How Much Is My Antique Worth?

Updated October 20, 2026 · 8-minute read

Your antique is worth roughly what comparable pieces are selling for right now. A price book printed years ago can't tell you that, and neither can the most hopeful asking price on eBay. To find the real number, identify the piece precisely, find out what close comparables sold for, then adjust for condition and demand. This guide goes through each step and ends with a quicker way to get a first estimate from a single photo.

For a quick first answer, photograph it with Antique Snap. You get an estimated range built from similar pieces listed for sale right now.

First, know exactly what you have

A vague description gets you a vague price. Search "Victorian chair" and you get a thousand unrelated prices. Search "circa-1870 walnut balloon-back chair" and you get a handful you can actually compare. Every detail you pin down (maker, period, material, pattern name) narrows the comparables and makes the number firmer, so identify first and value second. If you haven't identified the piece yet, start with our five-step identification method, and for silver specifically, the hallmarks guide. A decoded hallmark can turn "old teapot" into "Birmingham 1892, known maker" in one step. There are also guides for furniture, pottery marks and jewelry. If you're not sure the piece is worth the effort, start with the signs an antique is valuable.

Find what comparable pieces actually sold for

The most useful habit you can pick up: search eBay for your item, then tick the "Sold items" filter. eBay's help page on pricing your items explains the completed and sold listings filters. An asking price only tells you what a seller hopes to get. An item can sit listed at $400 for years while identical pieces sell at $85. Auction records do the same job at the higher end of the market. Give recent sales the most weight. A comp from five years ago comes from a different market, because whole categories drift: a lot of traditional "brown furniture" has fallen for two decades while mid-century design climbed. Save screenshots of the comps you find. You'll want them when you list the piece, negotiate with a dealer or talk to an appraiser.

A true comparable matches four things: what it is, when it's from, what condition it's in, and where it's selling. If one of those differs, the price won't carry over well. Venue matters more than beginners expect. The same piece fetches different money on eBay, at a regional auction, in a dealer's shop and at a specialist sale, because each one draws different buyers. When your comps disagree wildly, the venue is usually the reason.

Adjust for condition and rarity

Condition moves antique prices more than almost anything else. A hairline crack can halve a ceramic's value, and a chip or a bad repair can do worse. Furniture has its own trap: untouched original finish earns a premium, and a well-meant refinishing job can take real money off a genuinely old piece. Completeness counts too. Lids, keys, original boxes and pairs kept together all add to the price.

Look the piece over the way a buyer would before you set a price. Run a fingernail around ceramic rims to feel for chips. Hold pieces up to strong light to find hairlines, and try the "ping" test: a gentle flick sounds dull on cracked porcelain. Look for color mismatches that give away old repairs, check whether hardware and finials are original or replaced, and watch for a "marriage", where a top and base started life on different pieces. Any flaw you spot now is one a buyer can't surprise you with later.

Then look at rarity: short production runs, fragile things that rarely survived, famous makers, documented provenance. Scarcity only adds value when collectors want the piece, so demand matters as much as the numbers that survive. Antique Snap gives every identification a rarity class from Common up to Museum Piece, shown next to the estimate. One example report from the app: a George III silver candlestick, graded Rare, estimated at $2,400–$3,800 with 92% confidence, made in London around 1785–1795.

Know which of the three price bands you need

"What's it worth?" has three honest answers, and mixing them up causes most arguments about value:

• Auction or wholesale value: what you'd get selling it quickly to the trade or at auction. This is the lowest band. A dealer pays it because the resale risk is theirs.
• Fair market / retail value: what a willing buyer pays a dealer or private seller when both have time to find each other. Sold-listing comps get you close to this figure.
• Insurance replacement value: what it would cost to replace the piece at retail, quickly. This is the highest band, and the one insurers work from.

Work out which of these you need before you argue with a number. A dealer's offer and an insurance valuation for the same bowl can be far apart, and both can be fair.

When to pay for a professional appraisal

A certified appraisal usually costs $50–$200 per item. It's worth paying for when the number carries legal or financial weight: insuring a significant piece, probate and estate division, donation deductions, or a major sale. For the everyday question of whether a shelf find is worth anything, an appraisal usually costs more than the answer is worth. When you do book one, look for a member of a recognized body such as the American Society of Appraisers, and agree a flat fee. Never accept a fee based on a percentage of the valuation, because it gives the appraiser a reason to inflate the number. Bring your identification and comps so the appraiser's hour goes on judgment rather than lookup.

The lookup is the slow part

Everything above depends on knowing the right search words and having hours to go through sold listings for every object. Antique Snap does that first pass for you. One photo returns the identification, the rarity class and an estimated value range built from comparable pieces listed on sites like eBay, Etsy and auction houses, in about fifteen seconds. You can open those listings yourself and check its work. Our guide to using an antique value app explains how to read the range it gives you.

Get a live estimate from one photo

1. Photograph the piece. Take the whole object first, then any marks. The more the photo shows, the tighter the estimate and the higher the confidence score (see what the score measures).
2. Read the report. You get the identification, origin, period, rarity class and the estimated value range, converted to your currency (21 are supported).
3. Open the comparables. The Similar Items view lists the Etsy, eBay and auction listings behind the range, so you can check the number yourself. Every scan is saved to My Collection with a running total.

Antique Snap returns AI-generated estimates, not certified appraisals. Value ranges reflect comparable items found on live marketplace listings at the time of the search and are not offers to buy or sell. For insurance, probate or sale, consult a qualified appraiser. The report gives you a good head start for that conversation.

Frequently asked questions

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