House clearance firms - how good are their valuations? How do you find a decent one?

[mevoici]

MIL sadly died recently, and her flat has quite a lot of the kind of china and glassware that is always popping up on Cash in the Attic et al, valued at about £40 to £50 per item - Beswick horses, Crown Derby tea set, Swarowski glass animals etc.

As well as that, there are some oddities like a Goblin Teasmade; otherwise, it's only a small flat, and there's not much to clear.

We had a cowboy in whose eyes glittered at the gold (now removed to safe keeping!) but who burbled ignorantly about the china & glass.

We'd be happy to have the flat cleared in exchange for the china/glass, but would also like an idea of individual items' value, as there are a few items of sentimental value which will need to be divided fairly by siblings, or bought out by the people who want more of them.

Anyone with any experience of these valuers? The cowboy sold us a probate valuation so we've already got probate (and IHT was never an issue anyway).

Hi, my dh works for an Auction house and also does house clearances (anything of any value gets put into the auction), most of the clearances Dh does are arranged through solicitors (after someone has passed away). I'm not sure exactly how the valuation is done but you always have to take into consideration the time it takes to clear a property and the people/staff involved to clear and sell the items.

The best way is always going to be by doing it yourself (clearing the house and selling anything of value).

Also, beware of programs like 'cash in the attic', most of them were filmed over 3 years ago and the prices on things such as 'Beswick' have dropped.

I had to clear out my grandfather's house last year and he had 50 years of accummulated crap. I spoke to a local antiques centre and their advice was to take stuff to them direct. The house clearance people will always make money from you because they know people want the whole lot gone ASAP. If it is only a small flat you are much better off packing up anything like the china yourself and taking it to an antiques place. Or you can find out the makers' names and Google them, maybe sell stuff on ebay - antique china seems popular on there. I have to confess that most of my grandad's china is still in my garage as I haven't got round to selling it yet. We did have house clearance guys to get rid of all the furniture but we had to pay them, which is not what I was expecting at all.....

Good luck.

Thanks, Marne and Lankyalto. about Cash in the ATtic progs being 3 years out of date - do you think most antiques and collectables have fallen in value, or just some, because of the recession?

Thing is, I could take all the collectable stuff and flog it, but

a) it would use up my time
b) siblings would hassle me to hurry
c) siblings might think I hadn't done a good enough job of getting the best price

I think my main idea is that IF I were not a relative of the deceased, it WOULD be worth me spending time clearing the flat in exchange for the collectables. Or else could we get a sort of offset value for the collectables vs time spent clearing - say, pay them only £50 to clear and they sell the collectables to make it worth their while.

I can't face more china in the garage, lankyalto!

Prices are always dropping, mainly due to programs like 'cash in the attic' (people see things like Beswick, Wade etc on cash in the attic and then decide to sell which is making these items easier to get hold of which makes the price drop), the recession has effected the price of collectables but genuine antiques (the rarer items) are always going to keep some kind of value. Prices are also changing due to whats in and whats not. Beswick will always sell but prices have dropped because there is a lot of it about, unless its a rare item (a mounted rider for example) then you may not get much money for it at all. To get a guide of prices its best to check completed listings on e-bay.

Dh used to sell china but the prices have dropped so much that we now have to sell old stock for less than we payed for it or store it until prices go back up (which they will one day).

If you want anything valued that your not sure about i can always ask DH for you.

The best thing to do would be for you to take out anything that's worth money and then get someone to clear the flat (which may end up costing you money), sell the china on e-bay or at a boot sale or collectors fare.

Is there an auction house near you? Perhaps ask them if they'd see what you have which is worth auctioning.

Thanks, Marne, very informative! I'm quite surprised at the effect of the TV programmes - I thought if lots of people saw the 'experts' going "Ar, that's a luverly bit of Beswick" it would make prices go up, but there you go! I hadn't thought about people flooding the market.

Sorry to hear about DH and china stocks. And thanks for the offer! I'll check on Ebay.

Personally I'm horse-mad so I luuuuuuuuuuurve Beswick horses. I have a beautiful bay mare (very common!!) with a broken leg, but I would never part with her anyway.

Any other views or experience??

My ILs used one for when my DH's gran died. They got peanuts. I was horrified that they'd accepted such a tiny amount, but it wasn't down to me.

Try speaking to your local auction house maybe?

Thanks, Hallelujah.