The Glade 4.0

Four years ago, I inherited a large quantity of stuff. I have, in my basement, about 1200 sf of mostly antiques. ~30 pieces of furniture; several paintings; unsorted boxes of stamps (about 450 lbs worth of stamps); bazillions of coins; antique sewing machines, musical instruments, and cameras; a chest full of silk fabric; and a tremendous number of books. The books range from recipe books from the 1930s, several series of Time Life Books, extremely old children's books, random contemporary hardcover novels, an extensive collection of paperback first edition scifi books, to personal scrapbooks from the 1800s.

That's what I've found so far. There's a great number of boxes I haven't gotten to - no idea what's in them. There's some surprisingly absent items, such as jewelry and weapons, so I suspect these may be buried and have not been uncovered yet.

I suspect the vast majority of items have no particular value; however, I also suspect there are a few with somewhat significant worth. The question is: how do I deal with this? The thought of trying to catalog all of the books, or, God help me, go through 450 lbs of stamps is horrifying; yet I can't bring myself to just dump it all off somewhere. Some stuff will be kept, I'm sure, but I'm kind of overwhelmed atm.

Is there a good way to value these items with a reasonable amount of effort? Has anyone been through something similar in the past?

There are a lot of antique appraisers in the Philadelphia area. I can ask my mom who she'd recommend if you'd like; she's an archivist and museum curator and works with antiques regularly.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

I'd say take certain items to local experts. The stamps, for instance, see if you can't find a philately society or shop to appraise it for you. The same goes for the rest of the collectible type of items.

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Things like Cameras and sewing machines have a model type/signature. Ebay will give you a good idea of the price if you recognise them. Otherwise there are forums which might help you along.

Paintings need to be viewed by an expert to ensure they are not reproductions. A respectable art dealer will be able to help you out on that one.

Old silk/clothes unfortunately are not worth much unless they are in perfect condition. Even then the collectors are rare due to the unstable nature of the material. Some museums might want them.

Books are the same, it's really dependent on the condition and is really a niche market.

If there are guitars, I might be able to help, or at least give you some advice.

I'd need make/model, serial number if available, and the general condition.

I'd rather not do it via a public forum. If you are interested, send me a PM and we can go from there.

For the silk fabric, if it's old but usable. some historic costumers might be willing to take it off your hands via eBay. Just a thought.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

Call the American Pickers guys.

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some good ideas, thanks.

if anyone knows of any reputable dealers/appraisers in MD, I'd appreciate it.

I would contact your local auction house, or Antiques Roadshow to inquire about reputable appraisers in your area.

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Ezekiel 23:19-20 

Please send me the titles of any old hard cover books you find. I may be willing to purchase some of them from you.

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Ok. There's about 8 or 10 large boxes full of hard-cover books, and the boxes are labeled "antique". That doesn't mean too much, of course. Do you have a definition of "old"?