Posted on 12/16/2024 7:38:58 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Kaja Veilleux has hunted New England attic treasures for more than 50 years. He once found a copy of the Declaration of Independence sitting on a pile of trash, and he made headlines this year when he stumbled upon a million-dollar portrait gathering dust in an old farmhouse in Maine that may have been painted by the Dutch master Rembrandt.
Then there was the time, Veilleux said, he was shown a $50,000 gold coin kicking around in a tool drawer, only to have the well-meaning owner destroy much of its value before he could auction it by using a scouring pad to clean it — and scratch it.
"It's like a treasure hunt every day," Veilleux said, chuckling.
Many people dream of cashing in on some dusty, old heirloom. In October, three sisters from Ohio sold a rare dime for more than a half million dollars. Two years ago, a case of old hockey cards found in a Canadian home sold for more than $3.7 million.
Veilleux, 73, helps people sort gems from junk when he appraises furniture, antiques and art by using his knowledge of what similar items have sold for in the past. But art auctions can be fickle. Who could have guessed a banana duct-taped to a wall could sell for more than $6 million?
Veilleux started collecting coins at age 8 and soon found he had a good memory for visual objects. His training for a career in antique dealing has all been on the job, he said, including a lesson he learned early when he spent most of the money he had at the time on bidding for a beautiful miniature painting.
(Excerpt) Read more at channel3000.com ...
"I paid $350 for a $35 object, which always taught me to look at things very carefully," Veilleux said.
Check Youtube for:
“Nobody wants your stuff”
That circulated Kennedy 50 cent piece with inflation is the same spending power it had in ‘67. Having it as a curiosity is worth nothing.
Thanks Diana in Wisconsin.
...he was shown a $50,000 gold coin kicking around in a tool drawer, only to have the well-meaning owner destroy much of its value before he could auction it by using a scouring pad to clean it — and scratch it.
My late mother used to enjoy Antiques Road Show. A 'collector' brought in his lifelong 'collection' of historic person signatures -- he'd clipped them out of various letters and other documents he'd acquired and tossed the rest, keeping only the signatures. He had a nice box of confetti.
The late shlock artist Tom Kinkade made millions doing just this — daubing a bit of paint onto high-res prints. He later figured out he could train amateurs to do the daubing . . . but only after they’d bought a special license issued by Kinkade.
I check Craigslist for musical instruments. A “genuine Stradivarius” violin pops up occasionally that was found in a closet somewhere thinking it is a real Stradivarius. The luckiest I ever got was a TAG Hauer watch at a thrift store for $2.50. After polishing it up I made near $2000 selling it.
I was going through a pile of boxes out in the barn loft a few weeks ago and I came across a whole box of Star Wars cards. And some toys from the same. My son collected them when he was a kid. He’s well over fifty now..
They may be worth something....maybe. (?)
People who are laundering money.
The guy was a con man. At one early point I tried to like his work but couldn’t. It always looked like a poster from Spencer Gifts.
My husband bought two Martin ukulele’s at a garage sale, both in cases in excellent condition; $400 for both. About 15 years later he sold them for $1800 to a ukulele player from Hawaii.
I was a fan of Kinkade. His artwork reminds me of the designed scenes of places like Rivendell from Lord of the Rings. Those types of paintings/artwork look so inviting, serene and peaceful.
I think I also like Kinkade because a lot of his work involved the color green, which is my favorite.
I once had a Kinkade painting throw pillow, but that’s it.
Beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.
Moving in Stereo!
😎
<My wife is an antique.
A lot of women love his paintings.
I used to always say: Thomas Kincade painter of crap.
Kincaid - ... 🤮
Recently, one of my customers gave me a book about Gustov Stickley furniture. This is because he was his great grandfather.
As I was looking through the book I saw a dining room sideboard that looked a lot like the one we had left in my moms basement in WHY.
There also was a library table that also looked a lot like the one my mother had refinished with this “antiquing paint” back in the in 1970s.
We left a lot of furniture in the house when we sold it after my moms death at 92.
Was it Don Ho?
The teacher pulled out a round 5", 12 lb. iron ball, and explained that current scrap value for 12 lbs. of scrap iron was about 50 cents.
Put the ball on a little wooden stand and take it to a Gettysburg gift shop and call it a "civil war paper weight" and you will find people willing to pay $30-$40 for it.
Add some paperwork authenticating that this was in fact a civil war cannonball recovered from the Gettysburg battlefield, and it's now worth $100-200.
If hypothetically, one could produce paperwork authenticating that this was irrefutably the cannonball that removed General Sickle's leg at the Battle of Gettysburg it essentially becomes a priceless museum piece. Even though there were likely hundreds of thousands, if not millions of cannonballs just like it produced during the war, with many copies still in existence, this one becomes singularly unique.
Or to put it simply, one man's trash is another man's treasure.
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