Sunny days, backyard barbeques, campfires, and pool parties - these are some of the hallmarks of the Great American Summer. Let's cap off the sunlit season with some "homespun" fine art: American folk art paintings. Recognized for their picturesque landscape scenes, harbor views, darling portraitures, or glimpses into the lives of early colonists, folk art paintings hold a special place in ... Read More
APRIL SHOWERS BRING LIMOGES FLOWERS
May 7, 2019 Michelle Miller
How To Ensure A Porcelain Piece Is A True Limoges Limoges...what is it? Those porcelain dinnerware sets, trinkets boxes, and tea sets adorned with fluffy, pink, cabbage-style roses, tend to be categorized as examples of the "Limoges" porcelain. Limoges, however, is not a company, but rather a term which has come to encompass a variety of porcelain pieces produced in a specific area. Limoges ... Read More
Q & A With Founder Carrie Gough
September 21, 2018 by Michelle Miller
How did the idea of What's It Worth come about? I have been a professional fine art appraiser for over ten years. With this, I noticed a consistent "gap" in the market with clients who had inherited a vase, stumbled across a painting, or had been sitting on an antique lamp who had no idea where to go to explore the value. Most of these clients do not need formal art appraisals (AKA appraisals ... Read More
A Quilted History: America and Its Sewn Collections
July 10, 2018 by Michelle Miller
When you think about American collectibles and antiques, cars, rock-n-roll memorabilia, presidential campaign paraphernalia, and Civil War relics are a few things that come to mind. Quilts, however, especially patchwork ones, are an overlooked category, but one that has become recognized as a distinctly and uniquely American form of art. Throughout American history, women were in charge of ... Read More
Gowns and Crowns: Preserving Family Heirlooms
June 5, 2018 by Michelle Miller
With most weddings, bouquets of flowers, cascades of ivy and billowing yards of white chiffon, satin, and taffeta are traditional ingredients to creating that magical day. A royal wedding, too, is a floral and frothy wonderland of decoration and dress. A royal wedding, however, especially the marriage between a prince and princess, features a unique glittering guest: the tiara. This past May, ... Read More
Is It Really An Antique?
May 31, 2018 by Michelle Miller
Maybe a piece of furniture has been passed down in your family throughout the years - a grandmother's charming writing desk, for example, or an heirloom cedar chest. Or maybe you're going to a flea marketing hoping to find that perfect exquisitely carve antique French parlor chair. These pieces definitely look, well, old (like they've seen better times), but the question becomes "is it really ... Read More
Is a Free Appraisal Really Free?
November 1, 2017 by Carrie Gough
Where can I get a free art appraisal? Buyer beware - why free appraisals are not really free and why consumers should choose an unbiased source like What’s it Worth when valuing their art, antiques and collectibles. If you google “free art or antiques appraisal” plenty of options can be found. But if the consumer digs a little deeper, they will soon discover that the entity advertising a ... Read More
