antique english mahogany china cabinet

[loon]

I am new to this forum and am interested in selling an antique china cabinet I own. It is a mahogany English Tall china cabinet, 85" x 35.5"...It has two upper glass doors, all panes are separated by wood, pull out leaf having an inset green leather top, two lower wood panel doors having oval mahogany insert panels. My grandparents paid 1500.00 for the piece in 1929. Talk about a bad investment. Anyhow, I have done a bit of research on the internet to determine how I might sell it and what it is worth. My sense is that it may not be worth that much. Perhaps 1000.00. I know I have not included a photo but I just wanted an idea if I am roughly in the ballpark with this price. It does not appear that the market for antique china cabinets is very good at all. And I am shocked that my grandparents paid what they paid and that it might be worth less than they paid. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[talesofthesevenseas]

It could also be worth a great deal more now than your grandparents paid for it. $1500 would have been a huge sum of money then, especially if it was following the stock market crash of '29. I don't think they would have spent such an amount on a piece of furniture if they hadn't believed it to be exceptional. But there isn't any way to tell without some photographs.

[syl]

Agree with 7c's. Are you sure they paid that much? That would be like, what, $50,000 now. Back then you could probably have bought a house for $1500.

[GeorgeS]

Did you perhaps mean $150? I agree with the latter two posts, $1500 back then would have been a fortune. If it was truly $1500 in 1929 definitely send pictures to an auction house like Sotheby's if you want to sell. They consistently have furniture in that ball park (monetarily) and could tell you if it's worth a small fortune.

Mind posting a few pictures here?

[D&b antiques]

Sears would have sold you a house kit. for around $2,000.00 Dollars in that time frame. Pictures?

[loon]

thanks for the replies. I have an old photo of the cabinet and on the back of the photo is the supposed price that was paid and it is 1500.00.......I know that is a ton of money back then and who knows if that is the actual price that was paid. Does seem hard to believe I know....The piece was appraised in 1997 by Du Mouchelles, certified auctioneers and estate appraisers in Michigan and Ohio, for 5,000.00 so with the bad economy and perhaps the fact that these pieces are not in high demand, and the small amount of research that I have done, I am guessing that maybe the piece is only worth 1-2K...........I will send photos as soon as i can move some other furniture that is now surrounding it. Stay tuned and thanks so much again.

[luxetveritas]

Wow, that is surprising (the price I mean). Generally Du Mouchelles is quite good (I have bought many pieces from their auctions) so I bet your appraisal was spot on. And don't be quite so quick to think it's gone down by 4k. The antique market has suffered, yes, but it has been making quite a steady comeback. Both Christie's and Sotheby's recently reported huge sales near the end of 2009.

[loon]

I have attached some photos below. Nice piece but sure does not look like something that would go for that much but what thee heck do I know about antiques! I know there are several ways to sell something like this such as ebay, local antique dealer, auction house etc. And frankly I do not know the best way so if anyone has any advice, would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[luxetveritas]

I like the base quite a lot, the number of slots is very nice. However, I'm gonna have to assume that $5000 is insurance value. Other pieces I've seen like this sell for around 3k (at least now, I don't know about '97). Maybe someone else can give you some better incite, it's more than possible I'm missing something.

[D&b antiques]

It's Burl Mahogany, but I think with the economy. $1,200.00 Dollars is pushing it.

[loon]

I've got some more information on this piece as I found the photo that was taken and provided to my grandparents on the purchase date.
The china cabinet is a Sheraton cabinet purchased on October 16, 1931 for 1200.00 (not 1500 as I previously indicated) from Ackerman and company in New York. All sorts of info on the internet about Thomas Sheraton......inter esting stuff.

[luxetveritas]

After some poking around, I will unfortunately have to agree with D&b on this one. Sheraton's sell for around $600 at auction.