Any collector knows that face. The face of your other half, as you excitedly shift more miscellaneous antiques into the home or storage space.
“But you don’t need any more!” they’ll exclaim. They’re wrong.
Any heart-centred collector should have this irresistible buyer’s zest - the surge of euphoria that comes with acquiring unique pieces of history.
Hemswell Antiques Centres was born from the sheer pleasure of collecting. Without the Miller family’s passion, the business would never have become Europe’s largest antiques centre.
Still, there’s a difference between collecting and accumulating.
If you’re a trawler who stores and rarely sells, then your partner’s whines may hold some hard truths.
But if you’re reading this article, then you want to learn how to sell miscellaneous antiques - those bits and bobs that are taking up space, growing stale in your collection, and no longer bring you pleasure.
From antique irons and inkwells, scent bottles and snuff boxes, this guide will show you how to shift those small items and make room for sensible, quality buys you crave the most.
Four ways to make money from miscellaneous antiques
- Get your antique valued
It’s a sticky dilemma - those pieces you think might be valuable, but you’re not 100%. Most auction houses offer specialist advice. Sometimes these are free, but specialists will probably charge for written valuations. Visit them or take photos and email them. Valuers recognised by official bodies - the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Society of Fine Art Auctioneers or the National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers - may be pricier to use, but it’s worth it if you’re able to sell your miscellaneous antiques for a brilliant price.
- Don’t always be tempted by the first offer
That nagging voice in your head might tell you just to take the first offer you get. Before you make any hasty decisions, do your research. Antique scent bottles, antique corkscrews or antique irons - our expert antique blog is a genuinely useful source of information for figuring the true value of an item, even if you’re researching within a niche.
- Categorise your clutter and sell in batches
Auctions are ideal for this - helping you sell job lots for a worthwhile investment, rather than swapping hands for pounds and pence. But you can also give yourself a head start by batching up those miscellaneous antiques yourself. We do this by housing similar antiques together. For example, you will find some silver and jewellery lives in Building Two. This means anyone looking to fill a gap in their collection, whether they have their eye on a 19th-century brooch or set of antique trinket boxes for sale, won’t have to sift through stock to find what they’re looking for. Make it easy for your buyers.
- Lease a cabinet in an antique shop or centre
If your online listings are getting no takers and you’re having no fun at the fairs, rent a space somewhere with guaranteed footfall. Our customers travel from all over the country to spend the day getting lost in our vast world of treasures - imagine having your miscellaneous antiques perfectly presented, with a friendly, knowledgeable sales team there to sell them for you. See how we can help you make money from miscellaneous antiques - our monthly rental cost for a cabinet at Hemswell starts at just £95.