Antiques Quest

How To Value Your Antique Clock

If you own an antique clock or you wish to by one but want to get the right market price, wet your finger and hold up high.

There is no guide, no method of calculation and certainly no expert that would put their reputation on the line.

An antique clock is worth what it is worth ...”what does that mean “ , I hear you ask.
f you take your antique clock to a car boot sale, it is likely that you’ll be offered pocket money. Take the same clock to a specialist auction and an antiques dealer may compete with a clock dealer to buy it for the cheapest price to sell on for profit.

Put it on EBay for example and the marketplace opens up!

Time: ending soonest----------------------Price: highest first Price: lowest first Time: ending soonest Time: newly listed

	chipping Norton longcase works, John Wells		5	£67.00	27m
	Westminster Chimes 8 day mantel clock		11	£41.00	39m
	5 OLD MANTEL CLOCKS		-	£30.00	52m
	FINE COUILLET FRERES STRIKING REPEATER CARRIAGE CLOCK			£1,475.00	58m
	SUPERB ANTIQUE FRENCH GRAND CORNICHE CARRIAGE CLOCK			£675.00	1h 21m
	GRAND MONTH GOING TRIPLE CORNICHE BRASS CARRIAGE CLOCK			£1,200.00	1h 31m
	cuckoo clock pendulum		4	£3.71	8h 47m
	watchmakers jewellers repouse hammer		1	£4.50	8h 47m
	Lovely Asprey Clock		-	£150.00 £175.00	9h 34m
	longcase grandfather clock straight second hand + pipe			£5.20	9h 43m
	Nice Mahogany Case Westminster Chime Clock - D5203		-	£70.00 £135.00	10h 33m
	Nice German Gustav Becker Strike Mahogany Case Clock		4	£68.00	10h 48m
	CHIMES STRIKER MOVEMENT ORIGINAL VINTAGE CLOCK PART, A1		-	£3.99	10h 56m
	Black Forest Joker Musical Alarm Clock - D5127		4	£26.00	11h 12m
	Nice German Walnut Case Dual Chime Clock - D5043		1	£65.00	11h 33m
	heavy gauge steel hands for longcase clock		3	£11.61	11h 47m
	SMITHS ART DECO ELECTRIC MANTLE CLOCK RESTORATION PIECE		1	£4.99	11h 51m
	German Oak Case Napoleon Hat Strike Clock - D3754		-	£45.00 £75.00	11h 53m
	VINTAGE CLOCK MADE IN USSR		3	£3.07	12h 4m
	Excellent Three Weights German Musical Cuckoo Clock		1	£40.00	12h 20m

Private buyers, interior designers, importers, exporters, antique clock dealers...they are all there looking for a bargain. Your antique clock is worth what the last person bid before the hammer went down. No more, no less. If ‘auction fever’ kicks in, it only takes more than one to bid against another and the more the merrier. Two egos bidding against each other could bring you a very healthy return. Ask yourself, did you get market value or just a result of two egos...that is auction fever!

Some antique dealers would suggest the antique market is correlated to the housing market. Many would agree, and then disagree when the debate suggests that when the housing market is in a boom period the antique market is in a slump. We would wonder how that can make any sense because if the house market is booming, there’s plenty of money about.

Reality then suggests that if the housing marking is right up there, we have little money to spend in interiors. So, when houses are bringing top money, your antique clock will not do well in a sale, unless of course two or more bidders are fighting over your clock.

So, when property prices fall – does your antique clock value rise? No!, unless you have two or more frenzied bidders, bidding against each other.

Let’s look at this scenario; the last decade (I’m writing this in 2008) property prices have gone through the roof. Now ask any antiques dealer if ‘brown furniture’ is worth more now than it was ten years ago. He’ll tell you ‘no’. You might argue that your antique clock isn’t really classed as ‘brown furniture’.

Note I said ‘any antiques dealer’, but find a professional antiques clock dealer and they are likely to assure you that antique clocks have held their own with a small increase in value and sales are still strong.

So, antique clocks are doing okay, the reason might be that they keep nice because they are not opened, closed, sat on, slept in, eaten or worked on. They have a sort of heart beat and ‘live’ in your home. Does that old dresser provide the same emotion?

I’m resisting politico but the truth is there’s no capital gains tax on clocks and that makes it an exciting investment and clock prices have been rising by about 10% a year compare that with some pension plans and stocks.

Like used cars, there are many publications that dictate the value of antique clocks. However they don’t guarantee to be up to date and never take into consideration regional variations. Indeed, they are most likely to cover the higher end of the market where high value pieces prevail.

Save your money and monitor online auctions such as Antiques Quest this website is probably the of the best place to find the current range of prices for clocks.. It is on every minute of the day, in real time as opposed to your local sales and auction rooms. You can compare your own antique clock like for like to the ones being sold. Be mindful that variations on movement, dials, type, style and quality of case will make a massive difference to the valuation and sale price.

The big difference between Antiques Quest and your local auction house is that most auction houses publish a catalogue and they will send you a copy upon request. So you have plenty of notice and can physically view, touch and feel the antique clock. Equally, an antiques clock expert or professional appraiser will offer a valuation service, it may not be free but it is in their interest to achieve the highest possible price at auction.

One final piece of advice, you already know, but here it is.. Don’t expect honest and professional valuations from ‘house clearance experts.

Always use professional appraisers based at sales and auction rooms, and official appraisers attached to local probate courts they can usually give prevailing price values.