Monday, October 31, 2011

What's it worth?

Last week I addressed some oft asked questions, this week I shall answer one more.  What's it worth?

Now and again some one wanders into the store with an old quilt that they think is worth hundreds if not thousands of dollars and that by virtue of me standing behind the counter I know its exact value.  Well I don't but this I do know:  Most old quilts are not worth half as much as most antique roadshow junkies think.

Old quilts were never intended for anything more than keeping you warm at night, or wrapping up to keep the chill out.  They are like that pair of mittens your grand ma used to knit you every Christmas,  do you really think a hundred years from now that those mittens will suddenly be worth $100?  Doubtful, however those mittens have incalculable value to the child that wore them and has special Christmas memories connected to them,  but your warm and fuzzy feelings do not translate into c-notes.  Unless of course you are Amish.

"Amish" quilts crack me up, many people have no problem dropping $1000 plus on an Amish quilt but when I try to get $500 for a quilt I am insane.  Nobody admits that Amish is a brand and is a luxury good that is in the same category as your swanky Vera Bradley bag (yes I could make a better quality knock off of a Vera Bradly but "Brent Bag's" lack the marketing machine to end up on the spray tanned shoulder's of the Jersey Shore).

So what's it worth?  The answer as my dad once explained is that it's only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.  It's the difference between Antiques Roadshow and Pawn Stars.  On Roadshow the appraisers give a theoretical value that makes everybody happy.  Pawn Stars is the actual value because money is changing hands.

So why would I pay hundreds of dollars for a stained stinky old quilt when I could buy a brand new one for the same price?  Oh its a hundred years old so it must be rare.  Most of my quilts are a one of a kind so they are just as rare, and the fabric is not a hundred years old so it will last longer and hold up better.  I just wish that everyone else knew how valuable my quilts are, I mean I have a blog and everything, I am a famous designer, I even have a ribbon from the fair.

Adah thinks here bags are priceless and Eddie would never sell his quilts but that's because Daddy made them. Brent the blogger and famous designer has nothing to do with it.

-Brent

1 comment:

  1. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! LOVE THIS!!!!!

    Thanks for the laugh this morning!!

    ReplyDelete