On Tuesday 28 August 2001 08:59 pm, Andrew Weaks wrote:
> Just watch Antiques Roadshow sometime. I have seen pieces of furniture that
> un "refinished" that would go for $100,000 but after Frank's meddling
> would only be worth $10,000. This is commonplace with antique furniture but
> whether the same goes for a steering wheel, I don't know. Stripping off the
> old, black, gunky Shellac is not the way to value. If it is just for you
> and ascetics, do what you want but you could be removing a significant
> portion of the value.
Isn't it weird though how there is almost an exactly opposite view with cars
though? Overrestoration notwithstanding, nicely restored cars will often
(usually) bring a much higher price than a nice unrestored car of the same
type and age. There are exceptions of course, particularly for low-mileage
unrestored examples - Biff's "'ol Grey" comes to mind. IMO that should be one
of the most valuable Spridgets around.
A steering wheel, though, seems like sort of a grey area. I dunno.
> I remember one show a lady had a beautiful Philadelphia chest-on-chest that
> was refinished. She said it was all black and icky and wanted to see the
> beautiful wood underneath. In its present form I believe it was worth about
> $15,000. If in the original condition it would have been worth several
> hundred thousand. The look on her face was priceless. Pun intended.
My favorite was a husband and wife who brought in a table that the wife
hated. The thing was appraised for several thou - way more than the husband
had paid. He was looking smug and the appraiser asked the wife "Does that
change your mind about it?" And she said "No! Do you want to buy it?"
One thing that made me kind of sick - when we first got married my wife and I
lived in my grandfather's old house (complete with a '67 Midget in the back
yard!). I was tearing down some sheds in the back that were full of stuff and
about to fall down. One thing I found was an old chest full of old
newspapers. Unfortunately it was right under a hole in the roof and they had
turned to mush. The only one I could save was a Richmond VA paper from the
late 1800's and the big headline was the death of Robert E. Lee. I really
wish I could have saved the rest - hard to tell how much history was in
there. :-(
Eddie
1971 Midget
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