family antiques

I've been cleaning out my parents storage room for about a week now. We are a household of antiques. My mom and dad used to go antique hunting when they were dating, and both sides of the family have long histories of packratting. My uncovering of many of these boxes/furnature pieces has left a conundrum. What do you do with the stuff?
For instance:
Yesterday I got mom to go through a box that my grandmother gave her. It was full of stuff from the late 1800's to the early 1900's. It included hatpins, hairnets, a map, some unidentifible stuff, games....all sorts of household items. This stuff has been in said box for at least 10 years in our basement. In my thinking, we should keep some of the more interesting things and give the rest to a meuseum. My dad is completely against it and thinks we should keep it all. Problem is, with whatever we keep, isn't it silly just to put it down in storage again? Then when my parents move out or pass on, that means my sister or I get the stuff. On one hand, the stuff is so old that it should be respected and kept, right? On the other hand, it's not doing anyone any good taking up space in our moldy storage room.
What do you do with your antiques???

Go to the closest filming of Antiques Roadshow and get everything apraised. (=

hehe, yeah, I wish! It'd be nice if there was a good antique dealer in the area too.

I am surrounded by them

Bring them down to my store!

That is what you do with them. Though you are bit far to go..Is there a collectibles/antique store near you? You could sell them.
However, I warn that you may not get what you think is the value of certain items.
It breaks my heart but sometimes because something is old doesn't make it inherently valuable.

Maps and hairnets..things like that aren't entirely collectible but can be sold. Ephemera (any paper items) is a hobby for some people, but some are common, some are not and some are just not hot.

Oddly enough, things that are hotly collectible right now are the childhood items of the now generation of baby boomers..So, things from the 50's and 60's are generally collectible. (toys, books, games) as this is the generation with the disposable income the enables them to buy them...
See, if something is too too old, there isn't anyone generally alive to be able to appreciate the nostalgic value of an item.

There are many beautiful beautiful books and items from the mid to late 19th century in my store and I sit and appreciate them. But there is no one left around to have remembered the "true" value...
Furniture is the only thing that people will buy that existed before they did

But you may only get say a few bucks for a box of odd/mismatched things.

You never know! There may be one gem in there somewhere!

If you don't have a dealer near you, look up your items on Ebay and see the comparative values of those items. Yes, you can find anything on Ebay!

send it all to me! i LOVE antiques!

Also, if you tell me what some of the "unidentifiables" are, I could probably identify them for you

Originally Posted by Loveysmummy

Also, if you tell me what some of the "unidentifiables" are, I could probably identify them for you

Click to expand...

That might be fun. I'll get the digital camera out and take a couple of pictures.

I'm a big collector (mainly furniture) But I cruise the local antique shops frequently w/Sis in laws. I'll volunteer to help you too!!