EVER wanted to find out if that china tea set great-grandma left was worth keeping? If those years of hoarding old McDonalds happy meal toys from the 80s might actually have been time well spent?
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The Bendigo Art Gallery is offering you the chance to find out this weekend with a visit by valuer and auctioneer Warren Joel from Byjoel.
Though it does come with a warning, senior curator Tansy Curtin said.
“People often inherit things and they’ve no idea of the value, so this is a great opportunity for them to learn about that value without having to commit to paying the full valuation fee,” she said.
“So if it turns out not to be worth much it is not a great loss – you might find you have a great treasure… or that ‘original’ painting might simply be a print.”
Ms Curtin said the event had proved popular in the past, due to the showmanship of Mr Joel.
“He is a great entertainer, he doesn’t just give you an item’s worth, he can tell you about its history and its context…. it becomes a little like the Antiques Road Show,” she said.
Ms Curtin said past events had unearthed valuable jewelry and early Australian furniture which told an important historic story.
“But it’s not just antiques and paintings, Warren is both a specialist and a generalist, he can tell you about jewelry but he can also tell you about old celebrity photo collections,” Ms Curtin said.
“You’d be surprised by some of the things people collect.”
The event is a fundraiser for the Friends of Bendigo Art Gallery and costs $5 per item, with a limit of three items per person.
“The friends do a fantastic job and the money they raise is all put back into the gallery, for things like new display cases,” Ms Curtin said.
It runs from 10am to 4pm this Saturday. There are no advance bookings – tickets will be available from 10am at the gallery.
