Collectors often ask how much a collection is worth. The answer to replace a collection is different from what it will sell for.  Recently someone asked me to buy a collection from them that they had priced 10 percent less than the guidebook price. First many guidebook prices are optimistic (as all good ebayers know) and second it costs me more than 10 percent to sell a collection and my mortgage company gets mad when I don't pay them.

How to figure out what price to ask

The long way

Spending a lot of time valuing the collection may get you more or then again it may not. You'll be aware of the retail prices and will be able to negotiate with more confidence  if the need arises. It is considerably more work so if you are more concerned with just selling them, skip this section and move on to the next. (I tend to be a bit on the cautious side and explore every avenue, but that's not for everyone.)

The first step it so look at the retail price. There are many Hallmark retailers. My store Hallmark Christmas Ornaments has items beginning from 1973, with most of the popular items in stock. The best course it to find two stores that seem to have most items one at the low end and one at the high end so you can see the range of what the retail price is.

Another strategy would be take the guidebook price and compare several items to the retail store prices and use those as a model.  So if an ornament has a guidebook value of $100 and the stores are selling it for $70, it's possible to surmise that 30 percent off guidebook price is on average what the ornament will sell for.

The problem with the second method is that some will sell over guidebook and some will sell for a fraction of that so if your collection is skewed -- that is, if you bought 20 Frosty Friends 1980 or 20 50th anniversary ornaments, the average will be off.

A third method would be to value only the top ornaments and leave the others out completely. For the most part (and with several exceptions) most series ornaments sell for more than regular ornaments, as you probably already know. The bulk of the value will be there and in family ornaments.

Most collectors don't realize that baby's and Christmas together ornaments can sell as high as series ornaments. Some of the son, daughter and godchild ornaments are also sought after.

Step Two (and the start of the short way)

Now some of you will have the retail price and others will just be beginning. the next step is to see what the ornaments sell for on ebay both individual ornaments and as lots. (If you have already inserted the retail prices, if you can, sort your list from highest to lowest and begin looking at the high end.)

 Look at completed auctions to see what the ornaments sell for in the competitive market. On some high demand ornaments, you'll see a smaller difference between retail and auction price. Some ornaments will seem to have a high value, but in the market for only a fraction of that.

Auctions for Christmas ornaments vary seasonally with the highest prices generally at the end of November and the beginning of January -- this is NOT written in stone, but a general statement.

Look at completed auctions only. Make sure to open the auction listing to make sure that it matches what you are selling. Pay special attention to ornaments that sell for a lot more or a lot less than similar items.

From completed auctions, you will be able to see the bottom price before selling costs, you would get if you auctioned each one individually.

The bottom line

Now that you've seen what each ornament will sell for look at completed lots of ornaments. This is helpful especially if you want to sell the entire collection to one person.

The difference in price from individual ornaments may be startling at first. Be sure to look at what is included in the lot because it may be all ornaments of little value. Also make note of how the auction is listed, the level of detail in the listing. Some you will see don't list the individual ornaments and may sell for less than the auctions the list each item.

Next installment: Part 3: How much and where?

 Copyright 2006 Carol M. Kaelin