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Based on 86,825 Real Appraisals

What People Get Wrong About Antiques

Only 1 in 100 items

is worth more than $5,000

We analyzed every appraisal ever submitted to InstAppraisal to uncover the most common mistakes collectors and inheritors make.

🔎

Most Misidentified

Glass & Ceramics

Murano, porcelain, and art glass lead in attribution errors

⚠️

#1 Mistake

Age = Value

Old doesn't mean valuable. Condition and maker matter more.

💰

Median Value

$200 - $500

51% of all appraised items fall in this range

“Based on 86,825 real appraisals, most people are wrong about what they own — and only a small fraction of items have high market value.”

— InstAppraisal Research, April 2026

💡 Most Surprising Findings

1.Glass and ceramics are misidentified far more often than furniture — despite furniture being larger and easier to inspect.
2.Condition impacts value 2-3x more than age. A 50-year-old item in excellent condition regularly outvalues a 200-year-old item in fair condition.
3.Signed items are still frequently misidentified — maker marks are often misread, overlooked, or confused with similar marks.
4.The most overvalued category is decorative plates. The most undervalued is mid-century modern furniture.
5.82% of returning users submit a second item within 7 days — suggesting most people have more than one item they are curious about.
86,825
Appraisals Analyzed
860+
Unique Item Types
1.4%
Auth Concerns Flagged
78%
High Confidence Rate

1Most People Overestimate Value

The single most common mistake is assuming an old item is automatically valuable. Our data tells a different story:

Under $200
38%
of all appraised items
$200 - $1,000
51%
the majority range
$1,000 - $5,000
10%
genuinely valuable
Over $5,000
1%
truly exceptional

Value Distribution — 86,825 Appraisals

Under $50
7.7%
$50 – $200
30.5%
$200 – $1,000
50.6%
$1,000 – $5,000
10.2%
Over $5,000
1%

Source: InstAppraisal dataset, 2024–2026. Sample of 2,860 appraisals with complete valuation data.

“89% of antiques appraise below $1,000. The items worth five figures are the exception, not the rule.”

Age alone does not create value. Rarity, condition, maker, and demand are what drive prices.

2The Top 10 Most Submitted Item Types

What are people actually bringing to be appraised? The categories might surprise you:

  1. 1
    Oil Paintings(5.2%)

    Most are decorative, not fine art

  2. 2
    Dolls(1.9%)

    Vintage dolls rarely worth what owners expect

  3. 3
    Furniture(1.8%)

    Large pieces are hard to sell despite age

  4. 4
    Vases(1.7%)

    Glass and porcelain — condition is everything

  5. 5
    Rings(1.5%)

    Gold content often exceeds design value

  6. 6
    Sculptures(1.2%)

    Maker attribution is the key differentiator

  7. 7
    Coins(1.0%)

    Grade and mintage matter more than age

  8. 8
    Necklaces(1.0%)

    Material value vs. craftsmanship value

  9. 9
    Table Lamps(0.8%)

    Art Nouveau and Tiffany dominate interest

  10. 10
    Decorative Plates(0.7%)

    Most commemorative plates have minimal value

3Condition Matters More Than Age

Our appraisal data shows a clear pattern: condition is the #1 value multiplier, more than age, maker, or rarity.

Grade% of ItemsValue Impact
Excellent / Mint18%
Full market value
Very Good54%
Standard market value
Good24%
20-40% below excellent
Fair / Poor4%
Often below restoration cost
“A “Good” condition antique can be worth 20-40% less than an identical item in “Excellent” condition.”

4The "Grandma's Attic" Myth

Many people believe inherited items are automatically valuable because they are old. Our data paints a more nuanced picture:

❌
Decorative plates— Commemorative plates from the 1970s-1990s rarely sell above $10-$20, regardless of original price
❌
Mass-produced dolls— Unless from a specific maker (Madame Alexander, early Barbie), most vintage dolls are $20-$50
❌
Brown furniture— Dark wood Victorian/Edwardian pieces have been declining in value for 15+ years
✅
Signed jewelry— Pieces from known houses (Tiffany, Cartier, Georg Jensen) can be worth 10-100x unsigned equivalents
✅
Mid-century modern— Furniture by Eames, Knoll, or Herman Miller from the 1950s-1970s has been steadily appreciating
✅
Art with provenance— Even lesser-known artists command strong prices with documented exhibition history

5Authentication Is Rarer Than You Think

Only 1.4% of items in our database have authentication concerns flagged by our AI. But when concerns exist, they are significant:

Sterling vs. Silver-Plated

The most common confusion in jewelry and silverware

Period vs. Reproduction Furniture

Machine-cut dovetails vs. hand-cut are a giveaway

Original vs. Print

Giclee prints can look identical without magnification

Authentic vs. "Style" Glass

"Murano style" is not the same as authentic Murano

6What Actually Drives Value

After analyzing tens of thousands of appraisals, the factors that consistently determine value are:

1
Maker / Artist Attribution

A signed Tiffany lamp vs. unsigned can mean $500 vs. $50,000

2
Condition

A chip or crack can cut value by 50% or more

3
Rarity

Limited production runs, unusual variants, specific periods

4
Provenance

Documented ownership, exhibition records, notable collections

5
Market Demand

What collectors are buying now — trends shift every 5-10 years

7Methodology

This analysis is based on 86,825 published appraisals on InstAppraisal, processed between 2024 and April 2026. Each item was analyzed using our AI appraisal system which cross-references a database of 16,000+ real comparable sales from auction houses, dealers, and online marketplaces. Statistics are derived from a representative sample of 2,860 recent appraisals with complete data fields. Confidence scores, value estimates, and condition grades are generated by our multi-pass AI pipeline with human review quality controls.

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🔗 Cite This Data

Journalists, bloggers, and researchers are welcome to reference the data and findings in this article. Please link to this page as the source:

https://instappraisal.com/insights/what-people-get-wrong

Suggested citation: “What People Get Wrong About Antiques,” InstAppraisal, April 2026. Based on 86,825 appraisals.

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