posted 12-18-2003 06:47 AM            

• Register (click here)
  
• Please familiarize yourself with the Silver Salon Forum Guidelines (click here)

posted 12-19-2003 07:26 AM            

• A Curator's Viewpoint
  Silver collecting from the museum curator's point of view.

And then in the Silver Salon Forum Guidelines it says:

quote:

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Will you tell me what my item is worth?

• The purpose of the Silver Salon Forums is to share information. The Silver Salon Forums cannot act as an appraisal service due to professional & legal liability issues.
  
• If you ask for a valuation, that section of your post may be deleted.

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Would you suggest that we have worded the above differently?

We also requested that you Register (click here). But you haven't.

In your most recent post you continue to suggest that the item is for sale or will be and want to know its value: "I would like to know what it is worth so that if I do sell it to a buyer near me, I can be sure that the price is fair."

From the SSF Guidelines:

quote:

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Can I Sell/promote/advertise my wants or goods or services on the Silver Salon Forums?

• ONLY in the For Sale and Wanted to Buy Forums.
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So maybe you are moving a little too fast ....

Be this as it may.....

We would like to suggest that a simple way to get an idea of the value of your silver is to watch eBay for the next year and see what several similar items sell for.

Or you could secure the services of a professional appraiser. To request information about an professional appraiser in your area, go to here. The following is from this link:

quote:

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Appraisals

Ask 10 people on the street what an appraisal is and how an appraisal is done and you will get 10 very different answers. The common thread heard is that an appraisal tells you "what it is worth" and is usually obtained by "asking/calling a dealer." In the simplest of terms this is generally correct. However, please don't contact us or any professional appraiser requesting a phone or email appraisal because if you need the appraisal for legal, tax, business, insurance, replacement, damage, loss, charitable gift, gift, estate, equitable distribution and/or other professional reasons a phone or an email appraisal will prove to be very inadequate.

A professional appraiser cannot appraise your silver without personally inspecting it. Please don't waste your time asking for an appraisal based solely on your description or photographs. When you deal with a trained professional appraiser, one who belongs to one of the personal property appraisal associations (AAA, ASA, ISA), you will receive a documented comparative analysis as a written appraisal. A professionally written appraisal comes at the conclusion of a series of very specific and uniform steps which include: personal inspection, research, documentation and a comparative market study. A professionally written appraisal will conform to a standard called USPAP or Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. Your appraisal when done properly can take a considerable amount of time so be prepared to compensate the professional appraiser accordingly. Also be sure that the appraiser specializes in the types of items being appraised.

When you ask for and get a verbal or a "seat of the pants" (or Internet) written opinion this is not an appraisal, it is only a guesstimate. When asking a dealer for their opinion, remember they have to balance what they tell you. The dealers guesstimate usually falls somewhere between what they would buy it from you for, what they would sell it to you for and what they think will make you happy. This is not an objective opinion and so the declared value could be way off either way.

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To find an appraiser in your area click here.