? Does it bounce?

Thinking this way, make guesses about:

What's this thing used for? (maybe it's just decorative or religious inspiration),

Who might use it? and Why use it (for what purpose) and When would it be used,

Ask yourself Why would anybody want one? How Does It Work?

What does it do?

See if you can find similar things online -- don't worry about what the thing might be called, just research similar things, looking for anything that looks like your Thing. You can look on the Internet (the best place!) or at any library, or bookstore, or in catalogs, or shops.

TRAIN YOURSELF TO NOTICE DETAILS

TRAIN YOURSELF TO NOTICE DETAILS. The more details you train yourself to notice, the more details you will discern, and you will discover more details that affect value. For example, when you know the difference between green plastic and jade stone, you won't be fooled by a fake green beaded necklace. You know you are getting better at noticing details when you notice things about the everyday objects around that you never noticed before.

GOOD LUCK!

THIS FAQ IS TOO BASIC FOR ME.
HOW CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION?
Please click here for our What's This Worth? FAQ.

If you have read this FAQ and still have a question, by all means send an email to us directly at suityou@suityourself.org .

about us & contact us	ANSWERS TO FREQUENT QUESTIONS	TERMS OF SALE & SHIPPING
GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ART & ANTIQUES	WHAT IS THIS? HOW DO I KNOW IT'S GENUINE?	BASIC ART TERMS & PROVENANCE
APPRAISAL SERVICES	CREATE A CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY	RETURN TO HOME PAGE

120 Pendleton Point, Islesboro Island, Maine USA 04848
EMAIL: suityou@suityourself.org All Content is Copyright